Corruption in India

Corruption is not a new phenomenon in India. It has been prevalent in society since ancient times. History reveals that it was present even in the Mauryan period. Great scholar Kautilya mentions the pressure of forty types of corruption in his contemporary society. It was practised even in Mughal and Sultanate period. When the East India Company took control of the country, corruption reached new height. Corruption in India has become so common that people now are averse to thinking of public life with it.

Corruption has been defined variously by scholars. But the simple meaning of it is that corruption implies perversion of morality, integrity, character or duty out of mercenary motives, i.e. bribery, without any regard to honour, right and justice. In other words, undue favour for any one for some monetary or other gains is corruption. Simultaneously, depriving the genuinely deserving from their right or privilege is also a corrupt practice. Shrinking from one’s duty or dereliction of duty are also forms of corruption. Besides, thefts, wastage of public property constitute varieties of corruption. Dishonesty, exploitation, malpractices, scams and scandals are various manifestations of corruption.

Corruption is not a uniquely Indian phenomenon. It is witnessed all over the world in developing as well as developed countries. It has spread its tentacles in every sphere of life, namely business administration, politics, officialdom, and services. In fact, there is hardly any sector which can be characterised for not being infected with the vices of corruption. Corruption is rampant in every segment and every section of society, barring the social status attached to it. Nobody can be considered free from corruption from a high ranking officer.

To root out the evil of corruption from society, we need to make a comprehensive code of conduct for politicians, legislatures, bureaucrats, and such code should be strictly enforced. Judiciary should be given more independence and initiatives on issues related to corruption. Special courts should be set-up to take up such issues and speedy trial is to be promoted. Law and order machinery should be allowed to work without political interference. NGOs and media should come forward to create awareness against corruption in society and educate people to combat this evil. Only then we would be able to save our system from being collapsed.

The Causes for the Rise of Communalism in India

Communalism arises among the society when a particular religious or sub-religious group tries to promote its own interests at the expense of others. In simple terms, it can be defined as to distinguish people on the basis of religion.
Following are the factors responsible for the growth of Communalism in India:
(I) Divide and Rule Policy of the British:
The British rulers adopted the policy of 'Divide and Rule' to strengthen their roots while living in India. They divided the people of various communities of India and spread the feeling of distrust among them and hence they sowed the seeds of communalism in India.
(ii) Political Organisations:
Different communal organisations are found in India which have created hatred among the people of various religious communities by propagating, and hence they are the root cause of communalism.
(iii) Inertia indifferent Government:
When the government does not take proper action at the proper time, communalism spreads among the subjects. Sometimes the government favours on the religion and leave others which create differences.
(iv) Ineffective Handling of Communal Riots:
Sometimes the state governments have been proved ineffective to curb the communal riots in their respective states. It also results in spreading the communalism.
As the result of the above factors, communalism is raising its ugly face in India after the Independence and also creating great problems even in the working of Indian political system.
Remedies:
1. The remedy of constitutional safeguards to root out the chronic malaise of communalism and casteism shall not have desired effect unless it is tackled by society itself.
2. Efforts should be made by the enlightened citizens to discourage the communal and caste based forces from the social, political and electoral process in order to make these forces irrelevant. They are to be opposed not to be appeased.
3. Communal carnage and caste wars should be dealt strictly with new strategies.

4. To usher an era of social equity and sarva dharma sambhava the people of India should not mix religion and caste with politics to attain the goal of common brotherhood for the unity and integrity of the nation.

History of Indian Post Card

            The quarter anna post card was introduced for the first time by the Indian Post Office in July 1879. This was meant to provide postage from one place to another within British India. This was the cheapest form of post provided to the Indian people to date and proved a huge success.

The establishment of a large postal system spanning India resulted in unprecedented postal access where a message on a postcard could be sent from one part of the country to another part (often to a physical address without a nearby post office) without additional postage affixed. This was followed in April 1880 by postcards meant specifically for government use and by reply post cards in 1890. The postcard facility continues to this date in Independent India.

Post Cards Elsewhere

            The private postal card was developed by John P. Charlton of Philadelphia in 1861 for which he obtained the copyright which was later transferred to H.L. Lipman. The cards were adorned with a small border and labeled "Lipman's Postal Card, Patent Applied For".  They were on the market until 1873 when the first Government Postcards appeared.

The United States issued pre-stamped postal cards in 1873.  The United States Postal Service was the only one allowed to print the cards until May 19, 1898 when Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act which then allowed private firms to produce cards.  The private mailing cards cost one cent to mail instead of the letter rate which was two cents.  The term "Private Mailing Card" was required to be printed on cards that were not printed by the United States Postal Service.  Only the government was allowed to print the word "Postcard" on the back of postcards.  Private printers used the terms, Souvenir Card, Correspondence Cards and Mail Cards. 

Political and Nationalist Organizations

S. No.    Organization                           Place            Year             Founder

1.           Landholders Society                 Calcutta       1838             D. N. Tagore

2.           British India Society                 London         1839             William Adams

3.           British India Society                 Calcutta       1843             Social Workers

4.           British India Association          Calcutta       1851             Devendranath

5.           Madras Native Association       Madras         1852             Social workers

6.           Bombay Association                 Bombay        1852             Jagnnath Shankar

7.           London India Committee          London         1862             C. P. Mudaliar

8.           East India Association              London         1866             Dadabhai Naoroji

9.           National India Association       London         1867             Mary Carpenter

10.         Indian Society                           London         1872             Anand Mohan Bose

11.         Indian Association                    Calcutta       1876             Anand Mohan Bose and S. N. Banerjee

12.         Indian National Society            Calcutta       1883             Sisir Chandra Bose

13.         Indian National Conference     Calcutta       1883             S. N. Banerjee

14.         Madras Mahajan Sabha          Madras         1884             V. Raghavachari and S. Aiyyar

15.         Bombay Presidency                  Bombay        1885             Ferozshah Mehta and

              Association                                                                         Telang

16.         Indian National Congress        Bombay        1885             A. O. Hume

17.         United Indian Patriotic             Aligarh         1888             Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan

              Organization

18.         Servants of Indian Society       Bombay        1905             G. K. Gokhale

19.         Home Rule League                    Pune             1915             Annie Besant and Tilak

20.         U. P. Kisan Sabha                    Lucknow       1918             M. M. Malviya, Gauri Shankar and Indra Narayan

21.         Ahmedabad Textiles Labour     Ahmedabad  1918             Mahatma Gandhi

              Association

22.         National Liberal Federation     Calcutta       1918             S. N. Banerjee

23.         Communist Party of India        Tashkent      1920             M. N. Roy

24.         Servant of People Society         Lahore          1920             Lala Lajpat Rai

25.         Awadh Kisan Party                   Pratagarh     1920             J. L. Nehru, Gouri Shankar and Ramchandra

26.         Indian Trade Union Congress  Lucknow       1920             N. M. Joshi

27.         Communist Group of India       Calcutta       1921             Nalini Gupta

28.         Swaraj Party                             Delhi             1923             Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das

29.         All India Communist Party       Kanpur         1924             Satyabhbakta

30.         Rashtriya Swayam Sevek         Nagpur         1925             K. V. Hedgewar

              Sangh

31.         All India Women Conference    Madras         1927             Sadashiva Iyer

32.         Labour Swaraj Party                Calcutta       1928             Qazi Nazrul Islam

33.         Khudai Khidmatgar                  Peshwar       1929             Abdul Gaffar Khan

34.         Congress Socialist Party          Kanpur         1934             Narayan Dev and J. P. Narayan

35.         Progressive writers Group        Lucknow       1936             Premchand

36.         All India Kisan Sabh                Lucknow       1936             Sahjanand and N. G. Ranga

37.         All India Student Federation    Lucknow       1936             Minoo Masani, Asbok Mehta and Dr. Ashraf

38.         Forward Block                          Calcutta       1939             S. C. Bose

39.         Indian Bolshevik Party             Calcutta       1939             N. D. Majumdar

40.         Radical Democratic Party         Calcutta       1940             M. N. Roy

41.         Indian Bolshevik Lenin Party   Calcutta       1941             Ajit Rai and Indrasen

42.         Revolutionary Socialist Party   Calcutta       1942             S. N. Tagore

Important Socio-religious organization

S. No.    Organization                           Place            Year             Founder

1.           Atmiya Sabha                           Calcutta       1815             Raja Ram Mohan Roy

2.           Brahmo Samaj                         Calcutta       1828             Raja Ram Mohan Roy

3.           Dharma Sabha                         Calcutta       1829             Radha Kant Deo

4.           Tatvabhodhini                          Calcutta       1839             D. N. Tagore

5.           Parmahansa Mandali               Bombay        1849             Social Group

6.           Radhaswami Satsang               Agra              1861             Tulsi Ram

7.           Brahma Samaj of India            Calcutta       1866             Keshab Chandra Sen

8.           Prathna Samaj                         Bombay        1867             Atmaram Pandurang

9.           Arya Samaj                               Bombay        1875             Dayanand Saraswati

10.         Theosophical Society                New York      1875             Madam Blatvasky and Col. Olcott

11.         Sadharan Brahmo Samaj        Calcutta       1878             Anand Mohan Bose and Shivnath Shastri

12.         Deccan Education Society        Poona           1884             G. G. Agarkar

13.         Indian National Social Conf.    Bombay        1887             M. G. Ranade

14.         Dev Samaj                                Lahore          1887             Shivanarayan Agnihotri

15.         Ramkrishna Mission                Belur            1897             Swami Vivekanand

16.         Servant of India Society           Bombay        1905             G. K. Gokhale

17.         Poona Seva Sadan                    Poona           1909             Ramabai Ranade and G. K. Deodhar

18.         Social Service League               Bombay        1911             N. M. Joshi

19.         Seva Samiti                              Allahabad     1914             H. N. Kunjru

20.         Seva Samiti boy’s scout            Bombasy      1914             Sriram Vijpayee

              Association

21.         Women’s India                          Madras         1923             Women’s Association

22.         Rahnumaji Mazdayasan          Bombay        -                    Naoroji and Benglaee

                                                                                                         Sabha

objectives of right to information act 2005

RTI act  is a practical extension to rights's available for citizens of India for a more wholesome approach towards their involvement in their government and specifically Right to Information.

Where does this legislature derive it's power from, it is the people of India. There is written preamble with constitution which clearly states

One would say what is all this, I am not getting my degree recognized, no water ,electricity connection, no driving license, my land records are not updated, or his connecting road is substandard , or there is feeling of corruption in some on going project, it brings the question of having an method to getting grievance resolved, in a lawful manner, which is cheap, accessible, easy to use , simple.

Here is the most important point, we the people not I or me , we the people is not a single person, group, society, caste, or up to the point of a state government , there is rule of law which is supreme, Constitution is supreme law of Indian government.

There are many mechanisms for people of India if they feel short of their rights

•             Right to constitutional remedies [Article 32 to 35] empowers the citizens to move a court of law in case of any denial of the fundamental rights. In simple word any person can ask the courts for his rights, but the problem with this measure is that courts can go into wrong doings of law only and that to up to a point, courts can't get into policy decisions of executive , and they can't force someone from doing corruption, abuse of power, delaying, inaction.

•             Next comes the simple one which was a common method for getting things done as they should be not as they are currently done,writing petition , representation ,memorandum . We daily see people giving it to tahsildars, collectors, ministers,Chief ministers, Governors, Prime Minister, President.

shortcomings of these methods are

•             first no one bothers to answers these methods,

•             second even if someone bothers to answer, it is not time bound , justice delayed is justice denied.

Here comes the RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT 2005 , there were many preexisting state acts before this , but this is nationwide act (except Jammu and Kashmir, they have similar act) , giving uniformity to the procedure.

Not going into detail about Rti  act , I am going to post a image explaining the need of Rti Act 2005

indian states in the eighteenth century -Awadh

·        The founder of the autonomous kingdom of Avadh was Saadat Khan Burhanul-Mulk who was appointed as Governor of Avadh in 1722. He was an extremely bold, energetic, iron-willed, and intelligent person.

·        At the time of Burhan-ul-Mulk’s appointment, rebellious zamindars had raised their heads everywhere in the province. They refused to pay the land tax, organized their own private armies, erected forts, and defied the Imperial Government.

·        For years, Burhan-ul-Mulk had to wage war upon them. He succeeded in suppressing lawlessness and disciplining the big zamindars and thus, increasing the financial resources of his government.

·        Burhan-ul-Mulk also carried out a fresh revenue settlement in 1723, as he was asked to improve the peasant condition by protecting them from oppression by the big zamindars.

·        Like the Bengal Nawabs, Burhan-ul-Mulk too did not discriminate between Hindus and 'Muslims. Many of his commanders and high officials were Hindus and he 'curbed refractory zamindars, chiefs, and nobles irrespective of their religion. His troops were well-paid, well-armed, and Well-trained.

·        Before his death in 1739, Burhan-ul-Mulk had become virtually independent and had made the province a hereditary possession.

·        Burhan-ul-Mulk was succeeded by his nephew Safdar Jang, who was simultaneously appointed the wazir of the Empire in 1748 and granted in addition the province of Allahabad.

·        Safdar Jang suppressed rebellious zamindars and made an alliance with the Maratha Sardars so that his dominion was saved from their incursions.

·        Safdar Jang gave a long period of peace to the people of Avadh and Allahabad before his death in 1754.