Anna's fight against 'Corruption' - What it means?

Professedly, Anna's 'movement' (I intend to analyse at a later stage whether the stir qualifies as a movement, or it was merely a 'mass protest'), and support lent to him by the opposition was against 'corruption'. I am not aware if any participant in the movement, either from the civil society or from ‘Team Anna’ has attempted to define ‘corruption’.  This concern has been expressed in an EPW editorial.

The definition of ‘corruption’ is rather important, because it would determine how inclusive the support from the demos of India would be. Having said this, I do not mean to undermine the importance of economic corruption. We really need to ensure is that there is no corruption in terms of restrictions to access to opportunity. This access to opportunity can be impeded also by demand of money; but that is not the only way. Therefore, the word ‘corruption’ has to have a broader and more inclusive definition including denial of rights and impeding access to opportunity either for personal gain or for furtherance of a personal agenda or political views. Such an approach is sine qua non because anything else would leave the pot only half filled that too with leakages.

The above approach is to deal with the situation of systematic denial of rights by plugging in the systemic deficiencies. A situation of the nature highlighted by Sachar Committee Report is what I am trying to cover in the definition of ‘corruption’.  For example, when the people in charge of affairs of government abuse their position not for their personal financial gains (but for other reasons) and keep a rightful candidate out of the (participative) government (because of religion, race, caste or kinship), they should be held accountable.  

The conversation between a father and his son in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is instructive on this point: “There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?”. This analogy can be extended to ‘corruption’ as well.

In this sense, the proposal under the Draft Communal Violence Bill (also see comments here) to criminalize dereliction of duty by state machinery during communal violence which is also based on some evidence is an attempt to remedy one species of the genus that is ‘corruption’. 

Religion of a terrorist?

A recent article published on IndianMuslims blog sets out how openly the extremist right wing Hindutva brigade is being formed - to facilitate working of groups like Abhinav Bharat.  This bears a striking resemblance with  the invitations to Jihad (the extremist violent understanding of the same) that is openly made in some other countries. 

Recently a special article by Christophe Jeffrelot was published in Economic & Political Weekly discusses the role and modus operandi of Abhinav Bharat, especially on its role in Hindutva terrorist attacks. 

Fall of Old Hyderabad: Recent Communal Riots and The Larger Picture

In a very well-written piece in its April 24, 2010 issue, an EPW Correspondent critically analyses the reasons behind the recent communal riots in Old City, Hyderabad. He blames the secular parties for abandoning the areas that has given a communal colour to the politics led by the local Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen or the Majlis Party that has led to revival of Hindu communalism as well. He documents the history and the reasons for the rise in the communal temper of the city over the years. The article analyses how the city known “ganga-jamni tehzeeb” (cosmopolitan culture) has lost its sheen with time and cites specific instances of how communal riots were exploited by mainstream parties for political gains. The article explains the rise of the Majlis Party because of the reluctance on the part of the secular parties to counter them. The article laments the fact that “far from making any attempt to bring about visible changes, it appears as if the Congress and its government have left the political space of the Old City to the Majlis.”

The article also puts the blame of the rapid communalization on the long-lasting administrative neglect of the Old City. The Old City was the seat of power and government for centuries until the administrative shift began a history of neglect of the region. The shift started in 1930s with the Nizam moving to the new city and continued after independence and accelerated with the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 that led to migration of Telugu-speaking people to Hyderabad who were culturally different from their Urdu-speaking counterparts and “the alienation was complete, as the new democratically elected rulers after 1956, thought that the way of governing the Old City was to follow a policy of benign neglect at best and one of active deprivation at worst.”

The resultant poor governance levels, severe neglect of basic and higher education, shift of political locus and rise of anti-social elements have culminated led to the fall of the Old City where ‘no respect for rule of law’ is left. The correspondent sums up the state of affairs in the Old City at the present - “For all practical purposes, the decaying Old City has been left to rot and deteriorate, completing the process of ghettoisation – a fertile ground for any trouble, communal or otherwise. All it requires is a spark, or a flag as recent events show.”