The Longest Journey Begins With The First Step

In my Blog of September 22nd,  I had hoped that the the corruption of the Common Wealth Games  highlighted by the media would be the trigger for the start of a movement which demands  accountability from  public officials . Also investigations are underway to see far the corruption went.


Yesterday the investigative authority  announced the arrest of  two members  of the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games  . It remains to be seen whether the " big fish" will also be netted or is it just some small fry getting gutted ?

However a few other  events over the last couple of months makes one think that finally steps are being taken - even if they are small steps.

 1. A NGO called Janagraha has launched a website called (http://ipaidabribe.com/) where you can go online and report the payment of a bribe to get something done. Your identity is apparently not disclosed.

2. The removal of the  Telecoms Minister who while granting spectrum license's  has apparently enabled the state to loose thousands of   crore's  in potential revenues. The exact numbers vary from report to report.

3. Mr.Ratan Tata one of the most respected industrialist after remaining silent for many years has gone public that the reasons why they are not in the airlines business ( despite the fact that Air India was started and run by the Tata group and was reportedly the role model for Singapore Airlines),is  because he was unwilling to pay a bribe  to a politician as was advised by a fellow industrialist.

4. The Adarsh Housing Society  Scam in which Defense Services personnel and state politicians got together to allocate themselves flats in a building in a prime location in Mumbai at a throw away price.

5. A former Army Chief has been accused by the media for having assets beyond his means.

While some of these are still investigated, the very fact that these are being raised in the media and the Government taking steps to investigate them  is an encouraging sign. Hopefully the guilty will be punished and not protected for political expediency's sake.

While one can be cynical and say that nothing is going to come off it, I would like to think that we are moving in the right direction. These are  small steps individually, but as the Chinese say - " The longest  journey begins with the first step". I think we are seeing  the first step being taken !!!