Public Participation in promoting integration and eradicating corruption

The strength of any democratic country is the public. History has been the witness which proves that public power is the prominent power of any country. We have seen public power before independence and after independence. During the struggle period for the independence of our country, Mahatma Gandhi has made public as medium and thought as a weapon to defeat the colonial government.

In fact, he had been successful in his plan. After independence, our ancestors gave a proper direction to walk upon the democratic path. During 70s, our former prime minister Indira Gandhi started diverting from the democratic path. She imposed banning on print media to air media. She wanted to take control over the public dissents through autocratic way. People responded her in upcoming 1977 election and she is defeated very badly.

Not only party but she is also defeated by the Raj Narayan. Public power brought changes in society. Same thing happened at the end of UPA-2 government. So many allegation of corruptions, women insecurity, Gang rape in capital of the country brought people on the stage on the face of Ana Hazare and threw out the preceding government. Success of the whole narration is only the public participation.

Public participation can change all the dimensions of our country. Even without human capital rest of all the capitals like natural resources, physical capitals and assets are useless. So, central idea of the narrative is that public participation has strength to change not only society and country but the whole world. Sole of our country is pluralism. There is unity in diversity.

People are belonging to different color, casts, cultures, languages etc. India is the unique country where such sorts of diversity is found. Integrating people from north to south and west to east is not an easy task. Only public participation can help us in integrating people from different society having linguistic differences. Public participation brings the collective evaluations and expressions which has been analyzed by the people on political issues, policies, institutions and individuals.

These four things are the basic element which integrate the people. Integration needs public satisfaction by solving their dissents through democratic element. These four elements political issues, policies, institutions and individuals will help in sorting people dissents. Public participation will bring the integration in different areas like social, political, administration, environmental, legal, cultural and economic integrations.

Let us go through one by one to all the areas to evaluate the public participation which will help in eradicating the corruption. First area I am going to pick is economic area. People can contribute their part through economic way. People savings can turn into investment. People would have savings which have been kept at their houses. If they put their assets into banks, then they will get interest of their principle as well as their saving into banks will become investment for the businessmen.

It will lead to business expansion and generate employment for the people. People of our country is divided just because of poverty and inequality among them. If they get money on regular basis by getting jobs it will definitely change the people mind set and will help in integrating people. Good growth in Indian economy will also increase the employee’s salary. Many people do corruption because people think that they don’t get sufficient money to sustain their life. So, such sorts of things happen then it will definitely help in eradicating corruption also.

People can also participate socially to integrate the people and eradicating corruption. People can point out marginalized group and start working upon their core issue.  For example, there are many tribal group who are standing in the last row of our society and are divided just because of economic disparities. We also know that they have wonderful arts of waving clothes, making articles out of clay at their home by homemade instrument and make different kind of articles by using bamboos.

What people can do that they can bring them to Indian market so that their work output gets its value. It will enhance their economic status. It will build the strong foundation in the heart of tribal people toward integrity. People can work on the ground level to inspire and empower those marginalized group to bring them into main stream. Their empowered voices will compel to construct stringent laws against the corruption.

Voices from the different community would be the more effective voice which will impact the society very strongly. If we empower those marginalized people, then people would know their rights and responded against such a social evil called corruption. Social participation of the public can also help in promoting integration and eradication of corruption.

People can participate politically to integrate different community and eradicate corruption. Political empowerment motivates them to represent their own community. If people from their community represents their own people, then their basic issues will come to the table for discussion. Solving their basic issues will bring prosperity in that community which will further help in integrating people.

Political participation is the direct way to address their problem to system and seek respective solutions. It will make their sound of higher pitches and will definitely seek and fight against the corruption. Their political empowerment will seek their rights and effective law enforcement to ensure the corrupt are punished and break the cycle of impunity, or freedom from punishment or loss.

Civil society can support the process with initiatives such as Transparency International’s Unmask the Corrupt campaign. Legal approach can also be taken to promote integrity and eradicate corruption. Public can file PIL against the social and communal evils which try to divert the people from integrity.  It is the duty of the people to eradicate corruption. Public can become helping hand of government in eradicating such evils.

Public participation is a crucial element in environmental governance that contributes to better decision making. It is recognized that environmental problems cannot be solved by government alone. Participation in environmental decision-making effectively links the public to environmental governance. By involving the public, who are at the root of both causes and solutions of environmental problems, in environmental discussions, transparency and accountability are more likely to be achieved, thus secures the democratic legitimacy of decision-making that good environmental governance depends on.

Strengthening citizens demand for anti-corruption and empowering them to hold government accountable is a sustainable approach that helps to build mutual trust between citizens and government. For example, community monitoring initiatives have in some cases contributed to the detection of corruption, reduced leakages of funds, and improved the quantity and quality of public services.

At the end of it, I would like wind-up narrative by saying that the corruption is a serious unethical practice that undermines trust and confidence in public officials and public confidence can only be gained by integrity in governance. Economic and social progress, rule of law, democratic values and a strong civil society are some of the basic prerequisites in building an integrity system to sustain the fight against corruption in society.

In order to attain a corruption free society, all stake holders including government, citizens and also the private sector must share the responsibility for creation of awareness of corruption as well as refrain from indulging in unethical acts. Aware, active, involved and empowered public is, therefore, essential to any anti-corruption campaign. Anti-corruption strategies are not simply policies that can be planned in advance and isolation, but often a set of subtler insights that can be developed only in conjunction with public participation.

Combating corruption is, therefore, not just a matter of making laws and creating institutions, but is deeply rooted in human values and morals of individuals and the fight against corruption cannot be won without citizens’ support, participation, and active vigilance by all concerned.