Friends,
Not a day passes when you open the morning newspaper without the headlines screaming at you about some hot, new sensational scam! Naturally, the question invariably pops up in your mind : What's happening to this country?. There was a time when we could do with small 'scamlets' like the Jeep scandal, Harshad Mehta's, Bofors or even the Fodder scam, all of which seem today like "peanuts" in comparison with the present day large scale affairs, which can be measured only in units of thousands(or lakhs) of crore rupees.
True, corruption is a cancer that is not restricted to India alone; it is spread all over the world. As Mrs. Indira Gandhi would probably say, it's just a "global phenomenon"! Indeed, there are 183 countries in the world which have been afflicted by corruption and we are not even counted among the top ten most corrupt nations of the world! However, in the Asia Pacific region, we are among the top twenty most corrupt nations!! But, is it any consolation that we are not all alone in this murky business of corruption?
Next, we give an article on "Corruption in India --- Causes, Effects and Statistics" which has been gleaned from various articles on the subject from the Internet. If one studies the data carefully, one finds that the more advanced a country is, the less it is likely to be bogged down by problems of corruption (e.g. U.S, U.K, New Zealand and Japan), whereas among the backward countries of Asia Pacific region, we find that the countries having extreme poverty are also the countries where corruption is most rampant. Thus, there seems to be a direct correlation between corruption level in a country and the economic well being of its citizens.
Who is to be blamed for this sorry state of affairs? Unscrupulous politicians, the corrupt officials or the wily businessmen? Before independence, we had patriotic and principled leaders like Pt. Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, but with the today's leaders, self-interest seems to rule over the heart rather than the larger interests of their country. The "honest politician" has now become an oxymoron. In the good old days, we are told, there used to be an 'unwritten' writ that a person holding a high, public office should not only be above board, but, he should also have a reputation of being as such. To-day, persons with tainted image and allegations against them move around with impunity flouting their office of authority. They take shelter behind the oft-quoted principle of justice that a person be treated as innocent until proven otherwise, which as they know very well, may take ages!
It is not as if the corrupt politicians and officials alone are responsible for the present state of affairs in the country; so is the common man, who has come to accept corruption as a fact of life and a part of it. How often have we heard man in the street say, " Chalta Hai. Apna kaam hona hai, toh Thodasa chai-paani ke liye dena padega."! Corruption is embedded deep in the Indian psyche and the fatalistic attitude runs in our blood. Thus, more often than not, we are ever ready to "pass the buck under the table", even before the man behind the desk asks for it. As the unknown author of an article below,"Why are Indians so Corrupt?" says, we have succeeded in even making our Gods corrupt.!
Can nothing be done at all to free ourselves from this curse of corruption? Yes, we can if we think we can. But, first, we will have to change our attitude. All must realize that corruption is a heinous crime against humanity, worse than stealing or robbery and most importantly, offering a bribe is as much a crime as asking for it. We must take a pledge never to pay a bribe, come what may. Probably it is easier said than done. But, someone somewhere has to make a beginning. Anna Hazare and his team would do yeoman's service to the nation, if they could educate the masses in this respect. Just passing a strong Lokpal Bill is not going to help. It is not as if the existing anti-corruption laws are not tough enough; what we need is a government with a strong will to implement these laws. We have already seen during these last few months how sincere and strong is the natural inclination of our political class for eradicating corruption from our public life. There have been several suggestions for doing away with corruption by enacting more tough laws, plugging all loopholes in the existing ones, having election reforms and also by introducing more transparency in all governmental transactions through extensive use of Information Technology and computerization. However, criminals being very 'resourceful' soon find out ways and means to get round such measures thus making them all ineffective. The malady calls for a psychological approach rather than any drastic surgery. I think it is high time we should give our corrupt politicians a taste of their own medicine i.e the boycott --- a secret weapon in their armor, which they often use at will to their own advantage. Any notorious person, whom the general public has already judged as corrupt (though he may have cleverly managed to stay clear of the law), deserves to be publicly humiliated. He should be shunned wherever he goes to show him the public wrath against the heinous crime he is supposed to have committed. He must be shunned in the streets, in the market place and everywhere else by completely isolating him as if he were the leper of olden days. He should realize that today the Corrupt ones are the real Untouchables. If you go to a public function and see a corrupt person being honored on the dais, then stage a 'walk-out' in protest, like they do in the legislature for much sillier reasons. It is a sad story, on the other hand, to watch the simple guileless people of our country often vie with each other to welcome such a tainted person at public functions and inaugural ceremonies to gain his favors. There can be no better punishment for corruption than a complete boycott of the person. Our history is replete with examples of how in the olden days unscrupulous persons were humiliated and ostracized by the society for much lesser crimes. The small article below,"Shame the Corrupt", from the Internet, shows a simple way to make this possible.
It gives me great pleasure to introduce my friend and an old colleague, Dr. C. Manohar who worked as a senior Research Scientist in the Analytical Spectroscopy Division of B.A.R.C. He is our Guest Author this month. I didn't know that he had such great writing skills as a humourist, as he had flair for scientific research in the laboratory --- as evidence of which, he presents his little piece below: "Mr. Gammat Rao goes fasting".
If you appreciate my above views on corruption in India, then please tell others --- else, your comments are always most welcome.
Let there be Happy Days Here Again!
Vasant Hattangadi
