Corruption – An enemy within and around us : Indian perspective

Mr. X – I am caught receiving bribe, what to do?

Mr. Y – Simple, offer bribe and get freed.

Here X and Y are just variables having values right from Babus to Bureaucrats or Messengers to Ministers. And the conversation speaks how much our country is smeared with corruption.

One fine morning a news item proudly reported that Hon’ble Former President of India recommended that children take an oath and foreswear corruption.

As a well-known fact, 'children' indulge in corruption like nobody’s business in India. Scams perpetrated by the scores hit the news with sickening regularity. One day a bunch of children have accepted kickbacks to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in military equipment purchase. Next day a couple of children who were involved in siphoning a few hundred crore rupees worth of public monies meant for ‘fodder’. Some children were caught running a fake stamp-paper racket and the loss to the public purse was of the order of many a billion rupees. The worth of recent deed of some children, 'Taj corridor scam', is yet to be computed.

The corruption that 'children' responsible for is a crying shame. It is a matter of great urgency they stop it immediately and the best way to do so is to force them to take an oath that they will cease and desist from ever indulging in corruption. It is a relieving fact that this terrible problem has been addressed at last.

Corruption – An enemy

As the title reads, personified, if so, corruption is equipped with mighty muscles, tearing teeth and nasty nails. It destroys the families/communities and ultimately makes the nation viable to become a prey for a powerful country. Invaders are enemies because they grab our freedom. But corruption can make us slaves of our own people. It is deadlier than any terrorist. In fact, terrorism is the final output (as of now) of corruption against the entire humanity. Yes, corruption is one of the biggest enemies of any society.

Enemy within us

This portion of the topic is vulnerable and quite sensitive. All of us find ourselves in the filthy pond, soaking or yielding virtual or actual corruption, with awareness or inadvertently. Today monetary accumulation conquered over moral values. People with bottomless reserves of wisdom are being ignored and rich ones felicitated. This fact is enough to one’s psychological drop down resulting to the inclination towards smaller commitments of corruption. We often cross the thin dead-line between honesty and corrupt practices.

Human weaknesses/threats like irresponsibility, negligence, lethargy, lack of interest in work, concealing the facts (which are to be circulated), opening up the confidential matters, disregarding the seniors and superiors, etc. play a vital role in supporting and strengthening the said enemy(corruption). For survival, one does not tend to support this inner enemy but to enjoy the alluring materialistic world, shakes hand. The present cyber era provokes the weaker(?) persons to become rich overnight. Still, there are persons who can fight against the inner enemy with the weapon of introspection.

Enemy around us

We find the said enemy (corruption) appears and harasses us in our day to day living:

· While applying for Gas/Electricity connection....

· While getting the berth while traveling on Indian Railway.

· While getting the driver's license/vehicle's paperwork.

· When stopped by a traffic policeman.

· While registering birth/death, or work related to any real estate papers.

· When going out or coming back to India.

Life in India would be extremely easier if some of the issues raised above are dealt with properly, and it is to observe one important common characteristic among them, they are all the ugly and furious clones of the said enemy around us. If this problem can be rectified, then only, one can think about the corruption in the higher places sanely. In the meanwhile we have to be grateful to our Vittals for doing a great job.