Corruption in India is an
important aspect of its culture. Indians seem to think there’s nothing
peculiar about corruption. It is prevalent everywhere in India. Indians
tolerate corrupt individuals rather than
correct them. No race can be congenitally corrupt. But can a race be
corrupted by its culture? To know why Indians are corrupt, we must look
at their general patterns of
behavior, customs and practices.
First:
In India, Religion is considered to be a transactional matter. Indians give God cash and anticipate an ‘out-of-turn’ reward from Him. The presumption in such a plea is that favours are always necessary for the undeserving. In the world outside the temple walls, such a transaction would be called a ‘bribe’. A wealthy Indian does not donate cash to temples, but he will rather offer gold crowns and such baubles as ‘pay-off’ to God for the favors shown. He knows very well that his gifts cannot feed the poor; but, he thinks that it will be a great waste if it all goes to a needy person. In June 2009, The Hindu published a report of Karnataka minister, G. Janardhan Reddy presenting a crown of gold and diamonds, worth Rs. 45 crore, to Tirupati -- the richest temple in India. The Indian temples collect so much money as offerings received from the devout that they don't know what to do with it. Billions of Rupees are gathering dust in various temple vaults. When Europeans came to India they built schools , but when Indians go to Europe & USA, they build only temples there. Indians believe that if God accepts money from you for his favours, then there is nothing wrong in doing the same thing with the fellow human beings. The Indian culture thus accommodates such transactions as morally correct with no real stigma attached to it. This is how we Indians get so easily corrupted and justify their ill-gotten wealth. Thus, Mayavati (She recently lost an election in North India) and Jaya Lalithaa in the South could make a victorious comeback, which is just unthinkable in the West.
Second:
The Indian moral ambiguity towards corruption is also visible
in its history. The Indian history is replete with stories of capture of
cities and kingdoms after the guards were
bribed to open the gates and commanders were
paid off to surrender. This is unique only to India. The corrupt
nature of the Indians has meant limited warfare
on the subcontinent. It is striking to note how little Indians have
actually fought wars as compared to ancient
Greece and modern Europe. The battles of the Turks with Nadir Shah were vicious and were fought to the finish. In
India, no such fighting was needed because bribing
was enough to ward off the armies. Any invader willing to spend cash could brush aside India’s kings, no matter how many
tens of thousands of soldiers were in
their infantry. Little resistance was offered by the Indians at the “Battle of Plassey”. Lord Clive paid off Mir Jaffar and all of
Bengal folded
meekly to an army of mere 3,000 men. There was always a financial transaction
to taking over the Indian forts. Golconda
was captured in 1687 after a secret back
door was left open. The Mughals could vanquish the brave Maratha and Rajput warriors with nothing but bribes. The Raja
of Srinagar sacrificed Dara Shikoh’s son
Sulaiman to Aurangzeb after receiving a bribe. There are many such examples of treason and treachery in the Indian history, where unscrupulous persons have perpetrated extreme treason against their own motherland by accepting bribes on a large scale. Question is: Why do Indians have
a transactional culture while the citizens of other civilized countries don't?
Third -
It is a myth that the British ruled over this country for 150 years by adopting a “Divide and Rule” policy. They didn’t have to, as the Indians are already divided right from birth. Indians do not believe in the theory that they all can rise if each one of them behaves morally, because, that is not the message of their faith. It is their caste system which separates them. They don't believe that all human beings are born equal. This resulted in their division and migration to other religions .Many Hindus like Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists started their own faith and many others were converted to Christianity or Islam. The result is that Indians don't trust one another. Today, there are no Indians in India; we have only Hindus, Christians, Muslims and what not. Indians forget that just four hundred years ago, they all belonged to one single faith. From this very division into different castes and religions, has evolved a very unhealthy culture. It is the inequality of faith and religion that has resulted in a corrupt society. In India, everyone is thus set against everyone else --- except probably God and even he must be bribed!
Third -
It is a myth that the British ruled over this country for 150 years by adopting a “Divide and Rule” policy. They didn’t have to, as the Indians are already divided right from birth. Indians do not believe in the theory that they all can rise if each one of them behaves morally, because, that is not the message of their faith. It is their caste system which separates them. They don't believe that all human beings are born equal. This resulted in their division and migration to other religions .Many Hindus like Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists started their own faith and many others were converted to Christianity or Islam. The result is that Indians don't trust one another. Today, there are no Indians in India; we have only Hindus, Christians, Muslims and what not. Indians forget that just four hundred years ago, they all belonged to one single faith. From this very division into different castes and religions, has evolved a very unhealthy culture. It is the inequality of faith and religion that has resulted in a corrupt society. In India, everyone is thus set against everyone else --- except probably God and even he must be bribed!
SHALL WE EVER CHANGE OUR MIND
SET ?????
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