When people abroad think of India, corruption immediately comes to mind. Thanks to a mismanaged Commonwealth Games, our best kept secret is out before everyone.
Never before was the world aware of this deep rooted malaise in our society - where everyone who is in any way related to government is corrupt (well, at least 99% are). A country which hasn't issued a single passport till date without innumerable bribes at various levels, really can't expect to be a superpower. To remove corruption, one has to start with the guardian of the public - the police system. I was reading an article on how Hong Kong changed its corrupt systems completely and is now the freest economy in the world. There was rampant corruption in HK in 70s and 80s, but they started the change with police department. And within two decades most of the systems got cleaned. I guess we need something similar in India as well.
Another layer which needs to be cleaned are the politicians - at least the nexus between them and the under world. I do not expect them to get clean anytime over the next few decades, but at least they can stop supporting the illegal activities. Presently, we have the rulers supporting the terrorists - and its the public which suffers. Most of the goons have political backing and support. Worse, in some cases those goons are themselves elected representatives.
None of the other countries in the ASEAN region are so corrupt. They have other issues, but they do not plunder nation's wealth. They do not have the level of poverty we have in India. I had great hopes from Manmohan Singh when he was sworn as the PM in his first tenure. But I now firmly believe he also supports the corrupt leaders, if not corrupt himself. Coalition politics is no excuse for looting the nation - which is surprisingly the excuse given by Congress time and again for all its wrong decisions. Sadly, we do not have good alternatives as well - almost all the parties are on similar footings.
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