Curb corruption through awareness

CHENNAI: GM Akbar Ali, a judge in the Madras High Court, inaugurated a two-day international conference titled ‘Philosophical Exploration on Corruption: A Challenge to Human Rights’, organised by the Department of Philosophy, University of Madras, on Wednesday.“Even as the country completes 65 years of freedom from the British, the word corruption has not been eradicated,” he noted. “There will be a five per cent of good people, five per cent of corrupt people, while the remaining 90 per cent will be vulnerable victims,” said the judge, quoting Prof Sigma Ankrava, Head, Chair of Literature & Culture, Department of English Studies, University of Latvia.There are references in all spiritual scriptures about the practice of corruption, he said, observing “Even we offer bribes to our Gods.”The desire for more is the prime reason for corruption, he said, adding that the philosophers must find multi-pronged awareness strategies to explain the evils of corruption.State Human Rights Commission member Jayanthi spoke of the support of ordinary citizens to the Lok Pal movement, saying that it was a result of frustration at the corrupt system. “People had lost their faith in the system,” she observed. “Unless the inequalities are done away with, the away ahead is going to be difficult,” she said.