Report on

The Epic Fraud that was ‘India Against Corruption’

Article By:- Mihir S Sharma
Date:- April 10, 2021
Published By:- Business Standard

Prepared By:
Name: Akshaya Kumar
Roll No.: 20325701798
Course: Masters in Corporate Communication Management (MCCM)
Semester: Second
Subject: CC-07: Communications Research Methods
Department: Journalism and Mass communication
 India’s Anti-Corruption Movement & Measures- An Epic Fraud

Introduction:

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil,

But by those who watch them without doing anything”
-Albert Einstein
One of the most dramatic social movements witnessed in India was the campaign on 'India against
Corruption', spearheaded by a group of social activists, non-ruling leaders, public and media led by an
octogenarian Gandhian– Anna Hazare. Anna Hazare, a follower of Gandhian principles, opted for
fasting unto death and demanded the enactment of the long-pending Jan Lokpal Bill (Anti-Corruption
Law). The movement is considered to be a milestone in the constitutional history of India forcing the
government to accept civil society’s demand to have a say in drafting the stringent anti-corruption law,
the Lokpal Bill but it was a huge drastic fraud.
Interestingly, the movement also successfully galvanized mass support from the public and persuade the
media took up the topic so much so that today corruption is highlighted as a major social issue in India
after remained invisible for decades after Independence. One remarkable trend is that it has exhibited the
shift like the social movements in India from being predominantly rural to now including urban citizens
as well as media. The major combatants of the Anna campaign are educated and urbane.
Hence, this movement as well as similar citizen protests, with the educated and conscious youth at their
center demanding accountability and governance reforms has enough potential to make democracy more
inclusive and participatory.
Aim:

India's ‘usually apathetic and complicit-in-corruption urban middle class’ has thrown its support behind
anti-graft corruption campaigner Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan. In April ten years
ago, a 74-year-old ex-soldier and social activist, Anna Hazare, emerged as the unlikely leader of a
largely middle-class popular movement demanding the enactment of a new law to establish a powerful
anti-corruption agency—the Lokpal (ombudsman). The proposal for the establishment of a Lokpal has
been debated in India since the 1960s but nothing has come of it. Hazare, who has in the past run
successful anti-corruption campaigns in his home state of Maharashtra, says that he had written several
letters to the prime minister demanding the passage of a strong Lokpal bill by the parliament but did not
get a satisfactory response. Frustrated by government inaction, he went on a hunger strike in the heart of
New Delhi. Also the media bears a great deal of the blame because it covered these protests endlessly,
exhaustively, and incredibly supportively without any personal bias of his interest.

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Objective of the Study:
This report is an attempt to assess and highlight the growing influence of corruption and anti-corruption
movement in vociferously public, media and non-ruling government leader which was organised to
fulfil personal bias and agenda for those who are interlinked with this movement. Corruption as we
know is in the lifeblood of all the leaders and social activists and become an essential part of our ideal
society. The objective of the study intends to include the following:
 To trace the nature of the contemporary social movements with a specific focus on the anti-
corruption movement in the larger spectrum of the history of social movements in India.
 To analyze the points of convergence and divergence between the movements of the last century
and the more recent ones of the 21st century.
 To investigate how these infrequent upheavals are being sensationalized and waved away by
candid mass public and enthusiastically supportive media who were categorised under dupes,
enablers or bigots.
 To analyze the specific spaces and relationships (mainly with the government) of these
movement and how they are legitimized in the changing socio-economic context of India.
 Demand for a strong ‘Anti Corruption Law’
 Demand for involving civil society in drafting of this law by forming a joint drafting committee.
 During the drafting of the bill, serious differences emerged, raising questions about the intent of
the government.
Methodology:

Report in common parlance refers to the actual knowledge which is derived from the research. One can
also define report as a scientific and systematic search for knowledge on a specific article. The
columnist has adopted the data and activity of all the non-ruling government from the past which are
directly and indirectly involved in the movement and also detailed views of their interviews given to
various News channel and also opinions from the vociferously public about the movement which are
also involved in the support of the movement. The columnist here also present his personal views about
the movement after the decade has gone and now all the enthusiastically supportive public and media
understand What is the truth behind the ‘India’s Anti- Corruption Movement’ was.
Findings:

This article begins with the demonstration of the little known activist from Maharashtra and turned into
a “movement” enthusiastically supported by the media, people of all age groups, and also by the leaders
on non-ruling government or who want to remove the ruling government who is in the power at that
time.

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But all this is deceitful fraud for all the people of the Country and media who are supporting the
movement without questioning that What is the result of the movement at the end?
The result is very clear after a decade that everyone from the leaders of non-ruling government is
fulfilling their personal interest and bias and also wants to comes in the power and to become the
government of the Country itself and also it happens they come in power and the people who are
supporting the movement vociferously are you can say that dupes, enablers or bigots.

Conclusion:

The current report on the article The epic fraud that was ‘India against Corruption’ and the movement
which was led by Anna Hazare proves that it is an upsurge relatively unique, distinctive, and inimitable
in nature. It has not only established deeper connections with the ordinary citizens, irrespective of the
socio-economic backgrounds that they represent, but has also stimulate the droves dynamics of
relationships between the State on one hand and the civil and political societies on the other. The aspect
of ‘mass mobilization’ drawn in by the movement seems unparalleled in the recent history of social
movements in India.
Broadly speaking, the Anna movement has two components: First is the core one, the urban and
educated youth group commonly referred to as ‘Shining India'; Second is a smaller and less assertive
group constituted of the deprived sections of people who search for a platform to express their distress
with the worsening conditions and sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities and problems of daily
life; Third one is the Media who covered these protests endlessly, exhaustively, and incredibly
supportively without any personal bias or interest.
Simultaneously, Hazare's ‘Team Anna' comprises of diverse people, engaged with different social
issues, including reforms in the judiciary, bonded labour, communal amity, non-ruling government
leaders with their personal interest and bias, etc., co-existing with grass-root level social activists
working for social change. The movement largely symbolized an explosion by the Indian citizens
against an inactive State suffering from acute stagnation in addressing a burning social issue like
corruption, promptly and demanding. In that respect, the Anna movement has been successful at
catching the imagination of a large section of people on one level.
In fact, the methodologies adopted by the Anna Team like Twitter updates, SMS campaigns, candlelight
vigils, and media management – all have successfully blazed the idealism of 21st century India’s
intentional and informed masses. Hardly any movement in the recent past has been able to attract the
masses to such a great extent.

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On the other hand, the movement has brought to the forefront the uncertainty, confusion, retribution and
confrontation that exist between the State and political society. There was a visible rift between the State
and political parties on the Lokpal Bill. Confusion between the two persevere to such an extent that
Parliamentary debates even raised questions regarding the effectiveness and supremacy of the
Parliament comprising of people’s elected representatives as against the citizens themselves. The
movement also opened a new debate so far as the functioning of representative democracy is considered
– whether political participation beyond the above-mentioned fixed institutional/ Constitutional forms
like Parliament will be more effective in India – parliamentary democracy vs. democratic society?
The conflicting stands and disconnects among the various forces within civil society were also reflected
around the developments that the Anna upsurge had generated.
Finally, it is worth mentioning here that the Anna movement could be converted into a spectacular
phenomenon in no time because of the huge overblown by the media. Constant live coverage and the
extreme hype created sensationalized the whole process. Most television/ radio anchors have been found
yelling and spurring the common masses to come out in support and even to be a part of the upsurge,
thereby drastically increasing the speed of the mass awareness.
The single point agenda of Anna’s movement is to suppress the widespread corruption from Indian
Democracy and society as a whole. More than one draft of the Lokpal Bill indeed made by various other
civil society activists have been cruising around, but it is only Team Anna’s constant efforts that Anna’
Hazare’s version of the Bill has successfully been able to spawn a mass campaign give rise to a
mammoth uproar within and outside the geographical boundary of India. Probably, the biggest success
of Team Anna’s ‘India against Corruption movement is that it has been able to keep the prolonged issue
of ‘corruption’ alive and has relocated it candidly under the public limelight!

Recommendation:

 The first tool is education. We can minimize corruption with the help of education. According to
a survey conducted by India today the least corrupt state is Kerala, the reason being that in
Kerala literacy rate is highest in India.
 We need to change the government processes. In India, there is a rule that no person as a
criminal shall be allowed as the MP or MLA. Unfortunately, a fairly large number of them are a
part of it. Therefore a major shift in the government processes and administrative policies can
make them more public-oriented.

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 We can reduce corruption by increasing direct contact between the government and the
governed. E-governance could help a lot in this direction. We have legal rights to know any
information. According to this act, (Right to Information Act, 2005), generally people should
follow the procedure of law given to them when there is no transparency and accountability in
the working of public authority. This act would be of great help to control corruption.
 Revising the act for its better implementation. Strong and hard and fast laws need to be
implemented which gives no room for the guilty to escape.
 Individual effort. We should be honest with ourselves. Until and unless we will not be honest,
we cannot control corruption.