With the ICC World Cup 2011 finally over, the Indian Public, drunk on the liquor of short lived nationalism needed some issue to prolong the intoxication for a bit more time. It was at this opportune moment that Shri Anna Hazaare stepped onto the scene with a fast unto death against corruption and a demand that the 'Jan Lokpal Bill' be prepared in consultation with representatives of Civil Society. This was the ideal release for the 'Nationalistic Spirit' generated by the world cup victory. It was, at the same time, an ideal 'Filler' for the news-hungry Indian media to fill their airtime with something almost as exciting as the world cup before the IPL began. Expectedly, the media cashed on this opportunity with elan. News channels which mostly have nothing better to do than to broadcast warnings about an impending Armageddon, suddenly became keepers of public conscience and morality. Shady looking anchors were suddenly replaced with upright looking anchors-all claiming to have been the first to take up cudgels against the malaise of corruption by taking Anna's message to the people. Finally after a huge groundswell of support, Anna won the battle and the Government issued a Gazette notification with regard to the the Jan Lokpal Bill which, as per the Civil Society activists, surpassed even their expectations. The situation, as it stands now, is that the committee formed for deliberating upon the structure of the Jan Lokpal Bill has started its sittings on the matter. Almost immediately, allegations of corruption against the likes of Shri Prashant Bhushan have also started surfacing. As the Euphoria of supposedly having won a battle against the Government dissipates, questions have started popping up galore. And the most important question that has come up is that whether the institution of the Jan Lokpal will be be successful in curbing-much less wiping out- the malaise of corruption that is the bane of our society today ?
I for one have often deliberated upon this question from a time much earlier than that of Anna's fast. Only that my question has been slightly different and broader in its scope. My question is : Can India Ever Be Corruption Free?
After years of deliberating upon the question, particularly in the last ten years that I have been in service slowly but surely my response to this singular seminal question has crystallized in mind. And, that response, I am sad to say, is not in the positive. Now, when I ask myself whether India will ever be corruption free, the answer that I get is that India will never be corruption free !
I know that this answer from me breaks your heart. Indeed, it breaks my heart as much as it would break the heart of every right thinking Indian. But sadly, this is the fact. Optimism aside, we cannot wish away the reality. And the reality is that corruption has become such an important part of our socio-economic-cultural fabric that pulling it out now threatens the very existence of the same. The fact of the matter is that basically we are a corrupt society. Not only are we corrupt, we are also highly hypocritical. We want others to follow the rules while we desire exemption from them. We would love it if we could park our vehicles in no-parking zone while all others had to park theirs in a proper parking lot. In our day to day interactions and transactions-in particular those involving big money, we have a certain way of transacting. The first question that is asked is "How much of the payment would be in black and how much in white ?". Those who cry that there is "too much corruption in India" are themselves corrupt. Its only that they see the corruption of others as corruption while they see their own corruption as 'Business', 'Savings' or 'Strategy'. Go to a shop and start talking to a shopkeeper about how corrupt the taxation regime in the state is. He will pour out his cup of woes to you. But when you purchase something from the same shopkeeper, he will shy away from giving you a receipt. So, the same guy, who was complaining so vociferously about the rampant corruption in the taxation regime, will, in the very next moment, be indulging in tax evasion !! The fact of the matter is that actually majority of the Indian society is OK with corruption. It suits them. It allows them to break queues, get concessions, bend rules, steal taxes, and (wherever possible) plunder and loot public money. In my eyes, the ordinary citizen who enters a public transport and occupies as seat marked as reserved for ladies and aged people is as corrupt as the person who occupies a high office in the Government and indulges in a scam of crores or rupees. That is because the act and the intention is the same-to deprive the fellow citizens of something that is rightfully theirs. The difference is only in the quantum of the act. Let me illustrate this argument with an example.
Once Sir George Bernard Shaw, the famous English play-write was talking to a beautiful lady socialite in a party. In the course of the conversation, Shaw made her an offer. He said, Mrs.Carter, suppose I offered you 500 pounds, would you sleep with me ? "
"Of course not ! Mr. Shaw" the socialite retorted visibly aghast.
"OK, so what if I offered you 500,000 pounds"
Now this was some offer. The socialite paused to think. After giving some thought to the offer she answered in a whisper " Well...this is an offer that I could accept"
"Hmm,..." hummed Shaw. " What would you say if I revised my bid and offered you 50 pounds for a night?"
"Mr.Shaw !! What is this nonsense ?!! What do you think I am ?!!"
"Oh my dear Mrs. Carter.." answered Shaw calmly. "We have already established what you are. Now we are merely haggling over the price !!"
The example hits. Doesn't it? A lady who is willing to sleep with a stranger for 500,000 pounds a night is as much a prostitute as a lady who does it for 50 pounds. With this example in mind look around you. Are we not a a nation of thieves ? Go to Delhi and the moment you come out of the railway station you are confronted with an autorickshaw-driver who will refuse to take you to your destination by the proper meter reading. Send your car to the service station and you can be 90% sure that the service would be substandard unless you know someone personally in the workshop who looks after your interests there. Go to a medicine shop and you will easily be able to buy a banned drug over-the-counter without a prescription and without a receipt. Call a plumber to work at your home and he will try to do a 'Jugad' instead of proper work even when you are paying him full money. Subscribe to a mobile phone service and your bills will be artificially inflated and you will be charged for services that you never asked for in the first place. Go to buy a cup of steamed corn and the vendor will try to short change you by giving you less than the advertised quantity. Try to park your car in a market and a gang of goondas will descend upon you and shove a piece of paper in your hands as a parking ticket regardless of whether there exists a legal parking at that spot or not and last but not the least, be unfortunate enough to fall so ill so as to be be hospitalized and before you know it, so many test will be performed on you that it would put a lab rat to shame !! (and what is worse, you will be the one paying for the tests regardless of whether you live or die !!). I could fill an entire book with the examples of daily corruption, committed in daily life,by ordinary citizens against each other. But I am not trying to create a compendium of such examples. All I am trying to point out is that as a nation we do not respect the law and have little or no sense of propriety. We do not take seriously things and issues which ought to be taken seriously. Actually what is being perceived as an outcry against corruption is actually a cry of jealousy of the entire nation !! When we see a Raja or a Kalmadi walk away with such enormous booty, our natural 'crab instincts' are activated. We turn blue with envy and the reaction of the entire nation is that "how come this man has earned so much through corruption while I have managed to earn so little??!!" In such a scenario the shopkeeper who refuses to give a receipt for the wares he sells cries "kill kill " against the Rajas and Kalmadis. Likewise does the autorickshawdriver who routinely overcharges and harasses commuters and the CEO of the mobile company that shortchanges customers on a daily basis.
So where does this discussion lead us ? I would say that it leads us to the inevitability-the singularity-that says that corruption is here to stay. Actually, in our romantic vision and interpretation of our past, we tend to think that there was once a time when India was corruption free. Actually, there was no such time. Back at the time when the Mahabharata was written, corrupt Indian politicians were at each others throats to gain power (just as they do now). In the middle ages, corrupt Indians helped invaders to loot and plunder our country and evne to enslave it. During the relatively modern times, it was because of the contribution of corrupt Indians that the British enslaved us. Nearly at the time when we gained independence from the British, a certain author called 'Premchand' was leaving a graphic account of corruption in public life and the fate of the honest officer in a short story called "Namak Ka Daroga". Post-Independence, we have seen a systematic loot and plunder of public money year after year. The CWG scam and the 2G scam-both are neither the first nor the last of their kind in this sordid saga. We are a unfortunately a country where Individual ambition has always been stronger than national sentiment. We worship achievers. We make Gods out of them. Its no surprise then that the average Indian wants to achieve-to succeed at all costs. From early childhood, the average Indian grows up in the filth of day-to-day corruption. Such an Indian is initially the victim. First he suffers at the hands of other corrupt citizens. Then he learns the tricks of the trade. And finally after graduating from the university of corruption that is our society, he embarks on his journey to the top . Those who reach the top become Kalmadis, Rajas, Harshad Mehtas et al. The others utilize their skills to cheat and harass fellow citizens at whichever level they are. Its an unending orgy folks. And it will go on till an eternity in India just as it has gone on from the time of the epics !!
