My fight against corruption!

Someone rightly said, "Today one does not have to be a revolutionary to create a storm. Being honest is enough."

Corruption is the symptom of a disease that has as its progenitors, non-transparency in all government functions and lack of accountability. Called rishwat in the local dialect, corruption is eroding the moral foundations of our society. Kashmiriyat and Kashmir once revered for its morality has become engulfed by sleaze and graft and there is something particularly tragic about watching kill with our own hands the legacy of its moral foundations.

Corruption that is all around us, omnipresent, almost like a distorted, antithetical version of ourselves. It is in every alley you turn into, every nook and cranny you might care to peep into. It happens as much in broad daylight as it does behind closed doors. It is as much a part of my life as it is of yours.If there is corruption in society, each one of us is responsible. It is wrong to blame the system. Why do we separate ourselves from the system? Don't we vote the corrupt to power? Don't we endlessly suffer from all deprivations and refuse to raise our voice?

Against the backdrop of this growing corruption, Kashmir Corruption Watch (KCW) is a humble non political beginning to wean the political establishment and government sector from this menace.Tawdry corruption scandals never reach the headlines and it should be our endeavour to highlight them.

The Forum will take up various campaigns to combat corruption including, 'No Criminals in Politics' as an effort to sensitise citizens not to cast their votes in favour of any candidate with a criminal background and to appeal to political parties not to give electoral tickets to candidates with criminal antecedents.

Friends, in order to ensure that law breakers do not end up as law makers and only men with clean credentials wield democratic power, we need to join hands in our collective effort to curb the menace. To root out corrupt practices from the so called institutions of democracy like the police and bureaucracy and in light of the explosive growing nexus of money, muscle and political power,we need to work towards strengthening governance mechanisms in our lawless state where only political bullying and muscle power is the rule of the game and exposing corrupt practices and perpetrators of such practices is necessary .

We wil have roadblocks, we wil have problems but we need not back track. There will always be obstacles and challenges. Facing them and dealing with them rather than closing our eyes like the proverbial ostrich will be our mantra.
Lets pledge today to fight for a better Kashmir, a corruption free Kashmir.

Corruption as it is today!

Living in the twenty first century, wading through corruption and injustice meted out to underdogs, when we introspect, we can’t really make tall claims! Somewhere along we have failed.  Somewhere along, we lost the will, we lost our way.  With a heavy heart and through gritted teeth, I, like any other citizen, should accept responsibility for the corruption as it stands in my state today; not for doing any corruption myself but by enduring it, by not stopping corrupt people for doing so, having a laid back, lackadaisical attitude, thinking why should I be the one to bother! Till one day it hit me hard that things have gone out of hand.   However, the question I must still ask is,  ‘Can we change? Is there scope for redemption? Is there hope for this state that is hollow on the inside, dead on the outside?’


We as a society suffer from an overflow of unabated diseases with protean manifestations that infect the very organ system of our state which when put together breed more corruption.   However, when asking the citizens for the large scale corruption in our state, it’s mostly the politicians who seem to get the blame and not without any merit.


Our politicians are known for doing U-Turns in their statements and inadvertently perform Freud’s confirmation-by-denial as was seen in the case of Peerzadas and Rathers attempting to absolve themselves.  In attempting to deny, they actually end up confirming the accusation through the inconsistencies of their arguments.


The recent reports from the State Accountability Commission shows how the politicians are looting us left, right and centre and as corruption operations in our state go, it definitely has pizzazz and doesn’t lack in variety too: Unfortunately despite CBI proving the guilt of our politicians, they are never shown the boot. The government’s failure to act is a sign of the desperate deterioration in public institutions of the state.  For most people, corruption is something that must simply be endured. Meanwhile the public face of our Government, seems at best twittering and at worst indifferent to the whole scenario. His abject failure to show any planned leadership during the procession of corruption hitting our state puts the lie to his being the best man for the job.


Having said that,  we cannot exonerate ourselves from our duties as responsible citizens.  Nobody is at all ashamed of the deep-rooted corruption, decaying general quality of life and a worsening Politico-administrative system. By mindless and blindfold corruption, we are simply depriving our children of their fundamental rights to a decent, corruption free and dignified living.


We have to envision this corruption free path for us, for our future generations even though the scale of the task is too huge to comprehend a way out.  We don’t know how destiny would unfold for us, or how life will transform for us. Yet, we have to take the plunge, to step forward into the unforeseen, to find out for ourselves if we had the ability to stand in this world and fight for a corruption free Kashmir.