My column in today’s DNA

In the fortnight following the high of the World Cup victory, middle class India has been on another high – the high of having taken a stand and done something about corruption. People have registered their anger against the political class and exhibited their revulsion at the spate of corruption scandals that have hit the headlines. The lightning rod for this has been Anna Hazare.

While venting all this anger and outrage, there are three important issues to keep in mind. At the first level, it is the number of rules, laws and codes that have to be followed. And, as Roman philosopher Publius Tacitus put it, “The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government”. An anti-corruption law is going to be just another law if the rules that govern us cannot be simplified. For it to be effective, there need to be fewer, more understandable rules. The parameters of decision-making ought to be transparent, and single-window clearances are needed to reduce ‘speed money’

At the second level, corruption is more than the exchange of monies; it is, also at a fundamental level, more corrosive to society because it is the exchange of money or favours to break rules. So, corruption will end the day people decide to follow rules. Unfortunately, Indian citizens have a propensity, across lines of class, caste, community, city and country to break rules.

And, finally, the root cause of it all – collective silence; a deafening silence when people around us take money; break laws; a silence that is going to allow corruption to thrive no matter what the laws. The people in Britain or Finland do not need an ombudsman to keep a watch on corruption – not only because their systems are more transparent, but also because their general population – their aam aadmi – follows the rules, and speaks up when the government is wrong. Morality is not just vested in “civil society” but in civilians – you and I. The best law on Earth will not work if rules are not simplified, processes and decision-making not transparent and citizens silent. While the first two need to be achieved at the levels of administration and government, the silence is something we have to do something about.

Unfortunately, silence has been the standard response when rules are broken across the board, or when injustice is perpetrated. We want the world to speak up for us, but we don’t speak up. We do not speak up when people break traffic rules; we do not speak up when FSI is violated. We are silent when the shop next door encroaches on the pavement; we are all right with the idea of paying for our house in black; we are quiet when expenses are overstated; we don’t speak up when our neighbour terminates a girl child.

Anna Hazare’s protest is a mirror held up not just to government, but also citizens. Most of society is happy being in its own little walled enclaves – both physical and mental. The rest of the world can burn for all it cares . This is possibly the reason why there has been such uniform silence from all of us when fellow citizens from 8 states in the country live their lives under semi-military rule. The Armed Forces Special Provisions Act of 1958 deprives citizens of their constitutional rights. It allows the Army to shoot at a person contravening any law. So theoretically, if you lived in an area where AFSPA was enforced, and the army was maintaining ‘law and order’, the Army has the right to shoot you if you break the traffic signal.

Irom Sharmila has been on hunger fast for the last eleven years to have AFSPA repealed. The Indian State has responded to this hunger strike by force-feeding her, rather than meeting her and understanding her perspective. And, we the citizens have been silent when over a third of the States in the Indian Republic face a suspension of Civil Rights.

If the Government of India can, in the name of national interest, listen to its conscience and accede to demands made by Anna Hazare and take steps towards dealing with corruption, surely it can start talking to Irom Sharmilacivil society and civilians in the eight states about AFSPA in the interest of ensuring that citizen rights are not compromised.

The most important outcome of Anna Hazare’s protest could well be the involvement of citizens not just in voicing complaints, but also in providing inputs for law. It is part of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. After all, the Government is not our ruler, it is our representative. Its job is to listen to the people.