Commenting on social activist Anna Hazare's movement for the Lokpal, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen said here on Monday that “these are early days” for the movement against corruption, but emphasised that summary execution was not the way to remove corruption.
Speaking at an interactive session that followed the screening of “Amartya Sen: A Life Re-examined,” a 2003 film based on the life and work of the Nobel Laureate, Professor Sen said the importance of corruption-elimination was a part of the movement led by Mr. Hazare.
However, Professor Sen felt that the solution to a problem such as corruption should be integrated with the democratic structure without undermining it.
He gave several references to the manner in which corruption was being dealt with in China to illustrate his point.
The film is structured around a conversation between him and Kaushik Basu, Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former student of Professor Sen. Every question posed by Dr. Basu becomes a chapter in the film exploring his childhood at Santiniketan, years at the Presidency College, Kolkata, his fight with cancer at the age of 18, his stint at Cambridge, the Nobel Prize, his views on the 1991 economic reforms in India, his political views and his interest in philosophy.
The title of the film, a throwback to a book written by Professor Sen Inequality Re-examined, includes a series of interviews with Nobel Laureates, renowned scholars, politicians and his mother, Amita Sen, who admits quite candidly that she refused to believe her son had won the prize until she saw a stream of reporters near her house.
Keywords: Amartya Sen, Lokpal Bill, Amartya Sen: A Life Re-examined
Corruption cannot be solved by a Lokpal! Period! So how do we stop corruption. The method is three pronged and thus: 1. Implement existing anti-corruption laws as strictly as possible. 2. Strengthen the judicial system by appointments to all vacant judgeships and increase number of courts. Thus over 3 years eliminate the backlog of cases. Introduce a time-bound judicial protocol, such that any case is judged within 2 months, with extensions granted upto 1 year at the very rarest. This will encourage people to file corruption cases and be sure of a verdict within 2 months. 3. Reduce government. The number of employees in central, state and local govt along with quasi bodies like railways, etc are in millions. All these fellows have a little power to better the lives of citizens or as is usually the case to make lives miserable. Reduce their number by reducing role of government.
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