If you ask anyone in our country to list out the problems we are facing at present we would probably get: corruption, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and may be price rise appearing predominantly in the lists. If we look at it closely, few of these problems have been existing for a very long time now, and it is disheartening that they have not been solved yet. On the other hand we have been making some comparatively good progress in spite of these problems looming in the background. Atleast when we compare ourselves with other countries which got independence almost at the same time as we did, perhaps that only thing that will make us feel good.

I was thinking on these lines a few days ago as to where are we going wrong fundamentally. First thing that came to my mind was corruption that exists in the system. When we think of corruption we suddenly map it to politicians, government employees and probably point fingers at them saying they are dishonest, they are ruining our progress and what not. We will probably come to the conclusion that we if we try to change the things that are going on, we will be victimized by these powerful people, in other words we will be fighting a loosing battle, so we have to live with it and move on. Yes, I agree that there are many problems in the system where we as common citizens are helpless and there is nothing we can do; but what about those things in the system that we can change.

We easily point out fingers and don’t hesitate to blame people, giving an impression that we do our bit with utmost honesty but the system is so corrupt and we end up on the suffering end. I think we need to introspect here. Let’s ask our selves are we really honest? Do we really have the right in pointing fingers at the dishonest without us being honest? We always want to find an easy way out don’t we? For example, how many of us really follow the traffic rules? Many of us jump signals, drive on the wrong side, drive without license just to name a few; and when we get caught by the traffic police, we try to bribe them. My point is, why not be honest and do all things the right way and be on the right side of the law? I know there are people who shamelessly ask for bribe it ofcourse is an offence, but aren’t we contributing to that cause by bribing them? I have seen people using agents, bribing people at RTO to get their driving licenses done…!! Everyone wants an easy way out, nobody wants to go by the rules and get work done.

Many of us say that the system is extremely corrupt and we have to bribe our way through to get our work done. There are many things in the system that are just not right and there is nothing much we can do about them. But are we doing enough to change the things that we really can? Change cannot happen overnight, it is for us to work collectively towards bringing that change; for that, the mindset of us Indians has to change. Dishonesty is what we Indians are known for and it is high time we change that mindset. Let us do some soul searching even before we think of pointing our fingers towards a dishonest person, let us atleast be true to ourselves in doing that. Let us strive towards building a strong honest nation and the nation will make progress automatically.