In the 2011 elections to the state assemblies, a survey found that corruption occupied top place among Tamil Nadu voters.No wonder, corruption in high places and mostly innocent seeming higher ups raises a stink. The politicians and bureaucrats in question look appropriately sombre, as if they were caught red handed with their hands in the cookie jar. Later after a while, their faces change as they prepare an appropriate response on the lines of 'it was done earlier by the opposition party', ' nothing wrong in doing it' or a very brazen ' I don't know, it was my juniors who did it'.
Anyone who knows about the system knows how the scam happens. Someone finds an opportunity to make a fast buck( rupee?), runs to the political top guy with his idea and gets the nod. The wily politician sends the appropriate message( mostly oral) to the pen pushers 'to consider the matter' and lo and behold, they revert saying no problem or with too few conditions that are not a bother. Let us imagine how the hands are greased with the wheels of convenience. Ministers may go abroad on a fact finding trip, get their share duly deposited in the offshore account of their choice and they return quietly.
How about an RTI with the Home Ministry asking for details of ministerial jaunts and their intermediate destinations? Remember they also know that someone is always watching! Maybe a trip to the annual Davos jamboree is enough.
Coming to ourselves, Just how corrupt are we? The following figures are true, I heard them bandied about by friends, relatives, others and sound credible enough:
1. To get a driving licence. How much we pay as bribe to the RTA? 100? 200? or more?
2. To get a ration card, how much? 500? 1000? 2000?
3. To get a plot/flat/house registered? 5,000? 50,000? or more?
4. To get your tax refund? 1000? 5,000? or more?
5. To get your passport? 5,000? 10,000?
6. To get the police/municipal/tax off your back?
We seem to be doing it willingly so that we 'save' the inconvenience of making umpteen trips to get it done. You would rather get a middleman ( broker/dalal/whatever) who will do it for a hefty price. Because he honestly/dishonestly says to you, I have to pay all the way to the higher ups.
Do you have an alternative to not paying a bribe and still getting it done? Yes. If you seem to have connections with the ruling party and can name a few top ones to get it done.
What if a bribe giver knew that he would be jailed/fined/ banned for giving bribe? What if the bribe takers realised that getting caught would mean automatic dismissal from the job and confiscation of all his assets?
What if politicians knew that even a mere allegation of mala fides would force them to step down and submit to an inquiry to clear their name?
India is not the most corrupt country in the world. We are helping it go up the ladder of corruption, what with the uncovering of bigger and more massive scams in almost every sphere of activity.
Could you ever imagine that the specialist doctor who is about to operate on you may have acquired his credentials fraudulently like the pilots?
Or imagine that the bright hot shot on the rising plane is doing things that are unlawful/illicit/or not legal?
For some time now, we are getting our newspapers with a huge colour advertisement on the front page, turn the page and the real front page is ensconced cosily. Don't the newspapers ever think that they are cheating their readers with a 'prime opportunity for ad' ?
You see evidence of corruption everywhere. When it is a Government holiday, the normally busy gaggle of 'writers','touts', 'hangers on' and 'chamchas' are totally absent. with 50% of the vehicles off the road, the traffic is smooth and congestion free. On a working day, the entrance is always crowded with helpful people offering their services to do your work.
As for myself, I am not blameless on this issue. Though I try to wiggle out of a potential bribe giving situation. I got my tax refund painlessly and quickly, thanks to a colleague who was a schoolmate with the IT official handling my case. A Sub- Registrar meekly withdrew his demand for 'handling charges' on learning that I was a journalist and working on a popular Watch out column.
But even I cannot stop the rampant cheating that happens at the petrol pump. You give the guy a 1000 and ask him to pour the fuel. The needle stops at 998.20and jumps to 1000. If you wanted a litre of petrol for your two wheeler, if the price said 67.15, you have to forgo the change and take 32. Even the ever humble autorickshaw walla has no change to give you when you give a 20 to pay for a 17.50/18.10 fare. It happens.
How corrupt are you? Maybe the question is merely a way to jolt a jaded and sleeping conscience.
Anyone who knows about the system knows how the scam happens. Someone finds an opportunity to make a fast buck( rupee?), runs to the political top guy with his idea and gets the nod. The wily politician sends the appropriate message( mostly oral) to the pen pushers 'to consider the matter' and lo and behold, they revert saying no problem or with too few conditions that are not a bother. Let us imagine how the hands are greased with the wheels of convenience. Ministers may go abroad on a fact finding trip, get their share duly deposited in the offshore account of their choice and they return quietly.
How about an RTI with the Home Ministry asking for details of ministerial jaunts and their intermediate destinations? Remember they also know that someone is always watching! Maybe a trip to the annual Davos jamboree is enough.
Coming to ourselves, Just how corrupt are we? The following figures are true, I heard them bandied about by friends, relatives, others and sound credible enough:
1. To get a driving licence. How much we pay as bribe to the RTA? 100? 200? or more?
2. To get a ration card, how much? 500? 1000? 2000?
3. To get a plot/flat/house registered? 5,000? 50,000? or more?
4. To get your tax refund? 1000? 5,000? or more?
5. To get your passport? 5,000? 10,000?
6. To get the police/municipal/tax off your back?
We seem to be doing it willingly so that we 'save' the inconvenience of making umpteen trips to get it done. You would rather get a middleman ( broker/dalal/whatever) who will do it for a hefty price. Because he honestly/dishonestly says to you, I have to pay all the way to the higher ups.
Do you have an alternative to not paying a bribe and still getting it done? Yes. If you seem to have connections with the ruling party and can name a few top ones to get it done.
What if a bribe giver knew that he would be jailed/fined/ banned for giving bribe? What if the bribe takers realised that getting caught would mean automatic dismissal from the job and confiscation of all his assets?
What if politicians knew that even a mere allegation of mala fides would force them to step down and submit to an inquiry to clear their name?
India is not the most corrupt country in the world. We are helping it go up the ladder of corruption, what with the uncovering of bigger and more massive scams in almost every sphere of activity.
Could you ever imagine that the specialist doctor who is about to operate on you may have acquired his credentials fraudulently like the pilots?
Or imagine that the bright hot shot on the rising plane is doing things that are unlawful/illicit/or not legal?
For some time now, we are getting our newspapers with a huge colour advertisement on the front page, turn the page and the real front page is ensconced cosily. Don't the newspapers ever think that they are cheating their readers with a 'prime opportunity for ad' ?
You see evidence of corruption everywhere. When it is a Government holiday, the normally busy gaggle of 'writers','touts', 'hangers on' and 'chamchas' are totally absent. with 50% of the vehicles off the road, the traffic is smooth and congestion free. On a working day, the entrance is always crowded with helpful people offering their services to do your work.
As for myself, I am not blameless on this issue. Though I try to wiggle out of a potential bribe giving situation. I got my tax refund painlessly and quickly, thanks to a colleague who was a schoolmate with the IT official handling my case. A Sub- Registrar meekly withdrew his demand for 'handling charges' on learning that I was a journalist and working on a popular Watch out column.
But even I cannot stop the rampant cheating that happens at the petrol pump. You give the guy a 1000 and ask him to pour the fuel. The needle stops at 998.20and jumps to 1000. If you wanted a litre of petrol for your two wheeler, if the price said 67.15, you have to forgo the change and take 32. Even the ever humble autorickshaw walla has no change to give you when you give a 20 to pay for a 17.50/18.10 fare. It happens.
How corrupt are you? Maybe the question is merely a way to jolt a jaded and sleeping conscience.
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