Vigilant India, Prosperous India

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”

Seeing the heading, one of the first things that come to mind is - How is vigilance related to prosperity?As all of us know, corruption has been an increasing concern in society which is also degrading the quality of life and increasing poverty. By being vigilant and stopping corruption,we can decrease poverty and increase prosperity.

Vigilance means being watchful or aware. By failing to be vigilant we have led to a lot of harmful effects of corruption,some of them are:

1. According to the UNDP report on human development in South Asia, nearly 30% of the food grains, sugar meant for public distribution have disappeared in the black market. 

2. Corruption in the medical sector / by agents in the RTO is more dangerous as it affects health outcomes/lives and increases the risk of accidents respectively.

3.  The job and education opportunities for the masses decrease due to corruption

These instances are caused only because of overlooking the mistakes, which are leading to an increase in such occurings and also the people causing them.

What can we do to reduce such instances? Being vigilant and spreading awareness can be an easy and effective solution. Another way is by reporting to the nearest anti-corruption officials with the helplines provided by the government. The government has introduced e-governance which ensures the reduction in corruption and increases transparency.. The public can utilize the jobs, schemes which are beneficial for them, economic benefits, seats in schools and colleges etc.. allocated for them  by reducing corruption and providing quality of service.

  It might seem like a small thing to be vigilant, but stopping even small mistakes against the welfare and prospering of the citizens of India can result in making a huge difference in the long run. India’s transparency has increased from 35% in 1995 to 80% in 2019 and has been ranked 80th place in transparency according to the Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International. By being vigilant and spreading the need of being vigilant we can definitely make India a better and prosperous country.

(This is my essay for Vigilance Awareness Week 2020.)