Our Whistleblowers, their Whistleblowers
India often likes to compare its highly dubious 'democratic' credentials to America. The idea is to somehow make-believe that America and India are natural allies since both are 'democracies'. In some other sections of Indian society, America and all western culture is frequently referred to as the great Satan. While I have no religious moorings, American foreign policy can certainly seem that way to its victims.
But what makes America great? It is not its fluff pop culture, its lame-ass suburban shopping malls or its oligarchic corporate greed. These are the things that India is most voraciously aping. What stands out in America is its freedom of speech which is a guaranteed constitutional right. A right which is often denied them, but their democracy fights back. This is something India has yet to understand. Even though the Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, albeit very differently from the United States, in practice it is a mockery of the constitution.
I was just listening to Glenn Greenwald's podcast at Salon. His podcast debut interview was with Daniel Ellsberg, a prominent political whistleblower whose release of the Pentagon Papers expedited the end of the Vietnam war.
Glen Greenwald - Daniel Ellsberg Podcast
Hearing the podcast, it struck me how Indian whistleblowers fared in comparison. After all, true sister democracies have to have this fundamentally important shared value.
Our Whistleblowers
Satyendra Dubey, an IIT engineer with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) exposed Larsen and Toubro's subcontracting arrangements with the local mafia while building the Golden Quadrilateral project. He first wrote to his boss, NHAI Project Director SK Soni and no action was taken. He then wrote, in confidence, to the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Despite a direct request that his identity be kept secret, the letter along with his bio-data was forwarded to the Ministry for Road Transport by the Prime Minister's office, exposing his identity. On November 27, 2003, he was murdered in Gaya, the land of Buddha. After a year of investigations, it was ruled that he was simply a victim of common robbery and the assassin Mantu Kumar was arrested. A year later, in September 2005, Mantu Kumar escaped from the court premises and the case, since then hangs in limbo.
Lalit Mehta, a social activist in Chhatarpur, Jharkand, was secretary of Vikas Sahyog Kendra (Development Support Center), an NGO involved in social auditing of government schemes. Lalit was working on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and had documents detailing fund misappropriation. On May 14, 2008 he went missing. On May 16, 2008, his mutilated body was found, decomposed, half eaten by animals in Kanda forest outside Daltonganj. Police investigations claim that he was a victim of road robbery. He was murdered by highway robber Bihari Singh. Inspector-general of police Raj Kumar Mallick had this to say to social activists: "It is our advice to the social activists not to jump into conclusions". The police report accuses social activists for drumming up the issue.
Manjunath Shanmugham, an IIM graduate from Lukhnow, was employed as a marketing engineer with the state owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). He ordered the shutdown of an IOC petrol pump in Lakhimpur Kheri for selling adulterated fuel. Over the past three months he had ordered the shut down of two other IOC dealer petrol pumps. A month later, the pump started operating again. Manjunath conducted a surprise raid in November 2005 and the consequence of that: His body was found riddled with six bullets in the backseat of his own car. His murder caused a temporary furore over corruption in the petroleum industry. A lot of promises were made by the UPA government only to die down once things cool down and the apathy of the great Indian middle class sets in.The list of reported whistleblowers in India is not long. Most are silenced before being reported. Besides, the bigoted and celebrity obsessed mainstream media only talks about those cases where the victims are part of the middle class. Lalit Mehta's murder, for example, was never covered by any television news channel in India. He was a Dalit Christian. Kameshwar Yadav, another NREGA activist was murdered but not reported anywhere in the mainstream media. Sanjay Rathi, Chief Accounts Officer of Akola Municipal Corporation committed suicide after being harassed by AMC officials and corporators. No major news media covered the story. You'll be hard pressed to find much more information about them.
Their Whistleblowers
Coleen Rowley, former FBI agent's memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller exposed the mishandling of crucial information regarding Zacarias Moussaoui. Had the FBI duly acted upon the information, the 9/11 attacks might have been averted. This is something, neither the FBI, the CIA or the White House were willing to admit. Once she went public with this information, she was vilified by the authorities as expected. But she went on to become Time magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2002 (along with 2 other whistleblowers). Coleen also went on to establish a political career for herself. She didn't win the election in 2006, primarily due to lack of funds, but she's still going strong.
Spec. Joseph Darby was a U.S Army Reservist who served at Abu Ghraib prison. In January 2004, he anonymously provided a CD with photographs to his senior commanders. He wished to remain anonymous but was publicly named by Donald Rumsfeld in a Senate hearing. As expected, he and his family were termed un-american, shunned by friends, their property vandalized. They now have to reside in protective military custody in an undisclosed location. Darby was named among ABC News "People of the Year" and was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on May 16, 2005. His act of conscience exposed the barbaric policies of the American Government.
William Mark Felt has got to be the most famous whistleblower of all time. He is 'deep throat', the man who helped uncover the Watergate scandal which eventually bought down the Nixon presidency. Many conspiracy theorists have doubted his existence, others have speculated on various other possibilities, but at 91, twenty-five years after Nixon's shameful resignation, he chose to reveal himself as the source behind Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's stories in the Washington Post. His anonymity helped protect him and his family all his life but this man's courage changed the face of American politics forever.
Dr. Peter Rost, former vice president of Pfizer became the first drug company executive to testify in the United States Congress against the business methods of the pharmaceutical industry. He was fired from Pfizer after his testimony led to criminal investigations against Pfizer's marketing practices. He openly advocated lowered drug prices and proved that pricing of drugs was artificially inflated. He also advocated the re-importation of drugs, exposed physician payoffs and private investigators spying on employees at Pfizer. His book The Whistleblower, Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman went on to become a bestseller and he continually blogs about pharmaceutical malpractice.So the next time you hear how Bombay is like New York or Delhi is like California or India and America are similar, remind yourself about the hypocrisy behind those claims. It is not only money, buildings, sodas, cars or luxury goods which equate places. It is society and today's powerful Indian middle class is hell bent on destroying all human integrity in India. The de facto mantra we hear is: 'Now is our time' which to me translates to: 'Let's plunder, since this time may never come again'.
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About time you started a blog! Love the design and man you have some interesting things to say. \n\nIts interesting that the US has the Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act where a portion of the settlement is given to the Whistle blower. That could be a powerful incentive for people to standup and say something... \n\n" In the the recent lawsuit against Amerigroup was originally filed by Cleveland Tyson, a former company employee. Under the federal False Claims Act and the Illinois Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act, a private party, known as a relator, is entitled to file suit alleging fraud on behalf of the federal or state government, respectively, and receive a share of any recovery. As a result of today's recovery, Tyson will receive $56.25 million." \n\nhttp://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/amerigroup-settles-federal-state-medicaid/story.aspx?guid={1A700D3E-2684-42D7-8191-E5E51F308F0F}&dist=hppr