Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country: Karl Kraus- Austrian satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright and poet.
The 9th of January 2016 marked another milestone in the short journey of Imphal Times as on this day, the daily eveninger turned 3. What started as an experimental effort by a few like-minded friends who share the same concerns and the urge to contribute to the endeavor of the public to address the social ills and help achieve its full potential have today survived and surpassed every conceivable obstacles, and with the passage of time, have started to realize the inherent power vested in the public that has upto this point been used sparingly and reluctantly. It is this collective and unstoppable force that Imphal Times would hope to ignite to fight one of the most complex and enduring social malaise that has pervaded every social aspect of our lives, and consequently is holding us down. Thus the need and the decision to launch the campaign ‘Fight against corruption’ came to being. Off all the social ills afflicting the society, perhaps the one that has been around since the dawn of civilization would very well be the scourge of corruption. Broadly speaking, corruption may be described as the misuse or abuse of entrusted power or authority for private and undeserved gain.
We are keenly aware of the enormity of the task at hand and is also clear on the risks such an initiative entails both to the moral and physical being, for there are bound to be detractors and powerful entities trying to scuttle our efforts. Fact of the matter is, the desire and the efforts to fight corruption is nothing new. The way we see it, however, is that these attempts were in fits and starts, and if we ever are to gain some ground against this ubiquitous social malaise, it has to be the fight for every single one of us in the society. And it has to be relentless and continuous. As Raghuram Rajan, the current and the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India observed, India could start looking like an oligarchy along the lines seen in Russia: “too many people have got too rich based on their proximity to the government.” In a recent poll 96% of Indians said corruption was holding their country back, and 92% thought it has got worse in the past five years. The voices are clearly starting to get louder.
We are embarking on this mission for we felt that the people needs to be offered a platform to raise their voice against corruption, we are banking on the support and cooperation from everyone in our society to make a positive change so that the future is a little more cleaner and safer for the next generation and the ones after that. Enough has been discussed, dissected and written about the scourge that has become institutionalized in our social system. It is time to stand up and speak out. We owe this much to ourselves and to our future.
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything”: Albert Einstein.
