DONNA BRYSON
Associated Press Writer
NEW DELHI, India (AP)
-- When the cocktail chitchat turned to education, a New Delhi homemaker quizzed a teacher about getting her 6-year-old into his well-regarded private school. "Do they accept donations?" she asked carefully. Then, noticing his confusion, added: "You know -- bribes."
Just a day before, her prime minister had devoted his state of the nation address to an appeal to his countrymen to forego paying bribes even if it meant hardship. But who will heed Prime Minister I.K. Gujral if it means losing a chance to send a daughter to a good school? Or waiting months for a phone? Or not getting the lights turned on at all?
Corruption has become a way of life in the world's largest democracy. "Go to the electricity office, the telephone office, the water office -- at each and every office, it's very difficult to get things done until and unless you pay a bribe," said New Delhi docotr S.S. Kanodia, shaking his head at a decline in values he blames on greed. "Everybody's after money, so the morals have gone down," he said. "Nobody thinks of what he or she can do for the country." Manish Sharma, a 23-year-old government clerk, says he paid a bribe to get his job. He wouldn't say how much and asked that his department not be named, but was otherwise surprisingly direct. Others avoid the word bribe, preferring a thesaurus of euphemisms -- from "donations" of $285 to get school authorities to squeeze in one more student, to"holiday gifts" of a few dollars to municipal workers to ensure uninterrupted power supply. "If you don't give the money, it will take time to get things done, but they will get done. It's just that nobody in India wants to take the time," Sharma said. "People think it was politicians who started corruption, but I think it started with the people. They give money to the government official and say the official is corrupt. They never say they are corrupt." Indeed, Gujral reversed the usual discourse in his speech Friday, marking 50 years of independence from Britain. Here was a politician telling ordinary Indians to shape up. He followed up with a speech the next day to business people, telling them they, too, were part of the problem. The Asian Age newspaper bristled in a weekend editorial that Gujral was trying "to abdicate responsibility." Lectures from politicians are hard to swallow after so many -- including a previous prime minister -- have been accused of using their powerful public positions for private gain. Though Gujral himself is seen as clean, he also is seen as weak for doing little last month when the then-head of his political party was charged with stealing millions from the state treasury.
In July, India was ranked the eighth most corrupt nation in the world by Berlin-based Transparency International, which polled business people, political analysts and the general public about where bribes, kickbacks and nepotism were most prevalent. Countries considered more corrupt were, from least to worst: Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, Colombia, Bolivia and Nigeria.
Transparency International said corruption discouraged foreign investment in poor countries like India. Without foreign-fueled development, India may never overcome what many see as the root causes of corruption: poverty, and an infrastructure so weak that basicservices like telephones and schools become scarce resources available only to the highest bidders.
-- When the cocktail chitchat turned to education, a New Delhi homemaker quizzed a teacher about getting her 6-year-old into his well-regarded private school. "Do they accept donations?" she asked carefully. Then, noticing his confusion, added: "You know -- bribes."
Just a day before, her prime minister had devoted his state of the nation address to an appeal to his countrymen to forego paying bribes even if it meant hardship. But who will heed Prime Minister I.K. Gujral if it means losing a chance to send a daughter to a good school? Or waiting months for a phone? Or not getting the lights turned on at all?
Corruption has become a way of life in the world's largest democracy. "Go to the electricity office, the telephone office, the water office -- at each and every office, it's very difficult to get things done until and unless you pay a bribe," said New Delhi docotr S.S. Kanodia, shaking his head at a decline in values he blames on greed. "Everybody's after money, so the morals have gone down," he said. "Nobody thinks of what he or she can do for the country." Manish Sharma, a 23-year-old government clerk, says he paid a bribe to get his job. He wouldn't say how much and asked that his department not be named, but was otherwise surprisingly direct. Others avoid the word bribe, preferring a thesaurus of euphemisms -- from "donations" of $285 to get school authorities to squeeze in one more student, to"holiday gifts" of a few dollars to municipal workers to ensure uninterrupted power supply. "If you don't give the money, it will take time to get things done, but they will get done. It's just that nobody in India wants to take the time," Sharma said. "People think it was politicians who started corruption, but I think it started with the people. They give money to the government official and say the official is corrupt. They never say they are corrupt." Indeed, Gujral reversed the usual discourse in his speech Friday, marking 50 years of independence from Britain. Here was a politician telling ordinary Indians to shape up. He followed up with a speech the next day to business people, telling them they, too, were part of the problem. The Asian Age newspaper bristled in a weekend editorial that Gujral was trying "to abdicate responsibility." Lectures from politicians are hard to swallow after so many -- including a previous prime minister -- have been accused of using their powerful public positions for private gain. Though Gujral himself is seen as clean, he also is seen as weak for doing little last month when the then-head of his political party was charged with stealing millions from the state treasury.
In July, India was ranked the eighth most corrupt nation in the world by Berlin-based Transparency International, which polled business people, political analysts and the general public about where bribes, kickbacks and nepotism were most prevalent. Countries considered more corrupt were, from least to worst: Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, Colombia, Bolivia and Nigeria.
Transparency International said corruption discouraged foreign investment in poor countries like India. Without foreign-fueled development, India may never overcome what many see as the root causes of corruption: poverty, and an infrastructure so weak that basicservices like telephones and schools become scarce resources available only to the highest bidders.
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