NEW DELHI, India — As Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare defiantly proceeded with his 10th straight day of fasting to protest against widespread government corruption, thousands of people flooded the streets and braved sweltering heat here Thursday to lend their support to the cause.
While the Hazare-led movement has mobilized people of all ages and from vast walks of life — from a high-ranking judge to the poor and anonymous — one of the groups that figured most prominently among the protesters is college students.
The reason is because just like in other areas of government where common people complain they are forced to grease the palms of bureaucrats just to get things done, the path to higher education in India is allegedly paved with bribes, too.
Several protestors told a Diverse writer who on Thursday visited Ramlila Maidan — where Hazare is fasting on an enclosed stage with a team of doctors and supporters at his side — that the college admissions process in India was littered with middle men who seek money in order to make the dreams of the country’s aspirant college students come true.
“Before admission, they ask for bribes,” said Rajat, 18, a commerce major at Shyam Lal College in Delhi.
“They ask for 50,000 rupees,” which is a little more than $1,000, said Umesh Ashish, 18, an engineering student at India’s Guru Nanak Dev Polytechnic College.
While most people were eager to express their support for Hazare and recount their negative encounters with corruption in the college admissions process, some members of the crowd also stopped at least one person from acknowledging that he had paid a bribe to get a seat in college.
