"This is India. This happens”

…and then there was one more!!

                This time it is the world’s most famous and the richest cricket league, the Indian Premier league-IPL. Although I am sure IPL lovers across the world knew that there was a parallel universe of match fixing aligned to the glamorous cricket matches. Players and executives use to participate in match fixing when they played for their country so it is no surprise that they will get involved in this reprehensible activity when they are literally playing for money.

                Jawaharlal Nehru once said “Merely shouting from the house tops that everybody is corrupt creates an atmosphere of corruption. People feel they are in a climate of corruption and they get corrupted themselves.” The words seem particularly apt for today’s Facebook & twitter era. Patriotism these days is defined by ones tweets and Facebook status.

                I am all for freedom of speech. And social networking sites have done an astounding job to give voice to the people who were lost in the bureaucratic democracy. But social media is not a magic bullet. Let us not exaggerate its power, especially when it is still in its infancy, in most of the developing economies, where literacy is low and corruption has become the fact of the day to day lives.  

                Social media outpouring should be followed up by an offline action- such as a change in the law, or the prosecution of a guilty party. Then only social media campaigns can truly become a foundation for a better future and a corruption free society. Until then it will only be a hot button issue for a couple of days and weeks until a new scandal emerges.  

                "This is India. This happens” said one of the fans of IPL. Is this the society we want to build for our children’s? Social change is tough to achieve, particularly when it involves something like corruption, so deeply ingrained in our political and social society.