India’s corrupt elite vs. the main populace

This is a report which shows that the reputation of most of the rich and powerful politicians and businessmen of India has fallen to al all-time low. Foreign investment in India and GDP growth have fallen considerably, as has the India rupee… signs that the message about Indian corruption and crime is getting through to the rest of the world. It is not the majority of Indians who are responsible for any of this, they are the victims of the unfair system upheld by the powers-that-be.

India’s never had it so bad
by Mohan Murti
The German press has savaged India’s misgovernance.

The Brussels-based European Commission Standing Committee on Global Foreign Direct Investments last week listed the top 20 destinations the EU 27 will target for the next five years. Sadly, but for well-known reasons, India does not figure in the list. Stocks of European Union direct investments to the rest of the world amounted to €5.6 trillion at the end of 2012 and the EU continues to have a fixation with China. As for India, senior EU officials noted with quite a bit of scepticism: “India is probably getting there, but not quite arrived”.

An editorial in the highly circulated German national newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine screamed: “India has never had it so bad. Stealing in government has never been this brazen. Government officials are now so audacious in their corrupt practices that they do not give a damn about who is watching”.

“Supreme Court directives are routinely flouted. Crime rates are up and security of life including women’s safety, which is the first responsibility of every government, is at its lowest ebb. India must then be more than qualified to be called a failed state.” In the Manager magazine, one of Germany’s leading glossy business journals, an article said: “Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has a natural inclination to be a follower, not a leader. ”
Despair and Hopelessness

The article states, “India is a country where merit and integrity have no value and the country continues to sink beneath the suffocating weight of mediocrity and unrestrained, rampant greed. The majority of citizens feel excluded and disrespected at all levels of their daily lives. The youth of the country that make majority of the populace clearly feel helpless and many are pushed to take to misdemeanour and crime.”
Failure of Governance

Der Spiegel wrote in an edit article recently: “While the main functions of the parliament are to make laws and hold the executive accountable through oversight, Indian lawmakers make very few laws, pass incompetent motions and engage in rampant disruption of the proceedings.” The German business newspaper Handelsblatt wrote: “For India, it seems clear that the hope of becoming one of the best twenty economies in the world will only remain a daydream. Corruption is the bane of the society. The Government knows this and the crusade against corruption is being handled with kid gloves.”

(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany.) (This article was published on September 4, 2013)
(from http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/indias-never-had-it-so-bad/article5093685.ece)

Lord Gulam Noon, ‘Curry King’ of the U.K.

The above is no isolated instance of deep criticism of India’s corrupt and self-serving ruling classes, it is echoed in many articles around the world, not least in the UK where most successful Indian immigrants like Lord Gulam Noon have warned against investment or starting businesses in India due to bribery, corruption and government-backed cover-ups of crimes flourish. There are many diaspora Indians who would never return to India other than for holidays or possibly old age retirement. Sir Gulam Noon, President of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) who made a fortune out of Britain’s appetite for Indian food, is one such. In the tabloid press he is known simply as the Curry King. Interviewed on Hard Talk by Stephen Sackur, he was asked if he thought investing in India would be an option for him, considering the credit crunch and the relative immunity of the Indian economy to its effects. In his reply, he made clear his view that – though he visits often and has involvements in India, not least in his charitable institutions, the country is still ruled by criminally-corrupt politicians. This is a major indictment by a diaspora Indian of such notability. Sir Gulam Noon MBE talked to Stephen Sackur of BBC’s ‘Hard Talk’ series.

See also on this subject :-

BBC on India’s anti-corruption activists & Anna Hazare
Why India is not cleaned up & the Dalai Lama
India’s President’s corruption cover-up and Sai Baba endorser
Flood problems hit India’s poor but not the rich
Sai Baba’s minion former Chief Justice Bhagwati showed total disrespect for justice
Corruption India: Sai Baba cult hoard plunder by Trustees?
India’s parlous state and Sathya Sai Baba’s promises
Corruption in India – Sathyam Computer Services
Sai Baba on the Indian Government
Indian police get away with murder – outrage in India
India’s state, Hindu nationalism and prayer
Indians donate to crooks, then hold them up as paragons says Atanu Dey
Beatings, torture and killings by Police in India
Failings in Indian Justice – by ex-Chief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan