Venkata Swaroop Pappala
Most of the evil deeds in the society are in someway or the other related to corruption. In 27 years of my living, I have contributed enough to keep it alive. For me bribing is no big offense. There are many more dangerous things to complain about. But actually corruption is the root cause of evil in the society. Even after so much economic development (trillion economy) and numerous welfare activities from the governments, why can’t 1 out of 5 Indians spend Rs 12 a day? How could foreign terrorists create so much carnage in Mumbai? Why are common men out of reach of security and justice? The reason for all this is corruption. Although corruption was a small plant some 50-60 years ago, but today it is a well developed tree with roots firmly dug under the earth. It’s not so easy to unearth it but it’s not impossible. We need a simple and easily practicable strategy to eliminate this practice right from the roots.
Let me give you an example to illustrate why eradicating corruption is still a possible task. I have been living in Germany for the past five years. I never tried to corrupt any official; truly speaking I never had an idea to corrupt anybody. Once I was traveling to India with an overweight baggage. I was asked to pay for the overweight. Suddenly I realized that my goods weren’t so important, so I dumped some of my stuff. Don’t ask me why I was carrying the unwanted stuff? Everything went fine with the rest of my journey. On my way back to Germany, I had a similar situation at Chennai airport. I didn’t know what to dump, for because I was carrying all important stuff (pickles, sweets etc.). In situations like these, I don’t even look for the options; my dearest Big brother, corruption takes guard and comes to my rescue. He settles matters quite easily. Now you might have understood why I like him the most. No matter what might be his other facets, he helps me and so I need to raise him. He is very powerful and can make anything happen. As far as I remember, the problem was solved by bribing the officer a couple of hundreds (≤ 5€). I would have spent even a hundred euro to get my things done. One day when I was analyzing the whole incident, I found myself having a split personality. I have two different solutions to the same problem. Even though, I had a strong bond with my brother for almost 20 years, I never took his assistance even in critical situations during my stay in Germany. Things did happen in his absence. On the other hand, after my 5 years life in the absence of my big brother, I look forward for his help even for minor problems during my stay in India. I know that my brother is omnipresent and I can approach him at any time. I faced many tough situations in Germany but I never approached my big brother for help. I can’t give you the exact reason why I am behaving differently in my home country. I know that things can be done even without corruption. May be I am in a hurry to get my things done quickly but in a similar situation in Germany, I do have patience to wait. I can’t say that corruption is no evil to me, because if that the case, I would have also practiced it in Germany.
The reason for all these indifferent reactions to situations is all because of ignorance. We think bribing a couple of hundred rupees does no serious harm to anyone. But this habit epidemically spreads to all our actions. People watching you from close corners take the success of these dealings and try to ape you in similar situations. Since somebody try to take money from you to do you a favor, you try to take money from others when somebody needs your help. Finally nobody does his duty without a bribe and does anything for a bribe. A police officer and a lawyer protects a culprit because he offers a better deal, an engineer makes better profits by deteriorating the construction projects, doctors perform major operations even for minor aches, military personals allow terrorists to cross the national border for a few bucks and so on… But if you remember, all these evil deeds started from very small bribes. These small bribes have also flourished with our economic development and today these are completely out of reach of common people. Rich, middle and poor peoples have equally contributed to this evil custom. Recession has no impact on this. Sometimes, when I read the news that so and so politician is involved in a multi crore scandals, I get furious and devote all the bad words to him. But I never scold myself for offering bribes to get my favors done. Fortunately I am not in the public sector; otherwise I would at some stage have accepted bribes.
The reason for all these indifferent reactions to situations is all because of ignorance. We think bribing a couple of hundred rupees does no serious harm to anyone. But this habit epidemically spreads to all our actions. People watching you from close corners take the success of these dealings and try to ape you in similar situations. Since somebody try to take money from you to do you a favor, you try to take money from others when somebody needs your help. Finally nobody does his duty without a bribe and does anything for a bribe. A police officer and a lawyer protects a culprit because he offers a better deal, an engineer makes better profits by deteriorating the construction projects, doctors perform major operations even for minor aches, military personals allow terrorists to cross the national border for a few bucks and so on… But if you remember, all these evil deeds started from very small bribes. These small bribes have also flourished with our economic development and today these are completely out of reach of common people. Rich, middle and poor peoples have equally contributed to this evil custom. Recession has no impact on this. Sometimes, when I read the news that so and so politician is involved in a multi crore scandals, I get furious and devote all the bad words to him. But I never scold myself for offering bribes to get my favors done. Fortunately I am not in the public sector; otherwise I would at some stage have accepted bribes.
After all these analysis and awareness of the ill effects of corruption, I realized that now is the time to stop this culture inch by inch. I know it’s quite difficult to stop it. It’s like sacrificing a family member. Since things can be done without corruption, it’s easy to believe that monstrous structured corruption culture can be abolished.
1 comments:
- At 4 June 2009 at 21:59 Unknown said...
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"If we know the cause we can find the solution"
There are so many causes for corruption and in the same way so many ways to avoid it. I have some in my mind. for example:
1. For every person (rich, poor, politician, farmer) everything goes according to the rules.
2. No black money.
3. There should be no possibility for making things done with bribing.
4. The client/customer should have patience to wait for his/her work done normally, even if there possibility for making things with bribing.
and the ideas will go on..
So we know some solutions, if we can practice we can make it all together.
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