Today I saw a morcha passing by my house. Shouts and slogans of "brashtaachar band karo! and Bharat mata ki jai!".It made me draw attention to a question, what is corruption? For the morcha passing by was by the Rickshawalla union.
For some reason I could not connect to it. Thoughts of them - denying a ride in the heavy rain because it was short distance. The tripped meter almost acting as a defunct pacemaker on your heart often. That patch of road that he will not tread on. Although I'm not saying they all deserve to be looked in the same way.There are other factors.
Today popularly, one could say corruption and bribery have a cause and effect relationship. But this morcha showed me a different light. They both are effects of a much deeper issue. An issue touching the moral fabric of society.
The word corruption in a dictionary says "a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct"
Further thought suggested that it was because a great ravine between the social classes.He comes from poor backward community to the big city. Being illiterate has no option but seek the best occupation offered for his skill. So what does one do? Off course its not easy to start even a legal pan stall. While hawking is illegal in the only places one can make money.
This where it stems. The poor pushed to a corner has no other option but to purge themselves through the world of bribery- a.k.a convenience charge.This is paid to a host of people. Every year only more people join. The cops, the unions, ET all. If he is hawking or has an illegal stall, then to the owner of that patch of land too. He runs 16 hours a day as he has to pay the daily “bhada” to his rickshaw owner.He is then expected to pay higher inflated values on daily commodities. Expected to stay in a filthy slum, expected to be beaten up by ruffian political groups for his ethnicity.All while expecting him send money home. He still plans to go get that license which is required but postpones every time fearing that it would be too much of a trouble with the red tape and will also mean losing out on vital business He doesn't mind paying the one off bribe to cops who basically just short of getting a sofa to where they are stationed.
Corruption cannot be killed by popping the lokpal pill. Now I ask, what is the guarantee that tomorrow a lok pal will not be corrupt. Then we pass a law to check corruption of the lokpal? I really do not think this is the answer. Just imagine life after we have the lokpal. All rosy? probably not! Although we might have a tool to check corruption, we may not be able check the spread. There are too many corrupt and too few to monitor. Looking at the vacancies in the judiciary system it will take ages for the corrupt to be prosecuted.
In betting or even a stock market investment you can say this- the stakes get higher with more risks. Eventually only more more money would be required to keep the rusty engine working.
The mentality is similar to my neighbor who owns a bike. He has changed his engine oil and that's the only time he took to the garage and that was a year back. He complains of rising fuel prices, bad roads and "mechanic log chor hai" for the poor condition of his bike.Just when I thought he was being unreasonable he told me that he also expected the bike to give him a good average.
Many of us have paid bribes to cops for not wearing our seat belt or having a helmet. To top it up many of us still don't carry our registration. But the sight of a cop will still make you swear!
Somehow I also recollect those months of tax declaration. People come up with innovative ideas on how to save tax. HRA being the most flouted!. When asked why he does not want to pay tax that will help the government and only make his country economically stronger, he says "Government ko paisa kyun deneka, sab chor log hai, netalog ke pocket me jaata hai aur garib ko kuch nahi milta". But not that they care about it going into the ghostly politician's pocket, but because it will stay in his. Not that they will donate the saved tax for a cause themselves, it will help him pay his rising credit card bills.
An engineer, will not get his hands dirty in his own garage, the doctor does not have the time check on his own kin. Mba's make more money that most lawyers. And its easier taking calls than being an artist.When such is the world where money is the only god we trust.
Money from the rich, honeymoons in foreign countries.
Recently I saw the municipal corporation guys changing the bulbs on the street, they did it but did not replace the covers or bother to remove the nest that even it's occupant has forgotten. It was still unclear why they needed 2 people to do the job and still far away from being an average task.It's not their job, they never thought so!This is the crux.
We still think one person fasting to death is the solution for the problem!There will be thousands of takers for this, but if some one calls out and asks the same set of people to switch off their mobile phones for a day as a form of protest they won't. "arrey mobile ka kya lena dena corruption se?" would almost be the instant reaction!There are always options not necessarily the quickest, but cleaner.The real point that we miss is any protest has only one objective. To be heard. A strike is the one with conditions.
We want everything fast,we don't want to wait. A license comes faster with greased hands, cops don't waste our time when they see a few tucked notes. And now we hold one simple old man to knife point and ask the government for the ransom for a faster solution. The point is we still need one man to represent us. One man to wake us from siesta. We always want watchman to look out for us while we choose to sleep
The real problem is the way we think. If things have to change it will have to change within the way we think. Be responsible for whats around you. Do the least you can, and it will slowly but surely make a difference.Ask the person staring back from the mirror for the truth.
If all had to change and we do manage the corruption free world as is today, that poor man would be deprived of a chance in the city.We will have to forgo all the benefits given when caught without the right paperwork. The judiciary with the state as is today will make movement only more difficult. Think for a minute and you will come up with more problems with the red tape.
The rift risks a wider crack that will destabilize. Imagine having bigger coalition governments than the current one. Will we be able to balance is a question worth asking?
If we truly believe we are a democracy driven "by the people". Then the corruption that nestles in it is also by the people.Not very different from you and me. Not good or bad people. But just people.
There is no Fantasy land of non-corruption.It is everywhere, even in the biggest democracy in the world. But it is under control as the balance of social classes is maintained. Policies are driven by powerful communities of people coming together.A step at a time.
Do you really think A.Raja could have all pulled it himself with his set of buddies without backing. There is corruption even in silence. There still are a host of people who may have kept quiet or even been ignorant while all this happened. The lack of whistle blowers who are brave enough to be vocal about the wrong doing. We may soon have a lokpal to listen to whistle blowers. How many of us will blow the whistle against an erring cop asking for a bribe is a thought that intrigues me. How will you prove his crime when you don't have CCTVs to monitor them? How long will it take for the prosecution given the small window.Will you be protected efficiently? Who will provide protection if the guy does decide to something unlawful, the police? Mind you, these are the biggest forms of corruption that will never make it to a newspaper, too late even if it does! Off-course you can trust the lokpal and but can you trust the unknown officers working behind him?
We all share the sentiment that we will give our lives for our nation. But the nation requires your life. To live for her well-being and to care for her. Everyone has to contribute in whatever they do to rebuild a strong infrastructure of the country that is leak proof. Then you wont really need a lokpal.
If you have read this far, the change has already begun. Not in the way you accept these thoughts or not. But in the process of thinking about it. At least the good thing about the whole “party protest” is it has made me sit up from my sleep and take responsibility.
THINK!
