Now, that is the news of the day
- in fact a human-connect story deserving special mention.
Justice Arun Chaudhari of the
Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court today observed that 'corruption is a
hydra-headed monster' while hearing a fund embezzlement case. He said that time
had arrived that we stop paying taxes if the government failed to curb
corruption.
This observation is important -
even if it is not going to be far reaching - because on the ground nothing is
going to change.
Corruption is a malaise that has
become chronic in our society - has become a way of life - so much so that we
keep on hearing occasional debates on 'legalizing convenience fee of bets'.
Yes, one way or the other, we all
are corrupt, and we all are victims of corruption - but what is basic
difference here - between a person who is habitually/chronically corrupt and
someone who is forced to be corrupt/who is occasionally corrupt.
Well, most of us are occasional
corrupts. We are forced to be part of the wheel based on circumstances and even
then most of us don't go beyond petty, harmless corrupt practices.
But those all of us do something
serious that we don't realize by doing so.
By doing so, we harden even more
the souls of those who are chronic corrupts, those for whom corruption has
become a way of life, a habitual necessity, a compulsive draw in.
Those some millions, who feed of
hundreds of millions of us.
That is the basic difference - of
conscience.
While we feel bad in doing
something corrupt or unethical, those are hardened souls, enjoy indulging in
all, butchery, all savagery, all trickery.
Observation by the High Court
judge is important in that context that for the first time a high level member
of a constitutional pillar of India has remarked so.
That, in a way, reflect the way
our thinking is going - something that was reflected in the unprecedented support
to the civil society movement of 2011 that was launched to force the government
to take some concrete action on corruption - starting from the Jan Lokpal Bill
- to establish an anti-corruption ombudsman.
That shows, hundreds of millions
of us, who are forced/occasional corrupts, can take the corrective path based
on our conscience - based on flow the society takes. The judge said according
to a media report, "The miasma (unholy atmosphere) of corruption can be
beaten if all work together. If it continues, taxpayers' should refuse to pay
taxes through a non-cooperation movement."
Yes, it may seem farfetched but
this 'not paying taxes if the government fails to curb corruption' is a good
thought this sort of 'corruption tax' should be taken further.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/