India's Good, Bad, and Ugly

This summer, a powerful, organic, and populist movement emerged to combat the systemic political corruption that has plagued India for decades. The front of the movement, Anna Hazare, spearheaded an effort to pressure the Indian Parliament to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill. This proposal would establish an intermediary organization between the people and the government to investigate and root out corruption in government bureaucracies. Although initially contentious, the effect of Hazare’s hunger strike and the nationwide protests in support of his cause led the government to accede. As this issue goes to press, a legislative committee has been drafting legislation in support of the movement’s goals.
While Hazare’s anti-corruption movement has enjoyed short-term success, long-term change will depend on the ability of the government and the Indian people to work together in a rational and productive manner. The government must acknowledge its citizens’ long-standing grievances about corruption, and, with the general populace, take substantive steps towards building a more legitimate political system able to ensure future stability for the growing economy and enhance the legitimacy of the government.
The Good (Government Supporters)
The average Indian has long been harassed by the prevalence of corruption. The prevalence of bribery has thus enabled the anti-corruption movement to gain support across age, ethnic, and religious barriers. The dichotomy of an old-fashioned Hazare-style protest and a modern Facebook and Twitter social media-choreographed impact has allowed the movement to reach a broad population, attracting to the rallies young college students and aged anti-corruption stalwarts alike. Sonya Mehta, a rally participant, told the HPR, “I don’t think there’s any Indian who hasn’t paid a bribe. Once an income tax officer asked for a bribe to accept my returns. It’s a pervasive cancer in the system.”
The popularity of the movement, particularly among the growing middle class, has empowered the average Indian citizen to refuse to pay bribes. The famous Indian anti-corruption movement Fifth Pillar has been distributing “Zero Rupee notes” in five languages. These notes exist to shame public officials who demand bribes and have gathered a significant following among the Indian citizenry, especially among younger generations. Such populist initiatives to fight corruption at the most basic levels of Indian society demonstrate the movement’s resonance today with Indians across the country and among all age groups.
The Bad (Government Response)
The populist sentiment against corruption has nonetheless failed to make headway with the Indian government. This summer marked the largest mass protests since the Indian Independence Movement in the late 1940s, and the Indian government has fielded criticism on every front for its irresponsiveness. As Soli Cooper, prominent Bombay attorney and Harvard alumnus, told the HPR, the conduct of the government was “politically foolish and seemed to lack any coherence.” These protests brought the notable absence of a cohesive, visionary government stance on corruption into public eye. Instead of attempting to head off the movement’s demands, Manmohan Singh’s government proved reactionary and lackadaisical. Ministers offered no genuine plans for transparency until the Jan Lokpal bill was introduced in Parliament.
As long as they lack full government involvement, the proposals of the anti-corruption movement may lack legislatively viability. The Lokpal Bill has stirred dissent and controversy with the famous Indian sociopolitical activist Aruna Roy, who heads a union that represents Indian workers and peasants. Roy criticizes the proposed anti-corruption institution, contending that it concentrates too much power in one place and that its prohibitive workload would render it ineffective and incapable of upholding its responsibilities to the people. If anti-graft measures are to succeed, then, they still require government support to make them socially and politically viable.
The Ugly (Implications)
Tackling corruption alone may not be sufficient to improve the daily lives of Indian citizens, but the moral growth of Indian governance can still bolster India’s international economic and political standing. As the largest functioning democracy in the world, India has long been perceived as the natural ally of the West. Joseph Nye, professor and former dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, told the HPR, “The U.S. and India have greatly improved their relations in the past decade. In part this reflects a common concern about the rise of China in Asia, but it also reflects opportunities opened by rapid economic growth in India, and the increasing importance of the Indian diaspora in the U.S. Shared democratic values also help, and I would expect this trend to continue.”
Though the economy has soared, Indian society has experienced difficulties in its moral growth. From corruption scandals to telecommunications scandals to failures in addressing the Naxalite terrorist movement, the nation has been buffeted by reports of double-dealings. Prime Minister Singh’s government remains unpopular, and stands at risk of losing the next election.
As citizens continue to lose faith in the efficacy of government policy, the West will no doubt soon experience a similar disenchantment. This hindering of India’s standing has definitive implications for India’s place on the world stage: compromised legitimacy and credibility will inhibit its international influence, and opportunities like a seat on the U.N. Security Council may suffer. Citizens will have to work cooperatively and strategically with the government to raise the bar again. As India pushes for greater influence in the world, it needs to first adopt a rational approach to resolving the issues on its own domestic public policy agenda.
Steps for the Future?
India is at a crossroads. In order to modernize the politics of the world’s largest democracy and carry the Indian political regime into the 21st century, the nation needs to further legitimize the foundations of its governance and gain greater credibility in the international sphere. Addressing the core causes of corruption through citizen-government synergy will be an essential step towards achieving this goal.
Though Anna Hazare’s fast struck a traditional and historical chord with the people, it is not the means by which to change a government. In Sanskrit, “Lokpal,” the anti-corruption bill’s title, literally means “protector of the people.” But the Indian people should not need protection from their own government. Discourse, negotiation, compromise, and organization from both ends of the political spectrum and every cultural, religious and linguistic corner of society is the only way the young and fractured Indian democracy will be able to bridge the gap between the government and the governed.
Rajiv Tarigopula ‘14 is a Staff Writer. Zeenia Framroze ‘15 is a Contributing Writer