Whistle Blowing and India

"Whistle blowing is the process by which insiders go public with proof of malpractice by, or within, large organisations or governments - usually after failing to change the matter from the inside, and often at great personal risk." This is how whistle blowing has been defined in a short and meaningful article published in the fortnightly women's magazine 'Femina' dated 23rd Feb, 2011. I find this definition confirms me as a whistle blower. This article also tells how whistle blowers in India have been murdered and threatened while those in developed countries are publicly honoured and find worldwide support. It categorically states that people in India don't support whistle blowers. That would mean that he or she will be a foolish Indian who goes all out for larger public interest. My experience and example leaves no doubt about it. The State in India does its best to persecute the whistle blowers rather than protecting them, notwithstanding public utterances to the contrary by its top functionaries. Nothing strange in a civil society that selects and elects if not rascals, the men and women of straw, as its leaders time and again. Not strange in a country where laws remain mostly on paper and yet there is always emphasis and clamour for more and more laws.

Luckily or unluckily I have neither been murdered nor have been threatened. But I have been condemned, and abandoned to perish so condemned. I find myself in a state where the earlier I die the better it will be for me. And better it may be for my family since then they will at least get my retirement benefits.