Free... Are we?

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 23; the twenty-third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for this month is FREE.

I am here to write a post on the theme ‘Free’ but definitely not a crime thriller or romantic stories that I usually dab in. ‘FREE’, although it has a wide scope, I prefer to write for Free India but if it from my pen then the question would be, ‘Are we really free? Happy Independence Day but when this day is coming?'


PS: The post is a just an internal reflection of my thoughts on, ‘Are we really free?’ Most of the facts penned here are taken from Wikipedia, Google, and Corruption India forums. Whenever some of my blog pals post about corruption or any I used to hit hard at them (because just writing won’t help either is my policy), today I sincerely apologise for the same because I am going to vent out my feelings.

Before I proceed to the actual post, I want to share this known info with all my blogging pals of the world. On August 16 2011, India against corruption movement is going to happen. If the whole country takes to streets for a week from 16th August, WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, can force the government to enact a strong ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’. Mostly I will be joining my hands with the team here in Electronic City, Bangalore. Will you be there or in your near-by area or wherever, please? Can we count on your support and active participation?

Now an e-trash for the theme, ‘FREE’.

After 64 years of Independence, are we free? I think we are not… and life of a common person is worse than a prisoner. I have heard that during the British era there were no corruptions but now what to type. I am ashamed to live in this corruption world for 24 years, if I would born before our Independence I would have at least fought for our Independence but today I can’t even do that. If I even type a single name here then they would file a defamation case on me for questioning a pure Indian (really?) or they would have requested Google to remove it from the search engine. (Proof)

Hope we still remember that we live in a democratic country but where is democracy? We are growing in terms of infrastructure, education, lifestyle, glamour, style, entertainment, market, and what not. But are we really free? If you look at the scenario today, (priority in the reverse order) the prices of gold, petrol, diesel, cooking gas & rice are going up, richer is getting richest and poor are getting poorer. People like us, who are neither rich nor poor, are at the same level. We have reached the moon but yet there are many homes where a girl child is not been accepted. Women have reached to the status by becoming a doctor, politician, police etc but why still they are considered as something else, still daily newspaper publish new about rapes and molestation of women. Child labour is still seen in India. There are many more major issues in our country, sitting in an AC odc's, as software professional it is easy to write on any issues but is it easy to live a life like them or to help them.

We flash news of Mumbai terrorist attacks, Sai Baba treasure, and Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple treasure for a day or two but aren’t we the culprits? Speaking about an incident for a day or two and then resuming our works? What are the steps taken by us? Aren’t we our self-responsible for it? Cruel intentions of external and internal people are because of the injustice, races discrimination, and politics and narrow mindless of the old tradition like sati, dowry, domestic violence, poverty that is existing in our country even today. The corruption, the imbalance of society, political games, religious divisions and unawareness of rights is dropping one side of our country in a gutter. On this 65th year of Independence WE INDIAN’S, request every individual in India to wake up. Let’s come together and makes this place a better place to live.

Don’t just buy a flag to pin up on your sleeve or on the collar, put up in your car, tables, house, office and living rooms or wherever but put the feeling, ‘I am an Indian’ in your heart right now and start thinking to live in corruption free India. On 15th August 2011, we will celebrate the successful completion of 64 years of Indian Government and they call it as Independence Day but I won’t because according to my heart I still don’t have. India is not free. In fact, India is going further and further away from freedom.

Here are few lines about Corruption in India, edited version :-) Original Source (Wikipedia):

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (June 2011)

Political and bureaucratic corruption in India is major concerns. A 2005 study conducted by Transparency International in India found that more than 45% of Indians had first-hand experience of paying bribes or influence peddling to get jobs done in public offices successfully. Transparency International estimates that truckers pay US$5 billion in bribes annually. In 2010, India was ranked 87th out of 178 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Although former Prime Minister and Congress party leader Indira Gandhi has quoted as saying that corruption is a misuse of power, she also publicly stated "nonchalantly" that "corruption was a global phenomenon" and her government was no different. Successive central governments and members of India's famous Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty have often been accused most of corruption and amassing illegal wealth among India's political class. The year 2011 has proved to be a watershed in the public tolerance of political corruption in India, with widespread public protests and movements led by social activists against corruption and for the return of illegal wealth stashed by politicians and businesspersons in foreign banks over the six decades since independence.

India tops the list for black money in the entire world with almost US$1456 billion in Swiss banks (approximately USD 1.4 trillion) in the form of black money. According to the data provided by the Swiss Banking Association Report (2006), India has more black money than the rest of the world combined. To put things in perspective, Indian-owned Swiss bank account assets are worth 13 times the country’s national debt

“The recent scams involving unimaginably big amounts of money, such as the 2G spectrum scam, are well known. It is estimated that more than trillion dollars are stashed away in foreign havens, while 80% of Indians earn less than 2$ per day and every second child is malnourished. It seems as if only the honest people are poor in India and want to get rid of their poverty by education, emigration to cities, and immigration, whereas all the corrupt ones, are getting rich through scams and crime. Many of the biggest scandals since 2010 have involved very high levels of government, including Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers, such as in the 2G spectrum scam and the Adarsh Housing Society Scam.

India is corrupted everywhere right from Property registration, Tendering processes and awarding contracts, Medicine in Government Hospitals, Income tax Department, Illegal mining in India, Judiciary, Armed forces, Media bias, Religious institutions and everywhere.

Social welfare worker Anna Hazare has led a movement to compel the Indian Government to notify the Committee for the implementation of the Lokayukta against corruption as an independent body and also giving enough powers to the Lokayukta to also receive corruption complaints against politicians, bureaucrats and even sitting judges. Anna Hazare has achieved this big success through his non-violence measures like fasting till death at the Jantar Mantar place in Delhi Capital City of India . The public also gave nation-wide support to Anna Hazare in his demand for strong and tough anti-corruption law.

India Against Corruption is a movement created by a citizens from a variety of professions and statuses to work against corruption in India. It is currently headed by Anna Hazare. Jaago Re! One Billion Votes is an organization originally founded by Tata Tea and Janaagraha to increase youth voter registration. They have since expanded their work to include other social issues, including corruption. Association for Social Transparency, Rights And Action (ASTRA) is an NGO focused on grass-roots work to fight corruption in Karnataka. One organization, the Lok Satta Movement, has transformed itself from a civil organization to a full-fledged political party, the Lok Satta Party. The party has fielded candidates in Andrha Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Bangalore. In 2008, it obtained its first elected post, when Jayaprakash Narayan won the election for the Kukatpally Assembly Constituency in Andrha Pradesh. Anti corruption is a website that is very popular among people who wants to report a bribe they were forced to give. It also gives various reports on corruption basis the information presented to them by the people. Ejanmat is a site which carries out a voting between the government and Anna Hazare's version of Janlokpal bill. According to a report by KPMG, "high-level corruption and scams are now threatening to derail the country's credibility and [its] economic boom"

Hope you read the edited version of the corruption tale of Wikipedia. I have a poem for so-called Free India..

She was happily smiling before the storm,
invaded her country!
Is that the salt, precious stones or desert sands...?
Never know! But how they invaded so easily!
Gandhiji, Nehruji and many,
fought with the storm to set her free!
But today they have gone,
and spirits have gone low even in some old eyes!
Do we still remember the vision of the struggle for freedom?
or it just stays as a word in our vocabulary?
We have seen India as a slave to the storm,
but what is the difference after independence?
Our politicians are ruling us,
we had fight with others (British),
but how can we fight with our own ones?
Where do we find people like Nehru, Gandhi and Kamaraj?
Instead, we see trash in the green well!
Though the faces change every five years,
We still can see nowhere, no work, no peace, no dedication!
Instead, they just dig the country treasure,
and save them as red treasure in foreign banks!
The white shit's divide us in the name of God.
Have seen this in my eyes, I can imagine,
What it would be for the next generation!
Before dawn, awake once again, stay clean,
and help to clean the white shit’s!
Bring back the treasure that lies miles away,
to glorify the India as it was before the storm!
Don’t just discuss about topics on internet about nation
Dare to ask the government about our rights!
Don’t just say we are a proud Indian
instead, feel proud in eradicating the corruption!
Don’t just divide in the name of religion/language
Instead, live as an Indian in your heart!
Just do not sacrifice one day, but at least one hour per day,
to clean, clear and bring back the sweetness to her!
Let her stay in peace if not today, tomorrow or may be in future,
Let mother India smile to see the new Free India!

Finally, I have a question, ‘Are we really free?’

               JAI HIND
             JAI HIND JAI
              JAI HIND JAI HI
               JAI HIND JAI H
              JAI HIND JAI HI
               JAI HIND JAI
               JAI HIND JAI
                 JAI HIND JAI
                 JAI HIND
                 JAI HIND J
                JAI HIND JAI H
              JAI HIND JAI HIN
             JAI HIND JAI HIN                                  JAI H
           JAI HIND JAI HIND J                               JAI HIND J
          JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI H                 J         JAI HIND J
     JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI              JA     JAI HIND JAI
    JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND J        JA      JAI HIND
     JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIN
      JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND J JAI HIND JAI
       JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND  JAI HIND JAI
JAI HI JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIN        JAI HI
JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND      JAI H
   JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI        JAI
 JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIN        J
   JAI HI JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI
    JAI H JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND J
           JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND
          JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND
           JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI
           JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI
           JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND J
           JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIND
           JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HIN
            JAI HIND JAI HIND JAI HI
             JAI HIND JAI HIND JA
             JAI HIND JAI HIND J
              JAI HIND JAI HIN
               JAI HIND JAI HIN
               JAI HIND JAI HI
                JAI HIND JAI H
                 JAI HIND JAI
                 JAI HIND JAI
                 JAI HIND JAI
                   JAI HIND
                   JAI HIN
                    JAI HI
                     JAI H
                      JAI

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Happy Independence Day!

I whole-heartedly thank every single individual who read this post completely. Thanks for your time and I hope you will consider the appeal and will participate in India Against Corruption Movement.

Copyrights:
Images:
Mahatma Gandhi - Google
India - Generated using Java Script.
Comments - SiS
Words:

Love Sharing?

Corruption Tale - Wikipedia
Facts - Corruption Inida
Poems & Reflections - SiS

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