Kumartuli or Kumortuli is located in the northern part of the city of Kolkata . The locality is a traditional habitat of the potters for nearly three hundred years. The potters or the artisans or the artists settled here during the restructuring of the Kolkata colonial region by the British East India Company . Earning a livelihood by making earthen pots and utensils first they gradually shifted to the making of the idols of Gods and Goddesses for various festivals round the year. With increasing demand and quality of their creations over time the artisans became famous and Kumartuli came to be known as the hub of idol makers supplying thousands of idols, particularly of Goddess Durga , to whole of the state of West Bengal and to NRIs of around 90 countries across the globe. At least three months before Durga Puja , the biggest festival of West Bengal and one of the biggest across Eastern India, more than five hundred workshops come alive with hyper activity day and night. Fir...
Article first published as Politics of Corruption: The Democratic Angle on Technorati.
In a democracy power is always decentralized—from the highest level of the Prime Minister to the grass-root level of a village chieftain. So in a similar way corruption has to get decentralized too specifically at every level. The village chief enjoys lot of powers to take decisions, settle disputes and negotiate for development projects. If, in the process, s/he takes bribes or bribes someone the higher authority at the district level cannot necessarily be implicated criminally in that corruption. A local boss at a town office similarly enjoys absolute discretionary powers in regard to his/her office. Now, if s/he indulges in corrupt deals the town chief or the district collector cannot necessarily be held criminally responsible. Accordingly, the chief minister of a state cannot necessarily be implicated criminally if the collector creates scams and scandals.
So, if local authorities wield so much power one can well imagine what a minister of a state or of a country can do. This becomes basically a power to be corrupt and it may or may not be a racket reaching the top. An endless stream of corrupt power-groups thrive democratically and any fight against corruption could get diluted in the process of making charges and allegations creating an equally never-ending stream of court cases, pleas, litigation and unrest. The problem here is that nobody can be conclusive about it. Politics has to naturally take over from hereon...
In a decentralised corruption system, the best thing is to do is to legalise corruption. Have you seen Cho's Mohammed Bin Thuglak? Fix individual rates for VAO, Tehsildar, Collector, Minister, etc. There will be no need to focus.
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