By Cleo Paskal
India is in the throes of what some are calling a "second freedom struggle." Across the country, citizens are on thestreets, in the courts and on the internet, fighting to break corruption's chokehold on the nation. It is a critically important battle, not only for the future of India, but for global security -- corruption in India enables some of the world's most dangerous terrorist networks.
The reason is, illegal money needs illegal methods to move it around. And the amount of corruption-generated money flowing through India is vast. According toInterpol: "In South Asia, the 'black' or parallel economy is 30 percent-50 percent of the 'white' or documented economy."
In terms of Indian political corruption, the 2011 2G-spectrum scandal alone is estimated to have lost Indian taxpayers close to $40 billion. And, as soon as the money needs to cross borders, say to get to a Swiss bank account where it can be washed clean, an Indian politician on the take goes from being a national security concern to a global security concern.
