Muscle power impacts justice.

Deccan Chronicle; Bengaluru; Sunday, May 01, 2011,

With the arrest of Suresh Kalmadi, impending arrests of others like Kanimozhi and the booking of Micky Pacheco and other top CEOs, are the youth impressed by the actions of the judiciary against scams? A majority feels that enough hasn’t been done to curb corruption. “Most powerful personalities will evade the law and continue their corrupt practices,” says 23-year-old Bharath Shetty, an MBA graduate. The youngster opines that the RTI act and the efforts of activists, has brought corruption under the public scanner. “However, in the case of the 2G scam, only the tip of the iceberg has been exposed. And I am not sure whether the guilty will be punished. Most corrupt individuals often get away scot-free,” he adds. Twenty-four-year-old Sandeep Singh, a business administration student says, “Public-memory is short-lived so corruption will be rampant again.” Many are even comparing the anti-corruption drive to the anti-caste system movement that happened four to five decades ago. It had mobilised youth then as the anti corruption movement headed by Anna Hazare has done now. Will corruption remain rampant in the future as does caste system now, even amidst mass protests? “People need to address corruption in their daily life. From paying small bribes to the traffic cops for jumping signals to paying millions for top level contracts, we need to actively denounce corruption to be able to wipe it out,” says Vincent George, a social science student. In the past few months we have seen thousands of youngsters take to the streets to express their solidarity with Anna Hazare and fight corruption. But, recently this enthusiasm has been restricted only to a few leaders and top activists. “People in this country don’t bother unless an issue affects their lives directly. Also, many youngsters passionately support such movements but only temporarily and then move on. This needs to change,” adds Sandeep. Meanwhile, law student Aniket Gowda believes that despite having numerous laws to tackle corruption, our country falls prey to this malaise. “The system is so used to corruption that unless it is changed, corruption can’t be weeded out,” he adds.