CORRUPTION IS NOT IMPORTANT

Corruption is on everyone's mind. The hottest topic, so to speak. People who are BPL - Below the Poverty Line (According to the Planning Commission, those who dont earn even Rs.31 a day)are straining themselves over the Jan Lokpal Bill. I certainly hope it will put some food into their bellies, which, eternal realist that I am, I doubt it will. This, to me is the real tragedy.

The BIGGEST problem that India faces is POVERTY Yes, even though Corruption comes naturally to us, & is pretty high on the top ten problem list, the point is - when I have nothing, what are you going to steal from me? Corruption, after all is a grand theft or stealing in motion. & we all know that about 60% of India is rural; not that all city dwellers are well to do. For instance, India's slum population is estimated at 93 million by the end of the year - that's about 8% of our population which is already humongous. Also, cities don't make up all of urban India. There are the towns, nagar pallikas & so on.

I am educated, can read & write, am politically aware, am offended & so, shout out & protest about the injustice that is being done to me. What if I am un-educated, politically ignorant & have no idea how to express myself? What if I don't even know the difference between a ten rupee note & a hundred rupee note? (True story about how the government 'bought' honey from the tribals in A.P, told by a first hand witness, a social scientist who was around). I don't even know that I'm being cheated in the first place.

This is precisely why ALL the intellectuals & even sharp & shrewd industrialists all emphasise the importance of education. Amartya Sen cant stop talking about it, industrialists who need to earn points for C.S.R - Corporate Social Responsibility, like Narayan Murthy & Azim Premji, put all their earmarked money for it. Its the only way that I can protect a man from thieves. Only if he knows that he's getting cheated can a man protest. Naturally, education will not solve all problems, nothing will. We can only give people armors against thieves & cheaters. We can only give them locks, we cant prevent thefts, evil or natural calamities. We can only arm them. If they choose, they can move ahead. But first, they must be given the option of choice.

And of course corruption is important, education just happens to be important -er & hey! I needed you to read my blog right?

ADDENDUM

I recently came across two well-travelled guys, one a research scholar & the other a scientist, both young; the same day I chose to wear my brand new 'Benetton' tee shirt & favourite 'Guess' jeans. They struck up a conversation that obviously precluded me. I mean....
What would I know about the 'National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme' or God forbid 'phenotypes'?? Better to talk to me about Charlie Chaplin or Zindagi Na Milega Dobara.

I 'dared' to ask them a question about Bt cotton. They glanced at my 'Week' magazine & smiled,
"You see Bt means ..."
"Bacillus thuringiensis"
"well..you see in our department we modify the phenotype of plants.... phenotype you see means..."
I couldn't believe it, so I replied "appearance, more or less; differing from genotype, where you REALLY change the organism"
At least he kept quiet.
Next guy - "You see the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is no good."
"I think its a pretty good thing" I added
"Did you know that the BIMARU states are not as bad as they are painted out to be? You see BIMARU means...."
I couldn't believe these two guys... "Bihar, M.P,Rajasthan and UP. Also, since your work revolves around NaREGA, that's what we call it in short", I 'informed' him, "can you please tell me more about the Pakistan team that came to study the NaREGA scheme?"
"What? Pakistan knows about our NaREGA scheme? I had no idea..."
"By the way, WHAT do you do?" he quickly asked
Hmmm... good question. Now, no ones looking thaaat much...
Anyways, we all ended up as buddies with promises to visit each other in Spain, Delhi etc etc...
And they're not all that bad.