Anna Hazare
India Says No to $80 Toilet Paper ... An anticorruption campaign has given voice to a growing middle class tired of public indignities ... A year ago, no one in India could have imagined that cabinet ministers, powerful politicians, senior officials and CEOs would be in jail now, awaiting trial for corruption. The credit for this dramatic shift belongs in no small part to the anticorruption movement of a 74-year-old activist, Anna Hazare, supported by determined justices of the Supreme Court, an exceptional auditor general, rival television channels in search of "breaking news" and, crucially, a newly assertive Indian middle class. The long-term impact of this movement is unclear. It could lead to something profoundly good, or it could destabilize the whole system. – Wall Street Journal
Dominant Social Theme: If India could only remove the corruption plaguing its government, prosperity might come to all ...
Free-Market Analysis: More and more is being written about the anti-Indian corruption movement, which is led in part by Anna Hazare (see above article excerpt). We've commented on this movement in the past, which is gathering momentum in India and may in fact partake of the austerity meme sweeping Europe and America. You can see the original article here: Government Anti-Corruption Meme.
The original article focused on another austerity and anti-corruption campaigner, Swami Baba Ramdev. Baba Ramdev has insisted that India's large denomination bills – Rs.500 and Rs.1000 – should be withdrawn from the entire country in order to lessen financial fraud.
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The Daily Bell, Staff Report
China and India are both vulnerable to Western slowdowns. But the corruption issue, for India anyway, has taken center stage. The original article focused on another austerity and anti-corruption campaigner, Swami Baba Ramdev. Among other things, Baba Ramdev is seeking direct elections, the repatriation of all illegal funds, a methodology to ensure that all Indians declare and pay their share of taxes and, finally, the death sentence for any politician found to be corrupt. Anna Hazare is seeking stern measures to counteract corruption as well.
ReplyDeleteThe western masses may note that corrupt officials obstruct economic and social at every step. As in India, the death penalty is a vital tool for democracy.