Do we really need an Ombudsman organization?

Certainly Anna Hazare is an icon of the angst being felt by every Indian. Kudos to “Team Anna” for making the Indian government writhe. But the question we need to ask ourselves is “Will the deeply rooted corruption wane just by creating a new ombudsman organization or by increasing the scope of existing anticorruption ombudsman organization? In line with an anonymous quote: “Egg broken from outside is death while broken from inside is birth”, for every individual the thought to create corrupt free India must come from within and not be imposed by an organization. It should be an ethical responsibility of every individual to lead a corrupt free life. If there is a “to” there is a “from” and likewise if there is a “recipient” there must be a “giver”. It is time for some serious united action from the givers (bribers). The phrase “united action” needs to be emphasized because a few good souls here and there resisting corruption will not address the problem. I hereby put forth the following agenda for all the Indians:

1. New driving license seekers should refuse to pay anything more than the application fee.

2. Newly married couples should refuse to pay anything more than the application fee to obtain their marriage certificate.

3. No bribe should be given to obtain birth and death certificates.

4. Homeowners should not succumb to the government officials’ tactic of getting money upfront and reducing the yearly property tax.

5. Travelers should not pay bribe to upgrade or procure additional ticket in buses or trains.

6. Parents should not pay any capital fee for schools or colleges. Management fee is also bribery and in most cases it goes to politicians who run these institutions.

7. Government job seekers should not pay money or take shortcuts to get the government jobs.

8. No household should pay extra money to get their monthly government allocated ration supplies.

9. No one should pay extra money for medical supplies and treatments at government hospitals.

10. File the yearly income tax in an accurate and timely manner.

The above steps will at least pave a way to eliminate corruption at the level of common people who are the roots of the society. If the root is disease free, the tree will yield better fruits, provided it is watered well.

Ethical and Humane perspective missing in Iraq war

In the last four years, almost everyday our ears are constantly being fed with news related to numerous deaths in Iraq। Leave the individuals with radical religious thoughts. Which country doesn’t have radicals? What did normal people do apart from having belief in their religion and love for their country? Why should pregnant women, infants, school kids die?

Quite soon after the start of Iraq war in 2003, we all came to know Iraq is not responsible for the 9/11 attacks। So we know that the super power has waged a war against a country with innocent people. Terrorists do the same thing – target innocent people. To me there exists no difference between the terrorist groups and the war president (and his cabinet). The former does the killing without revealing the plan and then boasts about it while the latter announces the plan with pseudo pride and does the massacre.

Let us forgive the war president for starting the war, by convincing ourselves that he didn’t evaluate the situation properly in 2003 before waging the war। Why is he not stopping the war NOW after seeing thousand of innocent Iraqis and American soldiers being killed for no reason? The war is no way leading to peace and democracy; in turn it is giving birth to sectarian violence which is a worst curse for any country. It will take centuries for a country to relieve itself out of sectarian violence. We all know this from several past histories. The war president being a republican opposes abortion in his country. But he doesn’t seem to get bothered when pregnant women get killed in Iraq. I am quite perplexed by the rationale behind his views and policies. But at least it is clear that the thoughts and actions of the president completely lack humane and moral perspective.

One might argue that war is inevitable and it has to be fought। Is there a better etiquette to wage a war? I couldn’t think of anything novel, but I like to present here some of the rules that were followed in Great Mahabharata war at Kurukshetra, India around 3137 BC.

Rules:
1. War should start only after sunrise.
2. War should stop at sunset.
3. Multiple soldiers cannot attack a lone soldier.
4. Anyone who surrenders should not be killed.
5. Anyone without a weapon should not be attacked.
6. ANYONE WHO DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN A WAR SHALL NOT BE ATTACKED.
7. Women should not be attacked.
8. No weapons shall be misused.

Ideally I don’t want a war to happen but if a war has to be waged, I would like to see all the above rules implemented. The countries in war could choose a battle ground and fight to resolve the problem following the above rules. All the above rules are strongly based on pure ethical and humane grounds. Guess most of us, particularly the war leaders may have to refer a dictionary for the two words “Ethical and Humane”. We could have avoided a great people loss in Iraq if the war leaders have at least followed the rule # 6.