What will it take to root out Corruption

It is still amazing how we got this far in a short span of 15 years since privatization began in earnest. Our middle class has expanded dramatically during this period, the economy growing at 7% rate, one of the best in the world. The improvement is seen is various sectors, from Information Technology, telecommunications, media, high tech, Agriculture, manufacturing, natural resouce excavation and so on. The GDP has grown year after year. Regardless of those boring statistics and numbers what really matters is the improvement in average lives of our citizens. Having said that, imagine India with just two things gone

1. Corruption
2. hoarding money/gold and other valuables under the mattress

Man we can give some real fight to the Chinese who are clearly way ahead of us. I think we need the following

1. Instill a sense of real patriotism in all Indians. If you love your country more than your self interest, you would not steal from it. A large section of our people have become greedy beyond imagination and steal from the rest of us. The next question is how do we do that and that's where my next point comes in.

2. Cleanup the political system. The ultimate goal of this process is to allow well meaning leaders to emerge from the pack. Hey we have billion people and I'm sure there is no shortage of good leaders who would lead us out of this mirage. We need the kind of leaders we had during independence, selfless, dedicated to the well being of all Indians who can effectively communicate with our people, appeal to all those good men and women who have decency and instill that sense of patiotism for the larger goal. Band of leaders who have vision to compete at the global scale, work with our business leaders to grow the economy and so on.

Our current political parties are broken beyond repair. It encourages patriarchical system where people with long history of being in politics are shuffled up the chain and become leaders. It needs to be dynamic and encouraging of newer blood. The parties need to be open and accountable.

*** In short, a refined, dynamic and forward looking political parties are key to promoting new breed of leaders who in turn can guide the country out of this mess. It will take time but it's got to be done.

REMEMBER TOGETHER WE CAN AND WE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.