Information & the Anti-Corruption Movement in India

If you had asked me two years ago if I expected to find a reduction in corruption in India during my lifetime, I would have said no. The situation had been so bad for so long, and was in fact getting worse. But now, suddenly, so much is happening so fast! 

It has been said that Internet based tools have speeded up political changes in many countries in the recent past. I don’t see much reason to believe that Internet based communication tools have made much difference on the Indian political scene. Of course there have been the famous (:=) remark about “cattle class” travel and the recent one about “mango men in a banana republic”. Most of us have read about them in newspapers or heard about them on TV. I do use Facebook, Twitter and Linked in, but I do not see many Indians using them for political activity.

All this calls for serious research – what is speeding up the anti-corruption ferment in India now? How has it become so rapid - so much so that now I worry about change being managed carefully so that the country does not become worse before it becomes better?

Let me hazard my guess. The major factors have been the arrival of independent TV channels on the scene, followed by a rapid increase in the number of such channels. Add to this Direct-To-Home telecasting and the Right to Information Act! You have enough to start a big change. The TV channels have even woken up our stodgy newspapers and made them significant players in the revolution.

How cozy would it have been for the political class to have stayed with the obedient Doordarshan as the only TV service provider? Did they foresee the current ferment? They have seen a few tsunamis now! But do they realize that the Indian climate change is going to be huge and irreversible? What do they plan to do about it? Will they play a role as agents of change or will they become the victims of change?

Srinivasan Ramani