Jaago Re: India’s fight against Corruption

Tata Tea launches an extensive campaign against corruption by re-launching jaagore.com, and the 34 day bus journey,Tata Tea Vrath Yatra commemorating Anti-Corruption Day on December 9.

‘Aaj se khilana band Pilana Shuru’ will empower every ordinary Indian citizen to believe he can get his work done without having to pay a bribe. Tata tea launched an integrated campaign- ‘Khilana Band, Pilana Shuru’ in August this year with a promise to come back on Anti-Corruption Day and take the campaign to the next level. In concurrence with that promise, Tata Tea launched a Corruption Index, a three- city study to bring out the perceptions of the citizens, across socio-economic classes, about corruption and its impact on the social and economic fibre of society in the nation. The movement leans towards sensitizing the youth against corruption. Sushant Dash, the Associate President of Marketing at Tata Tea said to the press, “tea is generally conceived as a wake up drink, but now it should be a cause towards social awakening, especially of the youth”.

On Global Anti- Corruption day, which falls on December 9, Tata Tea launched its website www.jaagore.com which was synonymous with voting applications last year. The re launched web portal which facilitates the flow of information and resources and resources between individuals/ groups/ organizations. It aims to bring together, onto a common platform, those who possess information and resources and those who need them. The crux of the campaign was the Tata Tea Jaago Re Vrath Yatra- a 38-day bus journey across the country to connect with the youth and urge them to pledge against corruption. The Vrath Yatra, was flagged off by Justice Santosh Hegde, Lokayukta, Karnataka State and Sangeeta Talwar, Executive Director, Tata Tea.

Speaking on the occasion Hegde joked, “the Lokayukta runs a similar project, though the difference is that our budget sometimes doesn’t allow us to afford a couple of cups of tea”. Speaking on a more serious note, Hegde said that corruption is one of the biggest hindrances to the development of our country. “We have had cases where senior IPS, and IAS officers were caught accepting bribe, and corruption is not contained only to politics, its runs deep in educational institutions as well. US $ 1456 billion was uncovered at Swiss banks, the kind of money can remove India’s international debt three times over. With the kind of work we do, last year alone, I spoke at 127 educational institutions telling them against corruption” added Hegde.

Justice Hegde, and Sangeeta Talwar launching the Rath Yatra

Talwar gave quoted numbers released a three city survey by AC Nielson, called the ‘Jaago Re Corruption Index’. The key findings included that Bangalore ranked corruption slightly higher than Mumbai or Delhi as a challenge. Only 7% of the respondents agreed to have bribed in last one month. Bribing evidence was highest in Bangalore with 11 % of the respondents have agreed to have given bribe in the last one month. In Delhi and Mumbai, the figures were 6% and 5% respectively. A whooping number of 46% of the respondents said that they wouldn’t mind giving bribe if their work is getting done faster and without hassles. Again, Bangalore topped the list with 53% of the respondents willing to give bribe for speedy completion of their work. It was 43% in Mumbai and 41% in New Delhi.

Over the last couple of months the organization has collected over 1.8 lakh pledges against corruption through various routes including the internet, mobile, retail and even schools.

For more details log on to http://www.jaagore.com/