India Against Corruption Movement

Homework 3

Social media and new media platforms is probably the most popular way of spreading news in today’s time. With everyone having a smart phone with apps like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on it, spreading information is really not hard at all. In fact, this has become the new way of telling the world about news. I do not read the newspaper or see news on TV anymore; however, I still receive news or information about what’s going on around me. How? I follow news wires on twitter which regularly tweet headline news. Moreover, I am active on Blackberry Messenger which allows people to spread broadcast messages with the touch of button. And if that is not enough, status updates on Facebook and sharing popular video links on statuses has also become a usual thing.

To elaborate more, I am going to take a recent example which shows the role social media played in my country, India. This year in the month of April, a lot of chaos was going on in India. The entire buzz was created because of an Anti-Corruption movement going on in the country led by Anna Hazare.

According to the Times of India website, it was found that India ranks the highest amongst countries around the world in the amount of black money it has kept hidden in Swiss Banks (approximately $1500 Billion). The fact that India ranks highest in the amount of black money is an irony. India is a country with most of its people being below the poverty line and these ministers are more concerned about laundering money to fulfill their selfish motives rather than serving the Indian citizens who elected them. When the people of India learnt of the injustice being done to them from so many years, it made them very angry and Indians expressed this anger by starting the 'India Against Corruption' movement. The 'India Against Corruption' movement is the "collective anger" of people in India against corruption. The leader of this movement was Sri Anna Hazare, or as now he is called the ‘Modern Day Gandhi’; a 72 year old man who went on a hunger strike “unto death” to fight for the 'India Against Corruption' movement.

Even before Hazare declared his fast, this issue was getting coverage by various Indian news channels. However, not many people knew about it. But as news started spreading through social media, more and more people were informed about the protest. The news was all over Facebook, Twitter, BBM and other social websites. Hazare and his supporters also created various groups on social networking websites. For example, Hazare had over 3000 followers on twitter in a day after declaring his fast. Indians from all over the world flooded social networking websites to show their support towards the cause. A group named “Join Anna Hazare in fast unto death to demand anti-corruption law” had over 7500 members in only two days. Activity on social networking websites was crazy. This shows the immense support the cause had. There were around 50 updates per minute on these social networking websites. The words ‘Anna Hazare’ and ‘LokPal Bill’ were amongst the top ten searches that week on Google. There were several stories about people who left their jobs only to support the cause and be a part of the movement against corruption.

And guess what hapepend next? The government had to finally step down and accept the demands put forward by Anna Hazare and his supporters because they were a large number and kept increasing every day. The government could not risk upsetting almost their entire public. There were support groups, rallies, candlelight marches and people all over the country with sign boards and slogans showing their support towards this anti-corruption movement. On the first d of Anna Hazare's fast, 6000 residents from Mumbai also kept a one-day fast to fight against corruption.

I think this is one of the best examples to show what a major part these new media platforms are playing and influencing the politics of a country. During the protest days, thousands of people were on the roads, nobody went to work. How did so many people receive all this information? Through these new media channels that help dissemination of information in a faster and easier way.

Video that shows exactly the horrible state of corruption in India: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MgLYuU9AQg