Amartya Sen

The following is a letter Nobel laureate Amartya Sen sent to the editor of The Telegraph on Friday

Given my strong belief in democracy and my understanding that social, political and economic progress can be best achieved through public reasoning, I am very disturbed if and when I see a media distortion of a statement of mine that makes it sound as if I am against public disquiet on an important and appropriate subject.

So I was quite shocked this morning to see that an oral speech of mine at a meeting of ESCAP of the United Nations yesterday (December 15) in New Delhi was distorted in an agency report that many newspapers carried, which wrongly indicated that I expressed the view that “street people” (an awkward and ugly expression — it is the reporter’s language, not mine, as can be readily checked from the oral recording of the meeting) were unable to be clear-headed about what to do about corruption.

What I had, in fact, said was that the judgement and penalty for corruption cannot be a matter for street justice, and must come through the democratic procedures that we cherish in India, including the courts and Parliament.

I believe the Indian people are fully committed to that democratic priority, rather than “summary justice”.

What they really complain about is that the democratic procedures are not being applied sufficiently vigorously and stringently to corruption. This is indeed an important demand, and this understanding is very far from any dismissal of the ability of “street people” to comprehend the political challenge arising from corruption.

Quite the contrary, it is an endorsement of what, I believe, Indian people want.

We do not have to tie accused people to trees to deliver summary justice to meet the demand of most Indians to extend the process of democratic accountability in a more full-blooded way to corruption.

Furthermore, I wish that the hope — similarly strong — of Indian people to deal on an urgent basis with problems of equity and deprivation, including India’s having the highest proportion of undernourished children in the world, will also receive immediate attention in our democratic politics.

And we demand the same against the continued prevalence of illiteracy, lack of medical care, and often even of basic immunization against preventable diseases (in all these respects, India’s comparative record is dreadful). We want Indian democracy to work for removing injustice and inequity, rather than catering primarily to the established and powerful voices.

The media can contribute hugely to this important challenge, if it helps to highlight the genuine complaints of the people, rather than largely neglecting -- and sometimes distorting (as in the case I am discussing) -- what people try to say on the issues that move them strongly -- with good reason.

As a street person myself (if I understand the term correctly), I must communicate my serious complaint to at least one newspaper editor.