To be or not to be: The Wistleblower!

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Whistle-blowing is an act best taken with a pinch of salt! Well, we would not say that some years ago when we did not have the examples of Manjunath Shanmugam and Satyendranath Dubey who lost their life trying to bring corruption to light. These were noble people, tried to do their best to fight corruption. They have certainly set an example before all of us. Alas, their assassination raises a serious doubt in the minds of people who otherwise would have contributed equally to the fight against corruption.

The point I am suggesting here is two fold. One, protect whistle-blowers. Two, a step ahead, encourage whistle-blowing. 

The first, one can say, is being taken up by the government of India. This is evident from the fact that we already have the Right To Information act in place. However, this is not sufficient and must be taken forward with protecting the whistle-blowers. The recent anti-corruption movement due to Anna Hazare has helped the corruption issue to gain priority. One can hardly ignore the importance of this movement in highlighting the issue among the government as well as the common man. 

Of course there's a whole another side to it: people are equally responsible for encouraging corruption. Given that both, the beneficiary as well as the benefactor are involved in the act of corruption, the role of a whistle-blower is hard to be observed! This is an everyday case in a metropolitan involving traffic cops, railway ticket examiners and the like. Of course, it's a win-win situation in that case. Who would blow the whistle? 

Well, imagine this situation: I am traveling, but have a reservation in waiting and do not have a confirmed seat yet. I meet the TTE and bribe him in order to get a berth. Later, after I have finished traveling, I report the incident to some vigilance office which is responsible for tackling corruption. I divulge the details of the incident, after which I am given back the bribe amount and given full immunity and protection. Meanwhile, the corrupt TTE is charged with corruption.

This is just one isolated example. But suppose that it were followed for some time, the corrupt officials would notice and would think twice before accepting any bribes. 

As we encourage whistle-blowing, we are in fact trying to bring more and more cases of corruption to light. The only requirement is of a vigilance body which can be relied upon. Such a body must fully contemplate the meaning of immunity and protection. In many of the cases the whistle-blower can be harmed in serious ways including the threat to one's life!

Finally, one might wonder why, if we have so many examples which highlight the need for a corruption handling body, do we have so many instances of corruption and why isn't the government so lazy in acting in that direction? Well, it just might be the case of a win-win situation here!