Dictionary meaning is, 1. Dishonest and unethical, illegal behavior, 2. To spoil the moral discipline of someone or a territory, 3. To indulge in smart cheating. Generally two types of corruptions are noticed and they are active corruption and passive corruption. Active corruption refers to actual act of corruption and passive corruption refers to conniving at corruption practice of other people even though, is able to stop it. Many legislators and bureaucrats, come in this type who, are not indulging in any corruption but also do not do anything to stop it.  

Corruption has wider implications, out of that bribery is one aspect that bothers most the common man, and so my suggestion as given in the earlier posting is related with this aspect of bribery (unwilling bribery). We shall discuss corruption as a phenomenon in this posting to understand its wider implications.

Following aspects are frontal when this phenomenon is studied.

1. Unwilling bribery, when a victim is compelled to pay bribe under duress.
2. Willing bribery, when a person willingly bribes to get an illegal matter pass through.
3. Manipulation of licenses, Permits etc,
4. Favoring unethically,
5. Partiality in justice,
6. Delay tactics in giving verdict
7. Corruption is a type of cheating
8. Undue demands such as sex or any
9. Making legal provisions suitable for one against any others
10. Exploitation of authority

A separate book will be required to elaborate on the points I have highlighted here. As for my posting, this brief reference is god enough for the readers.

Psychologists have confirmed that this habit to indulge in corrupt practices is primarily due to lack of self-respect. People with self-respect never indulge in this unethical behaviour. That means if any society shows repeatedly this habit popping up it means that the society and the people in it are not having any self-respect. If we see that Indians are having corruption in all aspects of life from government to personal life, it means we are people without self-respect or shame. All aspects of cheating come under this behaviour.

I am sorry to say that merely forming a Lokpal committee is no solution to the problem. Another important thing is we are talking about fighting corruption but corruption is the effect and not cause, how can we fight effect, we have to eradicate cause, they told me that Lokpal committee shall do it, I doubt; for reasons that to get this bill passed through houses occupied by corrupt representatives is next to impossible. We have been watching that the simpler version which is not very harsh (Anna’s version is very harsh) had not passed through the upper house that means to get it passed through them and to make it a law is not an easy task. If Anna thinks that every time he shall sit for a hunger strike to get it passed he is mistaken. We have seen how another veteran activist Medha was forcibly removed to a hospital and her hunger strike was stopped by giving an intravenous glucose. That will surely happen and then what the activists shall do? To get it passed Anna may have to fight election and get his team elected. All this clearly indicates that this is not as easy as it is shown to be.

Indirect methods, as suggested by me in my earlier posting, are a mean to this problem. More than that is; we Indians become introvert and find out why we are so shamelessly self-respect-less? One psychologist suggested that extreme selfishness makes a person shameless. This extreme selfishness makes the person feel that everything else is immaterial in front of that selfishness.

Simple example to give is; desire to break a queue to get early and benefit first. I have noticed amongst Indians that there is general expectation that they should by excused by a law while they want that the same law is enforced for all others. These defects are the root behind the problem of corruption in India. Unless these are addressed properly and eradicated from the minds of common man we cannot have an honest administration in this country. Many businessmen want corruption to exist and grow in the administration so that they can get their illegal business deals passed. Some have told me that if a person in authority is honest he is a problem to them! These business people encourage corruption in the administration for their small or big gains. Favoritism is the most dangerous type of corruption business people want to encourage in the administration. This helps them in beating their competitor. Businessmen told me that they have nothing to loose in the process because, the black money that these people in authority earn is usually given back to them to be invested in their business for safekeeping. This offers an opportunity to these corrupt businessmen to have additional finance for their business. That corruption money returns to them and so they have no complain against corruption; it is the ordinary people who suffer due to corruption and they are the only one who want to fight against this menace. This explains why we also see some people objecting to any attempt to eradicate corruption from the administration. We see they are working under whichever camouflage and giving any excuse to resist the movement. We must understand that their resistance is because they are one who benefit from corruption.

One survey indicates that about 26% people from metropolis such as Mumbai are benefiting from some or the other mode of corruption that means these people are always in favor of corruption; whereas about 40% population is, in spite of being victimized by corrupt practices, reluctant to take any action or voice against it out of fear of retaliation by the people in authority. That means about 34% people actually work to eradicate corruption. 26 against 34 is a very stiff competition and that poses a big challenge. In rural area benefactors of corruption are not more than 4% but here again the fight is similarly difficult because reluctant are as high as 80%, leaving 10 % as real opponents and other 6% in floating condition. This floating percentage creates big uncertainty.

Reason for reluctance is worth noting; they are afraid of nasty retaliation by the authority indulging in corruption because our laws are not equipped with provision of ‘corollary to the law’. As a matter of fact, nowhere in the world this provision for ‘corollary to the law’ is made available. Basic lacuna is that law makers presume that the law enforcing authority is not corrupt; and so provisions, incase they are corrupt, to protect the concerned civilian is never given. Such a provision is called corollary of that law. All laws should be made corruption proof by adding corollaries to respective laws is essential to reduce this percentage of reluctant. For that, to accept by law possibility of the enforcing authority being corrupt, and what to do in that situation, need be made clear, it is not an easy task to do this and make all our laws corruption proof. One solicitor told me that, quite the opposite, lawmakers design laws to help possible upshot from the enforcing authority and so this shortcoming is difficult to surmount. A general guideline at least should be in the addendum to the law.  

I have noticed some biases particularly amongst the people in power and position that rules are not meant for them but they are meant for all others particularly ordinary people who are not in that tribe. This amounts to them often breaking rules to show that they are above law. This is the beginning of corruption. There are misapprehensions amongst political and bureaucratic persons that patriotism is the responsibility of common people and they are there to exploit it for their gain. Since all political people as well as bureaucrats are harboring this bias when time comes to take action against any one who is erring; others join hands to save that erring person, finally see that the erring person escapes the clutches of law. Understand amongst the corrupt persons is very strong when it comes to protecting them against any anticorruption law. Sorry sate of affairs is that even judiciary people appear to join the bandwagon.

Read my postings Black money and recession, Height of Corruption and Corruption or co-operation for more discussion.

A representative in the house of Parliament one Mrs. Choudhary had said that people get the type of government they deserve. It is time to seriously think on these points and if we realize that this problem stems from our own shameless behavior, we may be able to one day resolve this menace of corruption permanently, not otherwise. I am sorry to admit; 

Remember the roots of corruption are in the people of India!!    

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