Dwarka ki Awaaz : FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

*- Rejimon
DO YOU KNOW?
>> India is ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in the world.>> Country loses nearly Rs. 2 lakh crore of revenue every year due to corruption in taxation departments.>> Nearly Rs. 32 thousand crore is paid every year as bribes to corrupt officers.>> Only 3 percent of the population is beneficiary of black economy.>> Percentage of black economy has grown from about 3 percent in the mid fifties to 7 percent in mid sixties to 20 percent by 1980-81, to around 35 percent by 1990-91 and 40 percent by 1994-95. >> According to one estimate, the public sector lost Rs. 30,000 crore through corruption in 1990-91. But for corruption, the rate of profit of the public sector would have been at least 30 percent and not the 5 percent as reported. >> If the size of the black economy was 40 percent of GDP in 1998-99, the loss of direct tax revenue at the prevailing rate of taxes would amount to at least Rs. 200,000 crore. >> Why has the size of black economy grown from around 10 percent in 1971, when the income tax rate was as high as 97.5 percent to the current size of at least 40 percent when the highest income tax rate is down to 30 percent?>> Finance Minister in his budget speech in 1993 made the statement that excise duty evasion may be of the order of 40 percent.>> Money kept abroad (in foreign exchange) by Indians was said to be at least $100 billion (nearly Rs.5 lakh crore) and is growing.>> India is now ranked 70th in the latest ranking of nations released by Transparency International.>> In the Transparency International Bribe Payers Index 2006 released in October 2006, India is at the bottom with a score of just 4.62>> Indian companies are most susceptible to give bribes in order to secure export orders.>> Switzerland is ranked first for combating bribery in the TI Bribery Payers Index.>> More than $ 1 trillion (US $ 1,000 billion) is paid as bribes each year as per a report prepared by the World Bank Institute.>> 75 percent respondents in a Transparency India survey said corruption had increased in the last year.>> A UNDP report states that if corruption came down to Scandinavian levels, growth would jump 1.5 percent and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by 12 percent.>> 31 percent of food grains and 36 percent of sugar intended for distribution under the PDS find their way to the black market.>> An ILO Report published in 2005 states that bribes/deductions were made in 94.4 percent of the cases taken up under self-employment schemes in Uttar Pradesh.>> Bribes and deductions ranged from about 5 percent to 35 percent of the loan sanctioned in most cases.>> The average amount of bribes/deductions, which could be quantified in the ILO study, were Rs.4150 per loan.>> Beneficiaries receiving loans before 1990 paid Rs.2257 on average, while those receiving loans between 1990-1995 paid Rs.2947. Beneficiaries after 1995 paid Rs.5477 per loan.>> Enormous leakages, sometimes up to half or more of the public expenditure, run like a thread through all the anti-poverty programmes in Uttar Pradesh. >> Out of a total of 234 nominees who filed nominations from Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and Bhartiya Janata Party in the Assembly elections to Punjab Legislative Assembly held in February 2007, 175 were crorepatis! Source: http://www.iri.org.in/(INDIA REJUVENATION INITIATIVE).
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*Dear Rejimon,
There may be lot of truth in what you have circulated. Nevertheless, lets introspect is my request. My point is that we Indians may not be that corrupt or dishonest. That we will promptly accept other person to be a cheat, corrupt and dubious. On the other hand, we will mostly be critical and doubtful of another mans' virtues, honesty and sincerety - I often here snyde remarks about a good action by a fellow being- like he is 'chamcha' or trying to establish (before showing his true colours) and like...
Why are we tempted to defile another? My point is that we Indians are really not half as bad as we portray ourselves and that the crooked among us often successfully jockey to get into positions where they can flourish- and that includes politicians.
regards,
vk ahluwalia.

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*Ahluwaliaji,
I agree with you.. and NO DOUBT WE INDIAN ARE better than any one and I am proud of my country so do countrymen.
HOWEVER, a Minority of people who are actually cause corruption or harming the country.
The service class pays through their nose all the taxes and taxes over taxes and Service taxes... Where as we will see from small shop owners to big corporates all use various loopholes to evade tax...
Our system is like that.. the profit making people declare themselves as Farmer or show another company as loss making etc..and evade crores of tax. Many of Dwarkites bought flats throgh loan and all arrangements, however today people (businessmen) buying a 4 bedroom set for 1.5 crore in dwarka..should we belive that they pay tax for all this money?
If we just focus in Delhi for example take a makret like SADAR BAZAR..the amount of transaction happens there and amount of tax collected.. Huge difference..?? Where as an employee he may be even peon with a salary of 10000 in a good office pays tax as his employer will have to deduct tax or he will be complied to have Insurance or home loan and what not.. and if his medical reimbursement is over 15000 again he has to pay tax for that. This medical expense he spend from his already taxed amount.. These are some of the facts came to my mind.. I am not an expert in this field..
We middle class spend over 90% of our expenses through Credit Card or Cheques or ATM withdrawal(100% White). The credit card transactions are actully in my opinon are best it reduce black money, it reduce work load of accounting, it helps maintain records electronically and also reduce the risk of business man who otherwise have to deposit the cash to bank and on his way to bank he may be looted. However, we again pay surcharge for using the credit card...
what i have quoted is the info from the site of http://www.iri.org.in/.
I am not against businessmen or people who got money after all they also invest, take risk and of course they too work hard to achieve all this.
Well this is my personal view on a system and I know it takes time to change the system and hopeful our system will change and treat all equal.
Thanks,
Rejimon


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*what mr regimon has pointed out is about a few crooked section of our society who are responsible for the disease of corruption, it is good to be optimistic about our country after all sensex is touching great heights but when we point out any defects in the system it does not mean we are less than patriotic it would be a case of "shooting the messenger" who brings bad news. the reports are all genuinely based on facts and from the amount of media information, it seems the disease is deep rooted and it is not just few crooked men. Again, we have been witness to the state of affairs whereas even presentation of audio and video evidence is dismissed as fabricated by the accused, such have become the depths of our moral conscience nowadays, so who is right and who is wrong is difficult to say, and more difficult this judgment process becomes ,better the situation for the culprit since this is exactly the atmosphere needed by those indulging in evil.
Nowadays we as a family cannot watch any news channel since everywhere there is news of corruption/scams/growing crime! and these are not media generated news (barring one or two black sheep).
if our finance ministry is so keen to convert black into white money why not start just from those segments of business where CASH is the normal way of payment instead of continuous exploitation of salaried middle class.
Point is, in dwarka mainly residents are from this class and we feel the pinch since as soon as we are paid Rs.100, already our Rs.30 gets deducted and we do not see the conversion of this revenue into city welfare.
LET WE MEMBERS OF DWARKA FORUM AT LEAST TAKE FEW PLEDGES INCLUDING NOT TO PAY BRIBES, CAN WE?
Curiously in one of judgements recently, the Mumbai HC has allowed "baksheesh" as a valid business expense by large business houses?! but not to individuals. how and why is subject to courts or IT officers' judgement! any comments?
respected readers, views are totally personal and not meant to hurt anyone so please read it and dismiss it if you wish. we are a free country and everyone lives the life in his own way.
- pradeep k. ivon

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*Hi2 all,Optimism is healthy.But my society managing members say that they found 100% offices corrupt. In our society, 9 months were lost before handing over flats to members due to delay in getting electricity/ water/ lift licence/ fire clearance/ DDA completion certificate etc. Not a single department gave certificate without their bakshish. Bargaining only delayed the things resulting in loss of Rs. 45000/- to me alone after retirement , towards rent somewhere else though the flats were ready. This way it is almost 100% corruption raj in India.Inspectors said they have to send money up to top. Lift inspector demanded 5100/- per lift. When asked to reduce at least Rs.100/-, he refused saying every thing is precisely predetermined.This all is open secret. Society top-beares have to take admission fee in cash to meet these black requirements. In govt offices I have seen, for govt work also they have to pay bribe. Even ministers advice their near friends to pay bribe & get work done as otherwise thru' them it will be delayed.Honest officers are misfit & called fools. They are either forced to take or liquidated.
---satish onkar

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*Dear Sirs,
It is more useful to catch or to bring to the light even a single case of corruption. Everybody knowsthat corruption has crossed limits. Even, some CBI and CVC officers - whose job is to eradicate thecorruption - have been caught red handed taking bribes. Everybody knows that it is being practiceddaily in the open on the Delhi's and elsewhere on roads in the form of entry fee being paid by theprivate vehicle staff to Political corruption is the mother of all corruption but in politics, corruption and criminilasation remains though the Courts and the Election Commission have tried to cap this. Now, even the fingers are being raised on the former CJI, Mr. Y.K. Sabharwal, and for this, four journalists of mid-day have beensentenced by the Delhi High Court but the same has been deferred to allow the appeal before the SC whichis pending before the apex court. The Lok Pal bill is pending for the last 38 years on the small issue ofwhether to include the Prime Minister in its purview or not. This is nothing the lack of will power ofpoliticians to have some authority to watch them.People's empowerment through the power of RTI has had some impact over the bureaucrats and electedrepresentatives in the matter of using Local Area Fund.We, the voters, can play an important role by using the power of ballot by rejecting the corruptcandidates.
Yours truly,
MK Gupta

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*How do we fight against all of this when the government has just announced 'Bakshish' as official, leads one to think where we are headed, we must be one democracy with most un-democratic ways. But yes the education starts at home, let us become responsible citizens and start with our own circle of friends and relatives, let us form smaller focus groups to educate and inform our respective societies to create awareness and more responsible citizens, it can be done, believe me.
Also would like to create greater awareness ahead of the festive season as it only gets worse at this time of the year. The sector 6/10 markets and now even sector 4/5 will start flouting rules more casually than ever. I want the liquor shops moved out of residential complexes, its a shame and utter disgrace to have men drinking in the cars and passing lewd comments on passersby and police seated comfortably in the beat boxes having a good view of it all. How do we do it?
vandana verma

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*Vandanaji,
If you read earlier posting(msgs) in the group by visiting link http://groups.google.com/group/Dwarka-residents?hl=enyou may noticed this issue of Encroachment have come up at a number of times..
What should we do ?
Well as individual we all must make a complaint to DDA, who is responsible(In the past some of us made few complaints and RTI there was slight improvement, however, all back to square one now). By festive season now these market will be fully encroached and also pose great risk from terrorist strike if the gathering are this way with conjested.
Regarding Liquor shops again, I think as per Govt Policy and amendment it is now allowed in markets, so I dont know how far we willbe able to remove them from markets. HOWEVER, WE MUST ALL UNITED to STOP people Drinking in OPEN/PUBLIC and this not diffrent from any CRIME. Which is possible at least immediately.
You must write an email to ys.dadwal@nic.in (New Commissioner of Police) along with new DCP South West (Ms. Shalini Singh A women officer shalinisinghips@yahoo.com ).
If no response then file an RTI.
Many people make these issue for discussion but SCARED of writing to authorities especially police etc.. It s not the same as earlier at least we could expect some improvement.. and if they dont response,, we have the options like RTI and these officials were well aware of the fact they they have to act otherwise will caught off guard by RTI applications.
Ladies and Gentlemen...! Its time to act now.. Last week i found interesting that many of you responding to fight agains tcorruption subject..
My request to each one of you as individuals or associations, please make complaints followed by RTI.. Lets try this festive season we will limit the encroachement in these sectors..WHY DONT WE PLEDGE LETS FIGHT THIS CORRUPT PRACTISE IN OUR OWN NEIGHBOURHOOD?
Thanks,
Rejimon

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*Friends,we all have admitted that corruption is disease. We know the consequence/adverse effect also. The biggest question is when everything is clear why we are not in a position to control it?In our society it is now presumed that honest are only those who does not get any opportunity to be in a part of corruption. This situation has not come in a day or two. Since the person indulges in such thing receives high regard from us that is why one tempts to go for it. All recognise rich people in the society no one bothers how a person becomes rich. It indicates there is some encouragement for it but no resistance is seen from the society. We express our feeling so frequently but we do not have even time when it matters most. This is the situation we have right now. Keeping in view it is important to take initiative at least individually. Some how we have to create a situation where those who involves in corruption feel uncomfortable. How this will happen?Always respect those who are honest irrespective of his/her status socially/economically. This is missing in our society. At least this will be a beginning from our side. We are more that 850 and imagine how much impact we can give all around. There is no scarcity of followers in India but we do not have many beginners.
Regards
Sushil

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When we talk about corruption, we never notice that we are involved in hypocricy. We think that we are talking about a society of which we are not a part of. Ironically this type of peope are clearly identifiable yet not separable from the society.
In fact we have absolute corrupt people among our friends and relatives and whenever we talk to them we do not dare to tell them that they are corrupt. instead of this they earn our respect by becoming rich. One of the ways to eliminate corruption is to boycott such people in our friends circle and relations. All of you know such
people in your circle bby nnames.
- bsnain

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Exactly right. We tend to forget that the politicians that we have didn't descend from heaven. They weren't sent by a God above. They are a pick out the common people. Common people in India are corrupt. I'm not common therefore I am not corrupt. I may be corrupting....but not corrupt. If I feel that I can get things done faster or I feel that things will never happen without money I will hand it over. But I will never ever ever ever take money for performing my services. I wouldn't be able to live with myself or function normally because the mental stress, knowing that I had dishonored my profession. In any case in my profession there is no scope for corruption so maybe I shouldn't make that statement as of yet. But I know that I know the difference between right and wrong, and would be very afraid to bring disrepute to my loved ones if I did something like that. My hands would tremble with fear at the thought of being caught. taking bribe is like committing theft as far I am concerned. The common man however wouldn't think twice about it. Alas if there were alot more people in this country like ME, India would be a far better place. But I'm selfish, I only talk. I believe that I am responsible for the problems that I create and being a leader would mean cleaning up other people's messes and other peoples problems. Who has the time to get out and actually do things when talking is so much easier?. I really salute those who get up from their chair say enough is enough and decide to actually do something in socirty that would bring about tangible results, for as far as I am concerned when it comes to doing I am *very common*.
- Johnson


Source: Dwarka Parichay News & Information Services

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