by M K Vidyaranya

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME -- The idea of the proverb can be found in the Bible. The proverb dates back to the time of the Roman comic playwright Terence (about 190-159 BC).In 1383, John Wycliffe wrote: 'Charity should begin at himself.' Five hundred years later Dickens said that 'Charity begins at home, and justice begins next  door.

I think a time has come to modify the old adage.

The root of corruption begins in almost every individuals home and we can certainly modify the adage to 'Corruption begins at Home, Justice begins  at Lokayukta'

The corruption in India, synonymous with Politicians and government officials the Central and State Governments, has spread like cancer affecting the common man to the hilt.

When every one was hesitating to take on the Union Government and corrupt politicians both in the ruling and opposition parties , a ray of hope was sighted in the form of Anna Hazare and the movement against corruption spread like wild fire across nooks and corners of the country demanding the UPA government to introduce the Janlokpal Bill which aims at rooting out corruption at all levels right from peon to prime minister.

According to historian and moralist, Lord Acton (1887),"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

How the corruption starts:

Take for example, when a small child refuses to eat food,  the mother offers the child a piece of chocolate if it eats the food without any grouse. The child then agrees to eat the food and makes it a habit to demand chocolate every time to eat food.

Similarly. a smoking father, without the knowledge of other family members, quietly sends his child to the nearby shop to bring cigarette or beedi and asks the child to keep the change, so that he could entice the child  for his next purchase. 

A politician uses students to work for them during the elections and pays them money which he had amassed through commission for the contracts he gets them from the government in various departments. The students develop a habit of working only if they get money and this habit will continue when they join jobs in government.

He also purchases votes during the election by inducing them with cash or kind to win the elections.

More than 25 centuries ago, Gautama Buddha had observed, "Desire is the root cause of sorrow".

The unending desire of many citizens who want to violate law in order to increase their wealth or get the work quickly without taking trouble is being made use of by the officials to earn money through corrupt ways.

For example, a common man who has a 30x40 site will be permitted to build building only on 65 percent of the plot. Since his desire is to build a spacious house, he constructs a bigger building and bribes the Corporation Engineers and urges them to ignore the unauthorised construction. The desire in him to have a spacious house is the root cause of corruption.

Though the government has written rules stating that a work had to be done with in a specified time, the citizens in their hurry to get the work done pays bribe to the officials as they cannot make several trips to the office.

It is high time, the Residents Welfare Associations should ask the people in their area to adhere to the rule book and approach the Government offices through them so that they will not demand bribe for clearing their papers.

Similarly businessmen desirous of making huge profits submit tailored balance sheet, bribe officials and pay lesser tax to the government.

The traffic police let off the traffic violators if they pay 50 percent of the fine without demanding the receipt. The 'desire' to save another 50 percent makes the traffic violator to agree for the deal .