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Congress-free India only can eradicate poverty: Union Minister

By
Web Team
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HM RajnathMocking Congress’ promises and efforts to wipe away poverty from the country, Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday while addressing a rally in Howrah district in West Bengal said that India will actually be freed of poverty the day it gets rid of Congress.

Singh also said that since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress has been promising the eradication of poverty. Targeting Congress President Rahul Gandhi, he said, “Now, Rahul Gandhi is also assuring that. The fact is the day the country becomes free of the Congress, it will also get freedom from poverty,” he said.

The Home Minister also criticised the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in the state alleging that democracy has ceased to exist under its rule in the state.

“Democracy ceased to exist in Bengal. The way violence has been unleashed on opposition parties, is it a sign of democracy? In Bengal, we would fight till we restore democracy,” he stated. Singh also referred to the TMC slogan of ‘Ma, Maati and Manush’ and said “all the three — the mother, the motherland, and the people are suffering” under TMC rule.

 

Avoid Adulteration

By
C K Subramaniam
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adulterationRampant adulteration in food items continues to pose a real threat to the life of people in the satellite city. Adulteration in Milk, food items and eatables are seen in every nook corner of the country. There is no one to catch hold of the miscreants.  The crisis had taken a serious turn in the absence of adequate consumer awareness in the public domain. In general and residents, in particular, are benefited by the presence of MAFCO wholesale market in the vicinity. However, adulteration is the major cause of worry when people go for cheap products in the consumer market. People generally go for seasonal fruits and they enjoy the taste at a cheaper rate. We get plenty of fruits in the market and people go for Mangoes and grapes very much. Generally, they go for Box of fruits and store in their fridge to last longer. However, it is sad to note that these fruits are chemically ripened to get the early market sale and such fruits are not really good for health. So, it is of the utmost importance to wash the fruits very well before use. In a first in the history of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Maharashtra, a huge quantity of artificially ripened bananas was destroyed by the Inspecting Officials. Bananas were being ripened using a lethal chemical normally used in the wedding industry.

In the same way, Alphonso Mango’s export was banned due to artificial ripening of the prestigious fruit before export and send to the UK market for some time. Normally it takes any fruit at least 15 to 20 days to ripen. However, we had information about some shops doing ripening artificially. This can be caught by surprise check by the concerned administration. The fruits used to lie along with a chemical powder called calcium carbide. Generally, the bananas were ripened in the room within 12-14 hours due to the presence and effect of the compound in the room. Needless to say, the bananas no longer remained organic after the chemical reaction. It is noticed that raw bananas are brought and kept in a red chemical mix in a drum so that they ripen faster. They used to do this in broad daylight. During Festival time people will be using more fruits to appease God and by consuming such artificially ripened fruits people suffer from various diseases and harm the health directly. It is time to take care of your health by not buying such artificially ripened fruits from the market. It is time to curb adulteration in the open market and the health inspectors should have a close watch curbing such activities in the near future.

Even the milk we are using on a daily basis is adulterated and contains more toxic substances. We need to have a foolproof system and even 0.01 per cent is found to be adulterated then those milk farm owners should be penalised with a heavy fine for their offence. Thus, adulteration in the consumer market cause worry and the next generation of children will find it very difficult to survive in this adulterated country.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

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Maharashtra: Voting underway for 10 seats, voters and police clash in Parbhani

By
Web Team
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top mumbai

Voting for 10 Lok Sabha seats has begun in Maharashtra. Around 9 per cent voting was recorded till 9 am. Clashes were witnessed between local residents and police in Manavath taluka of Parbhani. They threw stones on police vehicles. MPCC president Ashok Chavan, former home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Pritam Munde are in a fray for the second phase of polling.

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar’s son Sujash Ambedkar has alleged that when voting button for Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi symbol was pressed it went in favour of BJP. Former chief minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh’s family members casted their vote in Latur. Senior Congress leader Shivraj Patil also casted his vote. Glitches were found in VVPAT machine in Akola for half an hour. Cooperation Minister Subhash Deshmukh casted his vote in Solapur. Around 1, 85, 46,000 voters will exercise their franchise in second phase. 179 candidates are in fray and 20,716 polling booths are there.

This is why Modi will again win 2019 elections by using religion!

By
Afternoon Voice
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modi on religionIt is a fact that religion and caste-based politics dominate the Indian elections and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) never shied away from playing the religious and caste card from the selection of the candidates to the elections. Around 80 million first-time voters, between the ages of 18-21, will be casting their votes in the general elections this year and they will decide the fate of the nation for sure and a new chapter will be added to the history of Indian elections. However, what matters the most is that will they be going to vote based on religion, castes, and region or based on the performance this ruling government and the answer will make sure if the first-time voters contribute to making or breaking the nation.

Religions play a very crucial role in bringing mandate to the political parties in India and political parties as well since the country got independence from the British, have been using the same with full zeal for their political gain and also have been successful most of the time. In our country, religions bring more votes than development, that’s why even after 73 years of being independence – we deal with great poverty, lack of facilities in hospitals that caused the death of lakh of recently born and unborn child, lack of good educational institutions, lack of roads, electricity, and even very basic needs of daily life.

Even after having his image controversial in the past and accused of initiating and leading the 2002 Gujarat riots that caused the death of more than thousands of people – of which most were Muslims – PM Modi succeeded in projecting himself as the only Messiah of country’s development through his political campaigning for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and eventually he retained the power in 2014 as the anti-incumbent sentiments against the Congress-led coalition was rampant as a result of corruptions, accusations, and a downward drift in the governance. Moreover, Modi managed to play with the emotions of the Indians by promising so many things.

Once he got into power, he changed the image that he had created of himself before the voters. In the last five years, the Modi-led government has turned a blind eye on the attacks of religious minorities and Dalits by fringe groups. As per the data from IndiaSpend – which tracks down the news of violence in English language media — the reports of religion-based hate crimes mainly targeting Muslims have spiked significantly after 2014. Modi, instead of taking action against these cases, kept silence and indirectly promoted these kinds of communal-based violence against religious minorities as he believes that hitting at the Hindu sentiments would bring him to mandate, and in the end, he was right as he has become a brand now. Sectarian politics made him more popular across the nation and his party won the elections in Uttar Pradesh and formed the government.

However, the shining of the BJP started to diminish after the Demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) – as both of the decisions by the government hurt, disturbed and dragged the whole nation into crisis. This might affect Modi in the upcoming elections. Moreover, Modi is well aware of everything and knows all the nuances to use at the right time and place. Since the time his image started diminishing, he brought the Indian Armed Forces’ issue at the front and shouted like a lion against Pakistan and he failed; he brought the Ram Mandir issue and claimed to build a grand Ram Mandir by making a new ordinance but failed again! Then he brought an action for cow protection and faced defeat again; apart from all these, he has also used Love Jihad, Ghar Wapsi, etc. In the last two years, he has tried play with every possible communal subject impress the voters but was exposed at the end and is now in the silence and might be looking for something more powerful than the mentioned issue that he can use.

Babri Masjid was demolished in religious violence in 1992. In the Lok Sabha elections of 1984, the BJP got only two seats. However, by following the campaign, the BJP won 85 seats and then it continued to increase its political base. It won 119 seats in 1991 and 182 seats in 1998. It got 182 seats in 1999. Following the Gujarat pogrom of 2002, though the BJP lost seats and this was an indication that the secular Hindus had rejected the BJP for what had happened in Gujarat.

Muslims and Hindus have lived in India together for centuries, however, religious sentiments are exploited either to divert the attention of the people from the very important issue or as means of polarising the vote bank. All in all BJP’s ultimate ambition is to get the 80 per cent of the country’s total votes which are of Hindus and it will do it by using the Hindutva ideology. In the end, it will again bring the Ram Mandir dispute at the front – and even may be this time it will start the construction of the Mandir – even the base.

Hindutva is a political ideology which is associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – a right-wing Hindu nationalist group. With the gradual rise of the BJP in national politics, this ideology has also gained popularity over the years through BJP, which is the political offshoot of the RSS. The Hindutva was coined in 1924 by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar – who fought for India’s freedom from India and also advocated the Hindu Nationalism.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

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Jalyukt Shivar a big jumla

By
Suraj Chandran
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Maharashtra Jalyukth Shivar

The Fadnavis government might be speaking highly of its flagship scheme Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan but questions are being raised about the success of the scheme as Marathwada is reeling under severe drought. The BJP government had launched the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan to make Maharashtra drought free by 2019. The main objective of the scheme was to make 5,000 villages free of water scarcity. The scheme was launched in December 2014 by the state government with an objective to harvest rainwater and enhance groundwater level. However, the project has failed to yield the desired results due to haphazard and unscientific implementation.

Manoj Shemde Patil, a farmer from Beed said, “BJP, NCP, and Congress are indulging in politics over farmers’ problems. They came to power but have not addressed the drought issue. They have indulged in frauds. If farmers from Marathwada protests against this issue, then false case is filed against them.”

“Due to shortage of water, farmers and animals fall ill. If animals fall ill, then how will farmers be able to cultivate? Political parties give false assurances of implementing loan waiver scheme; they have failed to address drought issue,” he further added.

Before election, politicians try to rake up the water scarcity issue to attract the voters but no breakthrough has been achieved. Residents of Beed, Latur are unhappy with the government for its failure to address the water shortage issue. Even though several villages in Marathwada come under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Swaraj Abhiyan but residents have to grapple with severe water shortage issue. Marathwada has been facing water shortage after two months of the withdrawal of monsoon season.

Former BSP leader Digambar Rathod said, “The government has completely failed to address the drought situation in the state. They are least bothered about farmers’ problems and only want power. Democracy is dead as 21 parties have approached the Election Commission to hold paper ballot. Be it Congress, Shiv Sena, NCP or BJP, nobody is thinking about the welfare of farmers.”

In 2017-18, the government had claimed that out of 5,031 villages selected for the scheme 100 per cent work was completed in 396 villages, 80 per cent in 1,247 villages while work was on in the remaining 3,418 villages. However, the reality is far different as Marathwada is facing severe drought. Opposition parties like Congress and NCP had targeted the BJP government for its failure to address drought crisis in the state. Last year Congress had also organised Jan Sangharsh Yatra in support of farmers affected due to drought.

Independent MLA Mohan Fad said, “The government should have resolved this problem till now. The inter-linking of rivers has not happened due to scanty rainfall. The situation is only going to get worse in future. The government has created a water grid project and under it, the inter-linking of rivers will be speeded up. Marathwada’s problems can be resolved only if Jayakwadi Dam is filled.”

Congress has sought an inquiry into the spending of Rs 7,500 crore in the past four years on this scheme. In 2018, the state received 74.3 per cent of rainfall. But till November 17, 2018, 715 tankers in total were supplying water to various regions. In 2014, the state received 70.2 per cent of rain fall which is lesser than 2014 but only 71 tankers were supplying water at the time. Thus, the so called claim of the government about the success of the scheme seems fake and fabricated.

BJP MLA Suresh Dhas said, “Nitin Gadkari is doing his best for irrigation of Marathwada and soon drought issue will be addressed. During NCP-Congress reign, no water was released but now 23.66 cusec water has been released from Krishna River. I have solved the water scarcity issue in my constituency by spending Rs 150 crores and government will take a decision pertaining to addressing drought issue in Marathwada.”

People of Marathwada have to walk several distances to fetch water. More than half of Maharashtra is facing water crisis. Seven seats of drought hit Marathwada are going for polls on April 18. Water shortage is the biggest poll issue in this region. Due to water crisis many people from Marathwada have relocated to metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Many of them are earning their livelihood in these cities and are unwilling to return to their native place.

People fight for every drop of water in Beed and Latur districts of Maharashtra. Whenever, a tanker comes to the village people try to fill buckets and pots of water. Water level has reached its lowest level in Marathwada that even though wells are dug but the area faces water shortage crisis. Villagers say that initially they could find water after digging 25 to 30 feet. However, now they are unable to find water despite digging 70 feet. Those people who are unable to fill water have to rely on private tankers for water.

People receive filtered RO water through tankers at subsidised rates after a gap of 8 days. Villagers have several times approached the Tahslidar with their grievances pertaining to water scarcity issue. However, the problem is not resolved due to bureaucratic hurdles. Few years back, trains were used to supply water to Latur which was the worst affected district due to drought. Even today, the situation has not improved in Latur as residents are facing water scarcity problems.

Even cows and buffalos are affected due to water scarcity issue. Fodder camps have been started in Beed and Latur districts for providing fodder and water to animals. The government has failed to create enough water reservoirs. Even though dams in Marathwada were running dry and the government completely ignored the situation.

Efficacy of Jalyukt Shivar questions its credibility

By
Vaidehi Taman
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Earlier Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis declared that 180 out of 353 talukas are drought-affected in the state due to irregular monsoon. The declaration came the day after a farmer and his wife committed suicide in the aftermath of the death of their two-year-old daughter in a village in Ahmednagar district. Devendra Fadnavis government spent crores of rupees on advertising Jalyukt Shivar, but that has not improved the water situation in the state. If you look at the comparison between average rainfall and the presence of water supply tankers in 2014 and the current year, fewer tankers were supplying water in 2014 despite there being lower rainfall, which proves that the scheme is a flop on the ground. The efficacy of the Jalyukt Shivar scheme for the past five years leaves many questions on its credibility.

The Government has spent Rs 7,500 crore in the past four years on this scheme alone. The state government has claimed that the scheme has changed the water story of Maharashtra for all time; but in reality, it has proven to be a jumla. The state government did not give details of the Jalyukt Shivar. It is not mentioning the locations of the wells and farm ponds that it claimed to have built in the past four years. It is getting exposed every day with regards to the Jalyukt Shivar scheme. The scheme was launched in December 2014 by CM Devendra Fadnavis-led state government with an objective to harvest rainwater and enhance groundwater levels. However, the project has run into stormy weather for its haphazard and unscientific implementation, undue reliance on machinery, lack of transparency and public participation. While the government has taken credit for providing a small scale irrigation facility at the farmers’ doorstep, it is reluctant to take the responsibility for their unsustainable use. Majority of the scheme work has been implemented unscientifically. While one can see water as of now, it does not mean groundwater recharge has taken place.

Besides borewells, Pravara River (a tributary of Godavari River) is a major water source to the Hiwargaon village. Almost 80 per cent of its ponds is dependent on groundwater, with most of them dug between 2012 and 2015 with the help of subsidies offered under the National Horticulture Mission (NHM).

The 300-odd ponds in the village are the main source of sustenance for the pomegranate-dependent agro-economy. The arrival of ponds has led many farmers to shift to horticulture, with pomegranate cash-crop rapidly supplanting the traditional horse gram, bajra, wheat, pulses, and onion crops.

Most farmers in the village, as in western Maharashtra’s horticultural belt, swear by the farm ponds, unmindful, however, of the consequences of groundwater depletion owing to their unregulated construction and digging.

The SANDRP study revealed that none of the farm ponds in Hiwargaon had inlets and outlets or any other arrangement for excess rainwater inflow that was envisioned in the scheme. Instead of digging the ponds in a low-lying area, many of them are dug on the highest points of the farms. The soil conservation is the key to groundwater recharge, but it has been omitted in the scheme. Any programme claiming to deal with recharging groundwater has to pay attention to the soil. If soil is conserved, groundwater is automatically recharged. In the Jalyukt Shivar works, soil, fine sand and the entire medium that hold the water and percolate it have been scrapped. If the rocks are exposed, then how is the recharge supposed to take place? The works under the scheme appeared to hold water, but would not recharge it. Another problem with the farm ponds is that they expose the groundwater to losses through evaporation, something that may not become immediately apparent.

According to data, around 13,950 ponds were dug between 2014 and 2016 under the NHM, the JSY and the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, while nearly 24,700 more were under construction under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in 2016-17. Till date staggering 1.6 lakh odd applications have been received by local authorities under the ‘Magel Tyala Shettale (Farm Pond on Demand scheme)’ ever since Fadnavis launched it in February 2016 but the Jalyukt Shivar programme and its ancillaries are a quick fix that has failed. The government has not taken into account the massive amount of work that goes into involving people in carrying out watershed works. While local authorities said that they are aware of the concerns engendered by the indiscriminate digging of farm ponds, they find regulation impossible.

In 2017, the state received 74.3 per cent of rainfall. However, until November 17, 2018, 715 tankers in total were supplying water to various regions. In 2014, the state received 70.2 per cent rain, which is lesser than 2017, but only 71 tankers were supplying water at the time in 2015; the state had received just 59.4 per cent of rainfall. This was much lower than in 2018. Even then, only 693 tankers were supplying water. So, these numbers reveal us that the so-called claims of Jalyukt Shivar are fake and fabricated. The proportion of small farmers (owning less than 5 acres) increased from 70 per cent to 79 per cent over the period 1995 to 2011.

So, while the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan intends to make Maharashtra drought-free by 2019, it appears to have worked mainly for prosperous farmers. As the first part of this series showed, a piecemeal approach of random work that ignores the geological water cycle of an area–a watershed–and spreads itself thin as the drought’s ravages spread is not helping millions of smaller farms.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

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Let’s look at voting pattern & turnout of electorates

By
Web Team
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voter turnout

India is the largest democracy in the world with around 90 crore electorates, which is more than the combined population of Europe. The process of voting has started on April 11, 2019, and will end on May 19, 2019. This is a seven-phased election. The Indian voters will elect 543 members for the 17th Lok Sabha.

The election is an opportunity for the Indians to elect their suitable representatives. A suitable representative can speed up the process of development and solve the problems of common people. The election also provides us a chance to form a stable government. This is a proved fact that only a stable government can fulfill that need of people.

If we analyse the 2014 general election voting patterns, we will find some interesting results on social and economic aspects. Before putting the interesting result of Indian voting pattern, I focus on voting pattern around the world.   

The voter turnout data published by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) indicate that the most recent national parliamentary elections for major developed and developing countries, where voting is optional as of the end of 2017, show that France has lowest turnout ratio (43 per cent) while Germany has the highest (76 per cent). India is also doing fairly well in comparison to other countries, as voter turnout ratio in India has improved significantly to 66.4 per cent in 2014 from 58.2 per cent in 2009.

The historical trend of voter turnout rate in general parliamentary election since 1971 reveals, there is much fluctuation in voter turnout on the Election Day during past 12 parliamentary elections and it largely varies from 55.2 per cent to 66.4 per cent with average turnout close to 60 per cent.

If we look at the voter turnout among male and female during this period, it shows female turnout was usually lower than their male counterpart. The gap which was as high as 11.9 per cent in 1971 election has come down to 1.5 per cent in 2014. This suggests that now women are actively participating in the election process and are more aware of their rights and are independent in decision making. Similarly, if we look at the voter turnout rate among 28 major States from the 1971 parliamentary election to the 2014 election, the highest turnout happened to in Kerala, West Bengal, and Tripura.

Further, if we closely observe the male and female turnout rates in these three States, the ratio is almost equal to each other. It means both males and females are actively participating in the election. The States which are lagging in voter turnout rate are the ones where females are not actively involved electorally for e.g., in Bihar, UP, MP, Maharashtra, and J&K. 

Socio-political factors like, population size, age, educational attainment, political interest, and economic backwardness play a major role which has been the major driving factors behind voter turnout rates.  So, to improve the women turnout rate in India, all the stakeholders starting from Government, Election Commission, Media and civic society should encourage, facilitate, and promote women to come forward and participate in the election process.

In addition to this, another important aspect which leads to low turnout is interstate and intra-state migration of both male and female. Over the years both male and female are migrating due to various reasons like looking for a better life, employment, marriage, and  Education which impact the overall voter turnout rate. We have calculated the net migration and mapped with the Percentage of voter turnout among major States and the result shows States like UP, Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, and J&K have both migration and low voter turnout rate.

Looking at the various indicators viz. life expectancy rate, secondary gross enrolment rate there is no pattern which emerges between the voter turnout ratio and these indicators. However, when the states are ranked on the basis of multi-dimensional poverty index with highest poverty state ranked as 1 and compared with rank assigned to states on the basis of voter turnout with 1st rank assigned to state with highest voter turnout, different patterns emerge.

Certain states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand with high poverty have lower voter turnout. Further, most of the North-east and Eastern states have higher turnout rates and varying levels of poverty. A group of states including Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and Punjab also have high voter turnout rate but associated with a lower level of deprivation.

The Election Commission data indicates that there was around 1.24 crore missing women electorate at the time of 2014 elections in 10 states only. By missing women, we mean the group of women who are eligible to vote but are not yet registered as voters. This is a deeply alarming situation since it means that approximately 1.25 crore women are denied their constitutional right to vote. These are disturbingly high numbers of disenfranchised women which warrant some urgent remedial measures.

There are two important issues that need urgent attention from the government. Are 543 seats enough to represent 130 crore population? Since currently, only 543 Lok Sabha constituencies represent 130 crore people in the country, it is time to take a look at the legal provisions on the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies till 2026 with a view to increasing their number in order to rationalise population per seat which is currently at 15.6 lakh. Even countries like UK, Germany Italy France, etc., have more than India’s strength with bicameral status.

In a nutshell, we can say that the government should focus on the above issues and take corrective actions on case to case basis. If the government does this, the result will make our democracy stronger.

By Satish Singh

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

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Investments through P-notes jump to Rs 78,110 crore

By
Web Team
-
Investments

Amid positive market sentiments, investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in domestic capital market rose to Rs 78,110 crore at the end of March.

P-notes are issued by registered foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to overseas investors who wish to be a part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly after going through a due diligence process. According to SEBI data, the total value of P-note investments in Indian markets equity, debt, and derivatives stood at Rs 78,110 crore till March-end. At the end of February, the same was at Rs 73,428 crore.  Vinod Nair, the head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said, “The increase in P-notes investment is in line with the higher net inflows of FPIs in the cash segment, which increased from Rs 13,500 crore in February to Rs 32,000 crore in March.” Of the total P-note investments made till March-end, Rs 56,288 crore was in equities, Rs 20,999 crore in debt and Rs 119 crore in derivatives markets. Nair said, “An increase in the India equity exposure is motivated by risk-on strategy adopted in emerging markets, as global bond yield reduced and increased liquidity supported by central banks due to slowdown in world economy.”

Are you PM of India or Gujarat?: CM Kamal Nath targets PM over Gujarat storm tweet

By
Web Team
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  • kamal nat modi

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday hit at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his tweet on unseasonal rains and loss of lives in Gujarat, charging he was concerned only about his home state. Overnight rains in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan have left nearly 30 people dead.

Soon after the Prime Minister expressed anguish over loss of lives in the unseasonal rain and storm in Gujarat, Kamal Nath tweeted, “You are the PM of the country not Gujarat”.

Kamal Nath said that unseasonal rain in Madhya Pradesh claimed over 10 lives but the Prime Minister expressed concern only for Gujarat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the morning expressed anguish over loss of lives in various parts of Gujarat due to unseasonal rain. He tweeted, “Authorities are monitoring the situation very closely. All possible assistance is being given to those affected.” Later the prime minister said, “We stand in solidarity with all those affected due to unseasonal rainfall in various parts of the country.”

Let’s eliminate bribing from its roots

By
Jubel D'Cruz
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no bribe

“God made the man, man made money and money made the man mad.”

The world today is dancing on the rhythms of money. This money has created a number of problems in society.  If you have money, then only you can proceed in your life and if you don’t have it, then you need to face a number of problems in life.

Money has become more important to people in such a way that they have forgotten about humanity.  If you spend some time out of your home, then you will realise that how much this bribery and corruption is spread in society. This is an outcome of the irresponsible government. If they really don’t know how to balance rates of essential items with the occupation of the populace, then it is a big question that why they are still sitting on the chairs? If you look outside, you will notice that there is corruption in each and every field. This is providing a wrong message in the populace. People have started thinking that corruption can survive them in this highly expensive society. If you are going through any type of documentation work related to the government, then you will need to provide money at every step. Each signature of an honourable person will ask you for money. If you refuse to pay, then you will be on their waiting list. No one will help you or show humanity to help you out. Your work will always be in a pending condition.

Is this really a living place? If the world only knows the language of money, then is it really a life you are living? If you don’t wish to find answers behind this, then you are also one among them. You are only providing food to their roots. One day these roots will increase to such an extent that it will become impossible to find a way through all this. The best way to avoid bribery and corruption is to take strict action against it.

Yes, we can stop this ongoing chain. What we need to do is just live in unity. Say ‘no’ to each corrupted person. Avoid them in society. Create a group of polite people. Select an appropriate candidate in elections.

These ways can surely lessen the ration of bribery and corruption. If you cannot stop it, then at least don’t let it grow further. Stop giving money to corrupted officers and all those who are a part of corruption. Always think about the next generation.

The most important reason for corruption is the never-ending chain of bribes that are offered and accepted throughout the country.

In a country like India where bribery is the major source of income for most of the government officials and public servants, we cannot expect the government itself to do away with this corrupt practice. But the citizens cannot complain that the government and government officials are involved in the corrupt practice of bribery because it is the citizens who offer a bribe to these public servants. If the citizens themselves stop offering bribes, the roots of bribery will diminish in no time.

It is essential for parents at home and teachers in the school to teach the children the importance of honesty so that they do not offer or accept bribes in their lifetime. Slowly but steadily, the practice of offering and giving bribes can be eliminated from its very roots if people join hands and take an oath to eliminate this practice by hook or by crook. However, the bitter truth remains; we ourselves cannot imagine our life free from this practice so how do we expect to abolish it completely?

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

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