Purge the corrupt and their corrupt ways

The ministry of environment and forests has been caught yet again. On the heels of the tsunami and the revelations of many a breach of the law by the authorities, this ministry and its departments have been exposed in the worst ever scandal…the disappearance of tigers across the many parks and sanctuaries.

Ever since the Prime Minister asserted his urgent concern about the death of dozens of tigers, the guilty and inept officers in the ministry have been working overtime to fool him with non-truths, to cover their own tracks, to derail his instinctively correct position and much more, all in an attempt to save their personal skins. Many of these gentlemen are suave in their rhetoric, but devious in their practice. We must be wary of them.

Anyone who chooses to find the truth knows that the tigers in Sariska have been poached. High-powered committees, if allowed, will discover that truth as well, but will only announce the outcome of their probe three months down the road. Tigers are disappearing everywhere, in every state. Forests, too, are being poached and the habitat is shrinking. To put it into the Indian context, the vehicle or vahan of Durga is being slaughtered and the powerful Goddess is bound to wreak havoc in revenge! All this can only happen with some connivance of the forest staff.

These instances go to show how devastating corrupt practices can be and how, if the purging of corrupt people and their practices is delayed, the damage can be irrevocable.

It is a similar kind of destruction that municipalities have bestowed upon our towns and cities. A corrupt brigade of ?regulators? have ruined the urban habitat, reducing the lives of the inhabitants to an undignified level. Those who break building norms and rules do so with impunity because they have paid off the authority. Unauthorised encroachments are the norm, electricity is stolen, meters are tampered with and a free-for-all is rampant. The top boss is fully aware of this horror story but does nothing to stop the corruption. No one is suspended and no one is sacked. Fraud is celebrated.

Mirza Ghalib has a description of Shahjahanabad (the walled city of Delhi) in the mid-1800s, where he talks about the municipality being thoroughly incompetent, not caring to clean the drains or the streets, and endless such realities that appear to be exactly the same today, in independent India.

The British, as a colonial power, neglected native areas and maintained to perfection their own enclaves. Why are the municipalities of democratic India doing the same to their citizens? It is so true, this reality of the ruler and the ruled!

Lutyens? Delhi, built as the seat of government for the last imperial power, continues to house the rulers of today, both the political bosses and their bureaucrats. It is the best environment in urban India. The same people, Indians, who man the other municipalities, man the New Delhi Municipal Council that looks after this particular area. It is evident to all those who venture through this area, that in this oasis, efficiency prevails. Virtually everything is in order, comparatively clean and functioning. If municipal operations can work in New Delhi, why not elsewhere, too? Does the abject neglect come from that same arrogance of power: the rest do not matter as long as ?we? are taken care of?

Step out of Lutyens? lair and the worst examples of planning and corruption define the landscape. In most colonies, no fire engine, for one, will be able to enter any of the lanes or bylanes…a death trap. Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Indore and scores of other cities and towns epitomise filth, chaos and a complete lack of hygiene and dignity of living. It is shameful to say the least.

We are probably the filthiest country in the world, one where even in the 21st century, in metropolitan and wealthy cities, men continue to use the streets as their public urinal. Fortunately, the women do not. Where is the pride and where is the caring? Deep in rural India it exists, but as soon as the municipalities take over, it ceases to be.