Oxford
Dictionary defines corruption as a 'dishonest
or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving
bribery',
and Bribe is defined as 'dishonestly
persuade (someone) to act in one’s favour by a gift of money or
other inducement'
.
We
are all proud common men who will berate the politicians about the
corruption and take potshots at them through social media and other
means. However, how much are we to blame, is our hand clean in this
regard. There are few instances of corruption we all indulge in,
- Not insist on a bill, if the store keeper tells we save on tax
- Jump the queue to either to get a ticket or food
- Be silent on subsidies we enjoy, though we don't deserve them (free TV, ration sugar, LPG/Kerosene.... list goes on)
- Buy something without verifying the claims, because we get a discount/free gift 'only for the day kind' (Campa Cola Campus in Mumbai is a fit case)
These
are something which we the common man indulge in our own lives
everyday and still say these are trivial matters when it comes to
large scale corruption by our politicos n babus. But is this not the
same trend that they are following albeit in a larger scale.
Primarily
it looks like corruption is part of our DNA, just like violating the
rules is part of our DNA. How can we expect our next generation not
to indulge in corrupt practices when, they see corruption within
ourselves.
While
politicians and Babu's take the cake in terms of corruption, just because they are in a position to influence policy, today no body
seems to be exempt from the corrupt practices. One of the noblest
professions, medical practices is the worst in terms of corrupt
practices. Today doctors get commissions on tests that they
prescribe, referrals they make to bigger hospitals, free trips on
medicines they prescribe in the guise of medical conferences. All
these in addition to various gifts that are handed over by the sales
reps, when they come to meet the doctor to introduce/remind about
their products.
The
so called fourth estate, Media accepts gifts during press briefings,
accepts envelops filled with cash from corrupt officers,
advertisements in lieu of not exposing corporates, is this not
corruption? What moral authority they can exercise to question other
people indulging in corruption.
Now
it comes to us,
- when we build renovate our homes, many a time we do not even submit a plan for approval, even if we do, we don't follow it and deviate to the extent it is convenient to us. We place our building material on the road (inconveniencing the others), pay bribes to the officers who call on us to stop the irregularities so that they can have a nelson eye on our deviations. How much are we contributing to the corruption of the system, if there is a danger of demolition, we run to the politician who can influence the officer, and in turn are forced to keep quiet when the politician indulges in a bigger corrupt practice.
- When a cop catches us for traffic violation we prefer to induce him to take a bribe rather than pay the penalty and come on record.
- We are ready to pay bribes left right n centre to get our work done, be it a driving licence, ration card or anything for that matter. We also say we are forced to do this because we are left with no choices.
The
system is so bad, we see corruption spreading to the lowest levels, a
voter has no qualms of taking money, liquor, gifts etc to vote for a
particular candidate, today they are taking from all candidates and
splitting the votes of the family to all those who have paid (this
much honesty is still there), A parking centre assistant is willing
to take cash in lieu of a receipt, A railway TT will allow you to
travel A/C class on a ordinary ticket if you share the fare difference with him, A banquet
manager will give less number of plates count to his management, for
the party you host, if you take care of him. This list can go on and
on.
Government
has no qualms of black marketing in the name of 'Tatkal' by creating
a shortage and asking us to pay extra for early delivery. Look at the
case of Telephones at one point of time we were paying Rs.16000 for a
telephone connection officially to the government because connections
were hard to get, today with plenty of availability the telecom
companies come to us luring with offers. Same thing with Maruthi
cars, today after liberalisation and plenty of models to chose from,
we do not have to pay 'Tatkal' money to get a car. However this
black-marketing is still on with railways, wonder when will that ever
get removed. This i believe is as good as speed money/Bribe since we
are paying extra money to get a out of turn benefit.
With
corruption all around us and we being active apart of it, what is the
solution.
- Bring in transparency in all government activity
- All allotments, plan approvals, decision making should be made available in a transparent manner to all, by putting it up on the internet.
- No out of the line allotments irrespective of influence, even we the people should desist from asking and be prepared to wait.
- Direct remittance of subsidy to the beneficiary bank account rather than doles, as it is today
- APMC yards should put up prices on the net, reach out to farmers by SMS about the prices, so that the middle men do not take the farmers for a ride.
- Every govt office to have a citizen's charter detailing how many days for each work
- All bureaucrats who are involved in decision making be the first to be made accountable when there is a fraud detected.
- All corporates indulging in corruption by offering bribes should be barred from selling/offering their products/services in the market for a period of 6 years
- If a Judicial officer is caught for corruption, death penalty straight away on conviction, irrespective of the quantum of the misdeed.
- Any politician convicted on corruption/ Disproportionate assets charges, should be barred from contest for any election/post along with his/her family members for a lifetime.
One
might say, is this all possible, may be could be, first lets change
to ask for the change
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