I was thinking about corruption.. I believe that Corruption is one of the oldest practice of human civilization along with one of the oldest trade. Everyone will agree that corruption is there in some form or other in all the countries. Nature, form or severity may be different, but it is there is all parts of our beloved planet earth including all living things.. However, some countries it is still taboo and considered bad where as some countries, it is accepted norm. In case of India, I feel that only person who is not corrupt is the one who is not getting chance to be corrupt. Having said that, there are still some exceptions.. there are still some "Jantoos" in the zoo who are still honest!! no offense.. but the people who are not corrupt are in reality considered not to be street smart.. Sad.. but unfortunately true.. I know I will hear from lot of you about it..
So.. What drives corruption.. Why people resort to corruption.. Why some societies are more corrupt.. Why some are not so corrupt.. any guesses or answers or solutions.. I don't know.. I do feel that it is driven by income disparity.. coupled with social & atmospheric pressures.. divide between rich and poor..
In case of India, all these factors were further fueled by centuries of occupation by foreign forces who only wanted to extract money one way or another.. lastly, 2 centuries of British rule crippled this further by paying enormous salaries to Civil Servants (I guess, even for Britishers, ICS was one of the top salaried job) and paying almost nothing to rank and file workers in both administration and police jobs. On top of it they further fueled feudalism to continue suppressing common people..
none of the above is good enough excuse for corruption in modern times.. now a days there are enough opportunities for everyone who wants to work hard and make money honestly.. Still we are one of the most corrupt societies.. Why? We are Gandhi Nation!!! Which can be taken both ways depending on which Gandhi you pick.. If you say that we are Mahatma Gandhi nation then we should not have any corruption.. it should be Ram Rajya every where.. However, if you say that we are Nehru/Gandhi Nation (which we are currently) then corruption as an accepted norm is fine..
What is solution to this deep rooted mentality in India? When I was kid, I used to say that, when India got independence, we should have dismantled British Police force, as Britishers were able to rule India only due to them.. If I remember correctly, my views about them were to hang them all in public execution.. that was naive and foolish at the best.. it wouldn't have fixed any problem for that matter and most likely created more problems for new nation.. What else could be solution? Double or triple their salaries? I doubt if India could have been able to afford it or even that would have fixed it. Once you get into this habit of bribery, you can't stop it..
I feel that only solution is to have increase education level, increase information availability, open door discussions and true form of democracy and complete stoppage on unrestricted number of terms for government positions. We need to accept that fact that there are still 400 million people in India below poverty line. Most of the western societies can't survive at or above (slightly) this so called poverty line of India, forget about people living below poverty line.. Indian youth needs to look at this problem and fix it. Nobody else is going to help India.. India needs to help themselves.. As far as higher population is concerned.. I am not that big fan of that argument.. Japan had and still have population density more than India.. around 1950s both the countries were more or less in same situation.. does any one knows what is the only thing common between Toyota and Hindustan Motors (makers of famous Ambassador cars in India).. It was their foundation day.. both companies were founded same day.. In-fact Hindustan Motors had more starting capital than Toyota..
Imagine Indian economy's size if our productivity was same as Japan's... I am sure it would have been biggest economy of the planet..
Any how coming back to Anti-Corruption. Can any country flourish with such a high level of corruption.. China is one such example.. what I heard or read so far.. China is equally corrupt society.. However, there is no comparison between China and India's progress report. So why is elimination of corruption so important for India.. is it just my thoughts as I am from India and I have seen corruption very closely or something else..
I think it is long enough..
So.. What drives corruption.. Why people resort to corruption.. Why some societies are more corrupt.. Why some are not so corrupt.. any guesses or answers or solutions.. I don't know.. I do feel that it is driven by income disparity.. coupled with social & atmospheric pressures.. divide between rich and poor..
In case of India, all these factors were further fueled by centuries of occupation by foreign forces who only wanted to extract money one way or another.. lastly, 2 centuries of British rule crippled this further by paying enormous salaries to Civil Servants (I guess, even for Britishers, ICS was one of the top salaried job) and paying almost nothing to rank and file workers in both administration and police jobs. On top of it they further fueled feudalism to continue suppressing common people..
none of the above is good enough excuse for corruption in modern times.. now a days there are enough opportunities for everyone who wants to work hard and make money honestly.. Still we are one of the most corrupt societies.. Why? We are Gandhi Nation!!! Which can be taken both ways depending on which Gandhi you pick.. If you say that we are Mahatma Gandhi nation then we should not have any corruption.. it should be Ram Rajya every where.. However, if you say that we are Nehru/Gandhi Nation (which we are currently) then corruption as an accepted norm is fine..
What is solution to this deep rooted mentality in India? When I was kid, I used to say that, when India got independence, we should have dismantled British Police force, as Britishers were able to rule India only due to them.. If I remember correctly, my views about them were to hang them all in public execution.. that was naive and foolish at the best.. it wouldn't have fixed any problem for that matter and most likely created more problems for new nation.. What else could be solution? Double or triple their salaries? I doubt if India could have been able to afford it or even that would have fixed it. Once you get into this habit of bribery, you can't stop it..
I feel that only solution is to have increase education level, increase information availability, open door discussions and true form of democracy and complete stoppage on unrestricted number of terms for government positions. We need to accept that fact that there are still 400 million people in India below poverty line. Most of the western societies can't survive at or above (slightly) this so called poverty line of India, forget about people living below poverty line.. Indian youth needs to look at this problem and fix it. Nobody else is going to help India.. India needs to help themselves.. As far as higher population is concerned.. I am not that big fan of that argument.. Japan had and still have population density more than India.. around 1950s both the countries were more or less in same situation.. does any one knows what is the only thing common between Toyota and Hindustan Motors (makers of famous Ambassador cars in India).. It was their foundation day.. both companies were founded same day.. In-fact Hindustan Motors had more starting capital than Toyota..
Imagine Indian economy's size if our productivity was same as Japan's... I am sure it would have been biggest economy of the planet..
Any how coming back to Anti-Corruption. Can any country flourish with such a high level of corruption.. China is one such example.. what I heard or read so far.. China is equally corrupt society.. However, there is no comparison between China and India's progress report. So why is elimination of corruption so important for India.. is it just my thoughts as I am from India and I have seen corruption very closely or something else..
I think it is long enough..
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