Is integrity a supplement to Good governance or compliment? This essay written by S. Venkatesh, student of Eswari Engineering College, Chennai bagged the First Prize in the Online Essay Contest conducted on the theme "Integrity and good governance" during 134th Birthday Celebration of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Two days ago I received an e-mail from siv-g.org. It was regarding an online essay competition. I decided to write an essay on the topic” Is integrity a supplement to Good governance or compliment?” I thought of discussing a few points with my friend and called him. I was shocked when he started to laugh after hearing the topic. I felt offended and when I asked him the reason, it was even more shocking. These are the exact words he told me. “First of all Integrity does not pay in India. So there is no use in discussing this topic dude. Don’t waste time and go to sleep.”
These words of my friend made me to think about our Indian governance. What I talk about in this essay is something very ideal. It may be difficult to reach this state of idealism but a conscious and deliberate movement in this direction is the only option I see to bring about a positive improvement to our society that is plagued with numerous ailments.
Many times I have lost my temper and felt demoralized when I see people who have enriched themselves corruptly being given places of honour and being rewarded with even higher government positions. I have felt frustrated with the fact that most things do not work and that the system does not take care of the needs of the ordinary citizens in a country so richly blessed. But when I gave it a deeper thought I realized that it is precisely the lack of integrity that has kept us where we are.
One thousand years ago, in the year 1001, the world was divided into three main trading blocks, China, India and the rest of the world, each with about 33% of the world trade. India had nearly 27% of World Trade, about 250 years ago, when the British landed in India. The King of Spain sent Columbus to search for India as we were a rich country.
By 1947, when India gained its political freedom, India's share had come down to about 3% of world trade! Presently, India has only 0.6% of the world's trade, 1.4% of the world's GDP, 2.2% of the land mass but 17% of the world population! In the last 55 years, our foreign trade has had a negative growth from 3% to 0.6% of world trade, or minus 500%! Wake up India!!!!!
The things Indians require to have a good life are not different from what people in other parts of the developed world want, except that people in other parts of the developed world are more or less getting it while we are not. Why is that? I think the answer is fairly simple: Most developed societies understand that the real good life can only be gotten through a well functioning society, while in present India the people in leadership and the ordinary Indian who is aspiring to leadership believe that the good life can only be realized through individual wealth. We see the problem of the country as insurmountable and decide that it will take maybe a thousand years to fix, and since none of us will be around for that long, it is best to take a piece of the pie now and make the best of our individual lives. This has been the thinking since independence, but look around you, how well has that theory worked compared to other countries that have a more honest and open society?
The truth is that while dishonesty seems to pay in the short run, in the long run everyone, including the dishonest, suffers. I believe that true wealth is not just money in your pocket, but your total well being, which includes good health, honour, dignity, self respect and power. While I see many rich people in India, I do not see too many wealthy people.
I am sure that many people who read this essay will feel exonerated because they are not in government leadership positions and do not have money and so believe they are not part of the problem. But we know that the lack of integrity in India is not a problem of just the leaders or government, but one that permeates every aspect of Indian society and the pinch is actually more on the lower cadres of society. The market woman who gives us one kg of rice when we have paid for two, the carpenter who uses inferior wood to build our table when we paid for mahogany, the petrol attendant who gives 30 litres of fuel when we paid for 50 litres. These are the experiences that make India particularly hard and frustrating and the worst part of it is that it is a vicious cycle. The petrol attendant feels justified because the market woman did the same thing to him and the market woman is justified because the lorry driver that brought her goods cheated her, and the lorry driver is justified because the policeman at the check point took half his profit in bribes, and so on and so forth.
Who gained in the end? No one, we are all cheated.
There is only one way out of this madness. To have good governance we all have to have integrity, not just government, not just people in authority but you and I, because we can only insist on what we have. If Indians’ personal integrity was high, they would not tolerate the government’s lack of integrity. The petrol attendant will refuse to be cheated by the market woman if he himself is not a cheat. The truth is that the government is the way it is because we are the way we are! We are the ones who roll out the drums, sew uniforms and dance when thieving government officials and 420ers are being giving chieftaincy titles and honorary degrees. We are the ones who clap and pray for them when they make donations to our temples, churches and mosques. If we want to live the kind of life that those in developed countries live, then INTEGRITY must be our hallmark, both personally and as a nation.
Good governance therefore starts from every citizen and not from the governments.
Good governance is not the responsibility of the politicians who design the laws and systems for us. We should not forget that the system is in its present state because we approve of it. True, Governance is about developing good mechanisms in a society by fostering transparency, but this responsibility does not start and end with the policy makers alone. The policy makers do whatever we want them to do. By remaining silent, the politicians take us for granted. Basically we are busy in our own personal lives and our jobs. We are content with what is going on around because it does not bother us or hurt us. The brunt of all wrong policies is borne actually by the poor. And if we think we have nothing to do with them, then we are violating all standards of public integrity.
All public services are the windows to a good governance mechanism in any society. The more transparent they become and the more cordial and receptive they become, more will be the ease with which they can transact with the society. Governments need to understand this. As India gets more and more educated, politicians will realize that they can no longer fool the innocent and ignorant village folk by making false promises. Integrity to ones political ideals will eventually become the competitive edge for any political party. And for this to actually become true, we as a society have some great responsibilities to uphold. There has to be an initial kick start somewhere to give momentum to this rise of consciousness.
The Latent Energy of our Nation is gigantic, it needs to be allowed to blossom and grow. This is only possible with the positioning of Good Governance & Effective Administration, in our system, something, which is not impossible for India! India needs to get their Best Teams in position. Corruption and poor governance around the world will only be overcome through much greater emphasis on ethics and integrity in leadership. We cannot approach reform and good governance without including ethics and integrity.”
We have the expertise. Let us unleash this Power!
If we perform our civic duties responsibly, if we voice our opinions whenever things go wrong, if we can form pressure groups, if we do not accept opaque systems and policies, if we allow the press to perform its duty without fear and force, if we can educate each other, then we can definitely build a society that thrives on integrity and then good governance will not be the only result but will be a part of a larger system that thrives on goodness and fairness.
Integrity is not only a supplement or compliment, but it is the essence of good governance.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
