jsingh@cive.ri.cmu.edu (J S Singh) (09/27/86)
I agree with Mahesh Chari that corruption (and topics such as these) are worth talking about in this forum. The basic problem with Indians in general is reflected in opposition to Mahesh's original post. As a country we spend far too much time thinking about what we should be doing, what we should be talking about, and who should be doing what. If you don't like the discussion about corruption then don't stand in the way of others who want to do so. Similarily, I think that problems like corruption and dowry are the result of people sticking their noses where they don't belong. Social regulations are not too far removed from government regulations. How much difference is there when the government says you will buy so much steel from this company and when society demands that so much gold is acceptable in a dowry? My basic premise is that as a culture, we should stop telling people how to go about living their lives and conducting their business. This amounts to personal space on a micro level and massive deregulation on a macro level. Stop looking at the central government, as the provider. Lets us all go do it on our own. Corruption exists because a few people are in control of power and resources. Allow free competition and now I can go to Dealer B if Dealer A is corrupt. Distribute power so that people can self govern (I have been maintaining that local governements should be given greater powers so that they can take pride in their own efforts). We all know how deep rooted corruption is. What we must realize is that it won't go away by anti-corruption task forces or committees that produce 1000 page reports. It won't go away with imposition of fines and of jail senteces. To get rid of corruption, we must strike at the root of it all - the socioeconomic trap that India is in. Sanjiv
reddy@ctnews.UUCP (T.S.Reddy) (09/29/86)
In article <1007@cive.ri.cmu.edu>, jsingh@cive.ri.cmu.edu (J S Singh) writes: > My basic premise is that as a culture, we should stop telling people > how to go about living their lives and conducting their business. > This amounts to personal space on a micro level and massive deregulation > on a macro level. Stop looking at the central government, as the provider. > Lets us all go do it on our own. > > Corruption exists because a few people are in control of power and > resources. Allow free competition and now I can go to Dealer B if Dealer > A is corrupt. Distribute power so that people can self govern (I have > been maintaining that local governements should be given greater powers > so that they can take pride in their own efforts). > I think I posted a article with a similar theme a long time ago, but there was no response to it as I recall. Anyway, I did notice that local government was virtually non-existent in the town where I am from. The lowest level at which you, as a citizen, had a chance to excercise your option on how things were run was in the state or assembly elections. The MLA representing our constiuency, of course, disappeared after the elections. We did try to form some sort of association for our town but this was more at a cultural rather than at a political level. And when we wanted something special to be done, like re-paving roads, we invited a important politician to a special function in his honour and he would do the needful as they say in India! The point I'm trying to make is this - the only way that you got something done was by pandering the big-wig politicians. Citizens should become politically aware and realize that the politicians are not doing them a favour when they perform their duties as elected representatives of the people. T.S.Reddy, Netnews Administrator, Convergent. 9/29/86 @ 0845 hrs. e-mail address: ..!pyramid!ctnews!reddy
debray@megaron.UUCP (09/30/86)
> We all know how deep rooted corruption is. What we must realize is that it > won't go away by anti-corruption task forces or committees that produce > 1000 page reports ... ... or megabytes worth of news articles.