The silent revolution

It's an incredible time to be a part of the largest democracy in the world. There is an opportunity to witness a silent revolution in progress that can change the country as we know it today.

Corruption has been the name of the game in almost every administrative office run by the Indian government from the very beginning. As the great Indian 'jugaad' ensued to help those who could bend the system their way, corruption became socially acceptable - even glorified at times. This is how I remember my childhood and most part of teenage life. But now the times have changed, the new and young India identifies corruption as a social evil, at least publicly if not personally.

It is not surprising then to see that the biggest complaint against the incumbent government today is corruption. As of this date, Members of Parliament like Kanimozhi, A Raja, and Suresh Kalmadi are behind bars for their alleged role in corruption cases and many others seem to be on their way. The 2G corruption scandal alone has brought a powerful political party in the state of Tamil Nadu, DMK, to it's knees in spite of it being a part of the coalition government at the center. And the civil society has become as active as it could be demanding transparency and action against corruption via their leaders and babas, albeit using non-democratic means.

All of this seemed unimaginable to someone like me until recently and knowing what I knew of the society, I would have bet generously on the all powerful 'netas' never letting either of the above happen, ever! I now believe these seemingly independent developments I see all around represent a silent social revolution underway to eradicate the single most important disease that has infected our government and society - corruption.

More than anything else, this revolution offers hope; hope that one day the largest democracy in the world will rise up and give that equal opportunity to all it's people as it promised. The pessimist in me laughs at me, but the Indian in me still believes the gears are in motion, turning ever so slowly but turning at least.