Titing at the windmills of corruption!

"Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless."

Like in Don Quixote, are we tilting at the windmills, when it comes to tackling corruption? Are we having confrontations where adversaries are incorrectly perceived, or courses of action that are based on misinterpreted or misapplied heroic, romantic, or idealistic justifications, like the above?

Yes. It seems so.

It’s nobody’s case that corruption should not be fought against with vigor. Corruption is definitely a curse, and it needs to be exorcised.

But, the issue is, what is the best method to tackle corruption?

Now that the polling is over, and the fate of the political leaders in sealed in the EVMs, we can discuss the issue with much freedom, without the worry of getting political color!

The General Elections 2014 will go down in the history as the election which decided the crucial question of the method the nation wants to choose in tackling corruption.

Consider these facts: Apropos, the internet and mobile revolution in India, as expected, the issue of corruption came to the forefront with Anna Hazare taking up cudgels against corruption. The media almost joined hands with him, and took the message of corruption to the nook and corner of India, as it was never done before.

The movement gave rise to a political party; AAP, who won the Delhi election on the plank of fighting corruption! They also later resigned on the issue of tackling corruption; the Lokpal. Thanks to the omnipresent media, the issue of corruption took the centre stage as never before.

In the midst of this discussion on tackling corruption came the general election! What can the better opportunity for the common man to voice his views on corruption thru the ballot? Will the party which almost stood on the anti -corruption platform, AAP, be the logical choice of the voters? After all, AAP is perceived to be either free from or least afflicted by corruption, among the parties that catch our eyeball in the present times.

But, going by the exit polls, AAP may not win many seats, nor it may get a major chunk of votes. Why? Are we a corrupt society, which is not bothered about corruption, as many of us believe? Or is that there is something which the people don’t agree with AAP?

That seems to be the case! The voter seems to be not enamored with the AAP methods of fighting corruption, which brings us to the topic of ‘best method’ of tackling corruption.

Nobody can say for sure what the best method is. The methods are many; from the ideology of Naxals carrying arms to the peaceful and long drawn process of Right to information and courts. It includes Lokpal, Independent CBI etc. (Interestingly, some methods may even include the Robin Hoods!)

But, the voter seems to have rejected the ‘direct’ methods of tackling corruption, like the Lokpal, more anti-corruption laws etc. Indeed, it’s not surprising that the voter rejected such methods! Such methods, infact, may not work.

Many of AAP’s supporters believe that, strong anti-corruption systems will remove corruption. They even cite examples of Europe where there are strong anti-corruption laws and rules.

No doubt that Lokpal will create some fear in the mind of corrupt officials. But, it will be inadequate to be effective. We have enough draconian laws, like the Prevention of Corruption Act, which if used to the hilt, can eradicate anybody who is even remotely connected with corruption. But, we all know the limitation imposed on law, by those who practice it, from top to bottom. In India anti-corruptions law will not work effectively, as the persons who are running may not have the passion of an anti-corruption activist who designs the law.

For common man, corruption matters as long as it has direct connection with their livelihood. That’s why they get agitated with petty corruption. Every time, we talk of fighting corruption, they expect that there will be a positive change in their daily life. When it does not happen, they get frustrated and agitated, like the Auto rickshaw driver of Delhi.

So, his vote is not for rhetoric. ‘What is the point is voting for anybody else, even if he is an embodiment of honesty. If he can’t do make my life better, how does it matter to me?’ This seems to be question that guided the votes.

This also indirectly supports the other theory, the ‘indirect’ methods which use inclusive development as a weapon to tackle corruption. Real development is empowering the common man. When the common man is empowered, he climbs up the Maslow’s hierarchy. And there he will be equipped to fight corruption. Let’s not forget that corruption needs to be fought by millions of us, at many levels, not by a few enlightened thru law. Countries develop first, and in that journey, shed away corruption. This is what history has taught us.

Every anti-corruption activist must work for an inclusive development first. Lets concentrate on whatever aides inclusive development; a transparent environment, decentralization, education, health, affordable bandwidth etc. Development as a mantra to tackle corruption seems to be the clear message this time.

It's time for working together for an inclusive development! It's time to stop tilting at the windmills!

Mentoring for Civil services Examinations by serving Civil servants.

CIVIL SERVICES MENTORS (CSM)

1.               What is CSM (Civil Services Mentors)?

CSM is an informal initiative by some of the serving Civil servants to motivate and mentor those who aspire to become civil servants. Currently there are 50 of them, and they are from different civil services like IRS, IFoS, IFS, IPS and IAS. This mentoring is free of cost, and a pro-bono initiative.

2.               How is the mentoring done?

The mentoring is done virtually, through social networking application (Telegram).  There is collective mentoring where a group of mentors interact with a group of aspirants, few days in a week, normally from 9.30 to 10.30pm. Then there is personal mentoring, where there is one to one personal mentoring done at mutually convenient timings, and mode between the mentor and the aspirant, usually thru emails/texts/voice call etc. Personal meetings will be a rarity.

3.               How can the aspirants join this mentorship programme?

Aspirants can join this mentorship programme by texting relevant details* about them in the ‘Telegram Application’, to any of the chief mentors as given below. There are 5 classes as of now, Prelims 2015, Prelims 2014 (freshers), Prelims 2014 (repeaters), Prelims 2014 (repeaters), and Mains 2014. We plan to start a class for interview once the mains results are out.

The class	Chief mentor	Contacts
Prelims 2015	Balamurgan, IRS, 1997	09480609409
Prelims 2014 (Fresh)	Sachin Shinde, IAS, 2008	09436633848
Prelims 2014  (Repeat) Section: 1	Manivannan, P., IAS, 1998	09663369333
Prelims 2014 (repeat ) Section: 2	Dr. P C Jaffer, IAS, 2003	09448355577
Mains 2014	Alex Paul Menon, IAS, 2006	09424207722

*Relevant details to be sent by the aspirants (only as a text in telegram messenger application):

a.   Full name, along with Facebook profile name, if any.

b.   Age, sex, and the city/town residing in the last 6 months.

c.   Percentage marks in 12th, and Graduation.

d.   Why you want to join civil services, and why you want mentoring? (100 words only.)

e.   Which group you want to opt? (One aspirant can opt for only one group at a time.)

In case the aspirant is selected for mentoring, she/he will be intimated by return message in next 72 hours. If there is no intimation, then it’s assumed that the said aspirant is not considered for mentoring, and the details will be deleted. She/he can re-apply afresh after 6 months. The decision of the chief mentor is final; no further questions will be entertained. During selection, we give more importance to discipline and character, than intelligence.

4. What about mentoring for interview?

Mentoring for interview will be done only for those who get the interview call. Once they get the interview call, they may send text message in telegram to: Mr. Gyanendra Tripathi, IAS, 1998 (09435067666) or to Manivannan, P., IAS, 1998 (09663369333). For this group, there will be virtual mock interviews conducted my panels having senior civil servants as members.

5. Any other points?

The idea behind this mentoring is that, each aspirant has the potential to clear the CSE, provided she/he realizes the potential. So, the mentors provide clarity, and thus motivate the aspirants to realize their full potential. There will be absolutely no spoon feeding or coaching in this programme.

Though, we aim to mentor the aspirants in such a way that there is 100% success, let no aspirant think that joining this programme will ensure success. 

The list of mentors is attached with this post!

Corruption forms...

Raghunandan Tr: Little interesting thing to share: Yashavantha Tumakuru's father Sannamuddhaiya, works for the Revenue department in Tumkur. He is currently the Hon president of the state employees association. I learnt much from him and i respect him a lot. Ten years back, he was the president of the Tumkur employee association, and i was Assistant commissioner there.

Once we both had a heated argument on corruption when i was to take extremely severe action on village accountant on a corruption case, which was not proved. During the conversation we ended up classifying corruption into three categories.

One: the 'Demand corruption'; the most visible form of corruption, and called as retail corruption, where the official 'demands' a favor/money, for doing his ‘duty’ Eg. Asking for bribe for giving ration card.

Second: ‘Risk corruption’; where the official and the citizen ‘agree’ to exchange favors, for giving ‘illegal benefit’ to the citizen. Eg: allowing set-back violations.

Third: ‘Safe corruption’; where the official does extra legal work for the citizen, and takes money in exchange. E.g. Getting driving license out of the way, in single day!

We tried to tackle it starting from the first to third category. But, then first itself proved so difficult, and still I am struggling to work with systems that would free us from the ‘demand corruption’.

I can say with some surety that first category can be eliminated. I am not sure about second and third category, though I would like to work hard to remove those too.

We have a very long way to go…