Students participated in various competitions organized by the Mohalla Committee Movement Trust and Mumbai Police on Monday, 16 November, 2009.

At the school level, students were asked to submit essay entries, with the idea to awaken peoples minds of India against corruption, specially the youngsters Har Subah Sirf Utho Mat – Jaago Re.

WHAT  RUNS  INDIA  IS  CORRUPTION

“Do you know what is the problem with this country Ankur?” said a friend to me the other day. He could not hold in his frustration with the system any longer. “It is that corruption is very cheap over here”. As I pondered on this statement several instances came to my mind where undeservers are successful while deserving candidates are left to wallow in self-pity, where the guilty escape and the innocent are punished, where truth becomes secondary to power and influence and in each and every case there was only one reason for it all – corruption. Truly, “What runs India is corruption”.

In Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, India was ranked a low eighty-five out of the hundred seventy nine countries in the Index. Shocking indeed for the ‘world’s largest democracy’. But not quite if some facts are considered.

In July 2008 Washington Times reported that nearly a fourth of the members of the Indian Parliament faced criminal charges including human trafficking, immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder. At the state level things are often worse with a majority of the seats in the 2002 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh going to candidates with a criminal record. Even in Maharashtra, one of the better administered states of India, Arun Gawli, a well-known member of the Mumbai underworld managed to get himself elected to the State Legislative Assembly as all cases against him were pending. But that is not all. Corruption pervades much further into the bureaucracy, judiciary and even health services being affected. The situation is so bad that nowadays not a single government department exists where public services such as pensions, electricity, water etc., can be availed of without having to shell out a bribe in some level or another. The judiciary, the protector of the law, is not guiltless either. Delays in the disposal of cases, manipulations in the dates on ongoing cases, torture and custodial misconduct by the police to obtain a ‘confession’ is rampant as truth has today become secondary to power and influence. Otherwise how can people like Salman Khan (guilty of running over pavement dwellers in a jeep while drunk killing one and injuring others) or Sanjay Dutt (allegedly involved in the 1993 Mumbai serial blast) walk away scot-free despite sufficient evidence against them just because of the fact that they are popular actors have powerful and influential contacts. No wonder then that the judges and bureaucrats are now being ordered to declare their assets in a bid to stop the raging corruption everywhere. There is not a single case of a government servant who has been dismissed on grounds of inefficiency or corruption in the last sixty years. Cases drag on for twenty to thirty years during which the person concerned enjoys the fruits of his ill-gotten wealth after which, even if punished, the punishment is suspended on grounds of his age. A parallel economy runs in India totally on black money.

Bess Myerson, former Miss America, once said, “The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference”. As a popular television advertisement outs it, “Do you know why these people take so many bribes? It is because we bribe them”. Indeed, my friends, it is we who are indirectly responsible for encouraging corruption – whether it is by electing corrupt politicians to power despite knowing all about them, or by bribing bureaucrats and government officials for availing public services, or simply by stuffing a fifty-rupee note into the waiting hand of the police officers who stop us when we break the traffic signal – it is we who can, will and must make the difference. Sitting back in an armchair and criticizing the system as we watch another politician being accused of criminal activities and shrinking action by saying, “What can I do?” is definitely not the solution. We must realize that there is not a single person called ‘The System’. We all are a part of the system; it is we who have made it what it is today; and it is we who must change ourselves first if we want to change the system.

Ankur Mallick
XI

Nishant Mehta is a 25 years old businessman, active on the party circuit. One night he is caught for drunk driving but he does not panic. He slips a five hundred – rupee note into the hands of a pot-bellied policeman and goes his way as if nothing has happened. Yes, what you have just read about is one of the major problems that our country is facing today and it is termed as corruption.

The Oxford dictionary defines corruption as ‘moral deterioration or the act of taking bribes.’ But I don’t think it is necessary to define corruption to an Indian. After all, most of us have at some point of time given bribes to get our work done. Whether it is at the police station or at a government office, no work is done. Whether it is at the police station or at a government office, no work is done unless a certain sum of money is paid to the officials. Corruption though is not limited to the government offices alone. Slowly but surely, corruption has crept into the Indian political system as well. No wonder that many of the ministers today have criminal cases running against them in the courts. These cases include embezzlement of funds, illegal immigration, rape and even murder. These corrupt people are supposed to run the country, instead they use the money form the national treasury to fill their own pockets. These politicians or ‘netas’ as they are fondly called have brought nothing but shame notoriety to the country. It is no surprise therefore, that India’s ‘mafia raj’ consisting of topnotch government and municipal officers as well as the criminal world has acquired global fame.

Today India is on the brink of becoming an economic super power. However, it is tough to become a super power if corruption continues to thrive like it does today. The main problem arising due to corruption is that it slows down the rate of economic growth as the money collected by the government in form of bonds, taxes and securities is misused and there is none left for the technological, social advancement and to improve the infrastructure of the country. This brings down the credibility quotient of the country and it is hard for the country to attract foreign direct investment. As a result, the economy of the country suffers a downslide.

Our government isn’t taking this crisis lying down. The Right to Information act 2005 that required government officials to furnish information requested by citizens or face punitive action is a positive step to reduce corruption or atleast open up an avenue to redress greviences. The anti-corruption and vigilance departments also conduct sudden raids to catch corrupt officials. India’s score on the corruption perception index has also improved from 2.7 in 2002 to 3.4 in 2008.

To awaken the building minds of India against Corruption

Corruption is a silent killer for the society. For the people of India such silent killers have expanded their tentacles and are slowly engulfing the society. Today the challenge has been thrown to the young minds of India to raise voice against corruption. Young minds of a nation grows up with the development of the nation but major pitfalls are laid when corruption expands its horizon to the length and breadth of the nation. Corruption is nothing but being dishonest and illegal in any form of act that hinders progressive and foreward movement of any society. To counter this deadly act awareness building among all sections of people and young minds need to take a lead. One stich in time saves nine is the greatest proverb which has to be made applicable against this wildfire before the entire nation is destroyed with its long impactful consequences. The burocracy of Indian political system which has an overall impact on the society and being driven by the political system which has an overall impact on the society and being driven by the political big ways has to be reviewed and redressed. It is high time with the demographic expansion, the young bloods identify the root causes and raise voice to break this shackle, so that corruption is brought under control. The law and order has to play a big role in the financial, cultural, geopolitical sphere with authenticity and respect. The outburst of billion population of India is the major weakness that nourishes this social evil. Immediate protest required to be raised individually as well as a community against the corrupt practitioners. The administration should remain vigilant and create transparency in every phase of community and nation development. Each individual has to raise the standard so that all loopholes are plugged in immediately and there is no room of nay kind of corrupt practices.

The primary infrastructure of a nation stands on the pillars of education, knowledge, games, sports, social, cultural activities, food, health and administrative acumen etc..in all these sphere. The young generation must get involved rigorously and filter out this long standing evil out this society.

The primary focus on literacy building and healthy income generation activities require to be prioritized so that corruption is eradicated over a period of time. It is necessary as the future of our nation depends on us. The prosperous India awaits a responsible generation who can not only eradicate social evils but also enforce laws and rules against them.

Building awareness among young individuals is the fastest method to conquer corruption. May every morning in our lives bring about a new and fresh change, to awaken the future generation. We are the future of India and we are responsible for each and every change brought about in the country.

ISSLIYE  HAR  SUBAH  SIRF  UTHO  MATH  JAGO  RE  INDIA

Ushashi Datta
VIII / C

The teams and the scores for Stage One:

Top Scorers at the school level:

Junior Level – Std. VI to Std. VIII
Middle Level – Std. IX and Std. X
Senior Level – Std. XI and Std. XII

The winners will be selected at the school level and then judged at the city level and thereafter for national level recognition.

• Kaggini Harekal – Std. VII
• Harleen Chatha – Std. XI

Following were the events and our participation

participated in the S. R. Sethi Interschool English Elocution Competition for ICSE Schools on 18, 19 and 20 November, 2009 organized by Marble Arch School, Oshiwara.Nisha Martyres of Std. VIII won the trophy.

Mayuresh Lele – Std. XI and Anshuman Sharma – Std. X
Participated in the aero-model display contest. They displayed two models – GNOME and MAGPIE.

Urmika Tripathi Std. XI won a third prize for her essay, ‘My Experience of Living on the Moon’.

The Essay:

My Experience of Living On The Moon

It was the year 2020 and living on the moon seemed no more a far-fetched idea to people. My fellow scientists and I were sent to the moon for a month. Environmentalists and Scientists had confirmed that in another thirty years Mother Earth would no longer be enough to sustain mankind and its needs. It was this emergency that had forced nearly all the countries of the world to take a drastic step towards looking for another ‘home’ and what could be better than our closest neighbour in the universe, the first and only celestial body on which humans have made a manned landing, the Moon. Four of my fellow Scientists, astronauts and I were sent to the moon to conduct an experiment called the ‘Lunar’. This experiment involved setting up a plant, which through a combination of physical and chemical processes would continue for another thirty years and would produce enough oxygen to support life on the moon.

We landed on the moon’s largest crater ‘The South Pole Aitken Basin’ on 31 January, 2020 at around 10:30 am earth time. One by one each of our dreams came true as we stepped down from our shuttle and witnessed the Moon’s surface. It was dark and we could see the cratered surface of the moon as far as we could look. The gravity on the moon is about seventeen percent of what it is on earth, which meant everything floated around in our space shuttle. This made it hard to do anything. Everything, even sleeping in the shuttle required one to use specially designed sleeping areas with a waist strap that holds the sleeper in place. We knew that day to day life on the moon was going to be hard so we had been given six months of training on earth to adapt to the conditions on the moon. “Space food” as we like to put it, was terrible. We had carried around twenty litres of water with us but the shuttle could produce its own water. Keeping fit on the moon was also very important as in space the body does no have to work as hard as it does on earth due to the reduced gravity acting on it. Our crew actually had a careful exercise plan to keep their muscles strong and we had a special ‘keep fit equipment’ onboard.

In spite of the hard circumstances that faced our existence and the possibility of mankind being wiped off the face of the universe if we were to fail, we were eager to start our experiment. We started conducting our experiment on February 1, 2020 at 07:00 am, earth time. We had to establish the plant on the surface of the moon and then monitor its results for the rest of our time on the moon. Our space suits that provided us with a stable internal pressure, oxygen, regulated temperature and most

importantly the space radiation on the moon had to be worn every time we stepped out of our shuttle to monitor the experiment. We could contact earth only once in every three hours and the earth awaited our report especially on February 2, 2020 as that was the day that the plant was expected to finish a whole oxygen producing cycle and if the experiment was to be a success we were going to have volumes of oxygen being formed. So as the whole of mankind awaited, the answer to the question of its survival came at around 02:30 pm as my crew witnessed the historical creation of oxygen on the surface of the moon. Our mission was declared successful and as the whole of human kind rejoiced, we stayed back on the moon for another month to monitor the experiments continued progress.

The rest of our days on the moon were very exciting. Relieved of the pressure of ‘Lunar’ success or failure, we spent our days on moon just as we would spend them on the earth. Our daily routine on the moon was almost identical to our routine on earth. Everyday we woke up and after a thorough exercise regime went to ‘work’. Our ‘work on the moon was to check whether the plant was still functioning effectively. One of the major problems faced on the moon by man is the exposure to cosmic rays and solar flares. The Moon has a very thin atmosphere due to which there is hardly any protection from these radiations. Although our spacesuit did provide us protection from these radiations we were still advised, to not be on the surface of the moon for more than two hours at a stretch in a day as that would increase our exposure to the radiation and would increase the risk of our DNA being altered. This reduced our time to explore the moon considerably as we would spend two hours working on the plant. From the time, I had been told that I was going to be sent to the moon, there was a part of me that wanted to explore the moon for life, despite knowing that previous research had confirmed that there was no life on the moon I couldn’t help but wonder about the possibility of even micro-organisms living on the moon. Unfortunately some of my fantasies of life on the moon never came true.

After living on the moon for a month the time had come for us to leave. Our experiment had fortunately continued producing oxygen. On the 2 of March 2020 at around 07;00 am our shuttle took off from the surface of the moon and I saw the moon fading away but in my heart I knew I was going to be back soon. It was the experience of a lifetime and it will stay with me and due to the results of our experiment, with the mankind, forever.

Urmika V. Tripathi
Std. XI