Hobbesian Principles: Corruption In India

I received this through an email forward and I totally accept it. The points mentioned have been on my mind for a very long time. The point where it is mentioned that Indians build temples in foreign countries I have been opposed to this same idea for a while now. Something I will try to pen down in a different post. Read along for this analysis.

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Corruption in India is a cultural aspect.

Indians seem to think nothing peculiar about corruption.

It is everywhere.

Indians tolerate corrupt individuals rather than correct them.

No race can be congenitally corrupt.

But can a race be corrupted by its culture?

To know why Indians are corrupt, look at their patterns and practices.

First:

Religion is transactional in India.

Indians give God cash and anticipate an out-of-turn reward.

Such a plea acknowledges that favors are needed for the undeserving.

In the world outside the temple walls, such a transaction is named- “bribe”.

A wealthy Indian gives not cash to temples, but gold crowns and such baubles.

His gifts cannot feed the poor. His pay-off is for God.

He thinks it will be wasted if it goes to a needy man.

In June 2009, The Hindu published a report of Karnataka minister G. Janardhan Reddy gifting a crown of gold and diamonds worth Rs 45 crore to Tirupati.

India’s temples collect so much that they don't know what to do with it.

Billions are gathering dust in temple vaults.

When Europeans came to India they built schools.

When Indians go to Europe & USA, they build temples. (will write about my opinions on this in a different post)

Indians believe that if God accepts money for his favors, then nothing is wrong in doing the same thing. This is why Indians are so easily corruptible. 

Indian culture accommodates such transactions morally.

There is no real stigma. An utterly corrupt Jaya Lalita can make a comeback, just unthinkable in the West.

Second -

Indian moral ambiguity towards corruption is visible in its history.

Indian history tells of the capture of cities and kingdoms after guards were paid off to open the gates, and commanders paid off to surrender.

This is unique to India.

Indians' corrupt nature has meant limited warfare on the subcontinent.

It is striking how little Indians have actually fought compared to ancient Greece and modern Europe.

The Turks’ battles with Nadir Shah were vicious and fought to the finish.

In India fighting wasn't needed, bribing was enough to see off armies.

Any invader willing to spend cash could brush aside India’s kings, no matter how many tens of thousands soldiers were in their infantry.

Little resistance was given by the Indians at the “Battle” of Plassey.

Clive paid off Mir Jaffar and all of Bengal folded to an army of 3,000.

There was always a financial exchange to taking Indian forts.

Golconda was captured in 1687 after the secret back door was left open.

The Raja of Srinagar gave up Dara Shikoh’s son Sulaiman to Aurangzeb after receiving a bribe.

There are many cases where Indians participated on a large scale in treason due to bribery.

Question is: Why Indians have a transactional culture while other 'civilized' nations don't?

 

Third -

Indians do not believe in the theory that they all can rise if each of them behaves morally, because that is not the message of their faith.

Their caste system separates them.

They don't believe that all men are equal.

This resulted in their division and migration to other religions.

Many Hindus started their own faith like Sikh, Jain, Buddha and many converted to Christianity and Islam.

The result is that Indians don't trust one another. 

There are no Indians in India; there are Hindus, Christians, Muslims and what not. 

Indians forget that 400 years ago they all belonged to one faith.

This division evolved an unhealthy culture.

The inequality has resulted in a corrupt society.

In India everyone is thus against everyone else, except God ­ and even he must be bribed.

Urgent - Support for Jan Lokpal Bill

I just recieved this email at work and I have registered myself in support of the Jan Lokpal Bill. I am sharing the same information with a larger crowd. Please support for a better India.

The Government has put condition to get 25 crore people to support JanLokPal. To give your support call 02261550789 (as given by Kiran Bedi) from your mobile no. Your Call will disconnect after 1 ring and your no registered automatically. You will get an SMS confirming this. Do it along to all your friends. Forward to as many people as you know .. verbally, by mails, by messages. Support Anti-corruption campaign lead by Anna Hazare ...Jai Hind.

Anna and Corruption

While I am watching every detail of Anna all the time, here is a fresh experience of corruption.

I take the local bus after work to home since couple of days. The first time I took a ticket, I paid 7/- for the short distance I travel. The next day I took the same bus and handed a 10/- bill to the conductor. I got 5/- change back. I was confused and then thought that the previous day I was cheated to pay 7/- when in fact the fare is 5-/. I was glad I saved two rupees. I waited for couple of minutes while the conductor was taking money from other commuters. I then said twice to him.. “Ticket? You haven’t given me a ticket yet”. He stared at me for a second and said, “Give me 2 rupees!”

I said “No, you haven’t given me a ticket”, in my head I thought he had forgotten that I already paid. He gave me an annoyed look and said “Give me 2 rupees, I tell you!” Very confused, I gave him 2 rupees and he handed me a ticket and moved on to other commuters. The ticket fare said 7/-

It literally took me a minute to realize that, he was cheating by not giving me a ticket. So he could keep 5 bucks with him while I feel like I saved 2 rupees. I was so disgusted and sat in my seat in disbelief!

Here, we have a 74-year old man fighting and standing up against corruption and we have people working in govt jobs looting openly! I could care less for the 2 rupees if they are illegal! I am more than happy paying 7/- and getting a valid ticket!

Unfortunately, I didn’t do anything than just give him dirty looks! When I went home I thought I should have probably raised alarm in the bus about the conductor..may be! The bus was super-crowded (Indian buses) and frankly I also thought of danger this conductor could be for me in future. Being a whistle blower is not easy.

I understand that probably these conductors make very less income and hence try to cheat like this. But that is what Anna is trying to fight for. Tomorrow we can increase the pays of these kinds of jobs by eradicating corruption, using all that black money to employ sincere people.

At the end of it I am only happy about being sincere and true, though I didn’t voice out anything. I am happy I asked for MY TICKET! Corruption affects one and all, why don’t we all realize this and stand up against it?

Openings at CBI?

These days the news channels are full of ONLY scams in India. Corruption has taken places to such a great extent and in all offices and departments and fields, the Indian public can’t do much than just watch! Every day I watch the news; they show evidences against the corrupt leaders; these leaders shamelessly reply back saying they are innocent and the blame games goes on and on. There is no end to it. They try to set up a committee to fight corruption; the govt. tries to blame the committee for N reasons. At the end of day, corruption is all that survives and continues to grow.

Corruption has become part of our life, our being; we don’t see it as a mistake. Instead it is just an effortless way of getting things done! Every scam, murder, blast have CBI probes these days. Every time I see breaking news on TV channels – Supreme court orders CBI investigation in blah blah case; High courts orders CBI..UP govt. orders CBI…Mumbai blast…CBI! The thought that is stuck in my head since a week is – how busy the CBI officers must be! There are tons of projects to investigate and crack …all high profile projects….quick results are a must! Are they hiring?

No kidding at all! Really, do they have enough sincere, honest and smart officers to handle so many cases? The pressure I can’t imagine! Never until now had I thought about CBI officers, a detective’s life! In the 90’s we had the IT boom…should we have CBI boom now? I am sure they need more work forces to solve the never ending list of investigation in the current govt’s rule!

This picture below has been circling through the email forwards. Pretty cool what it says – Makes us wonder where is our country headed to..!!!!

Here is a summary of all scams since independence. These may not be the only ones. These are the ones that were caught and brought to the notice of the public.

In total, this is coming upto Rs. 910,603,234,300,000, which is equal to USD 20.23 trillion. With this huge amount, India will become a super-power overnight and can permanently kill all social problems mainly poverty and unemployment.

Take a detailed look at the list. Great work by the person who compiled it.

Forward this to all Indians!! Others also have a right to know where their money is going..

Indian Youth and Corruption

Based on the comments I received for the post of Nitin Gupta on Rahul Gandhi, I have a few points to mention. Most people are surprised, disappointed, angry and frustrated on reading the post including me; we all are sick of the corruption that this country is drowning in. People are full of lies, greed, ego; I may say we display all the 7 sins. I will explain how more.

Couple of weeks ago, while watching the news on TV I was shocked to the news report saying 53% of Indian youth are open to BRIBE for reaching their goals.

http://www.youthactiv8.org/2011/05/02/half-of-indian-youth-open-to-bribe-survey/

REALLY?? What is wrong with the Indian youth? I thought we, the new generation, don’t agree with the old generation of our existing politicians; their ways of running the govt. their logic, their schemes everything! That’s why the whole Youth in to Politics thing had caught up so much speed right? No wonder we have such enormous scams in our country, because one small bribe after another, mounts to millions of DOLLARS worth bribe! What happened to the values we were taught in our childhood? Values of truth, honesty, humble, no-greed, compassion??? Or the new generation is not taught this at all.

Frankly speaking from routine experience, nobody wants to serve you for the price you pay. Example, if I pay for food worth 40/-, the quality, quantity and service I get is not even worth 10/-. And the servers think its right and fine. The most annoying routine experience I have is of auto rickshaws. NOBODY uses the METER! What is that all about? Every auto wala “demands” the amount for the destination and you HAVE TO pay it. What is the meter for then? I find nobody honest in their duties; everyone has excuses, pass-on, blaming strategies to avoid work. What happened to the concept of RESPONSIBILTY?

What is the point of the Lokpal Bill passing if the youth wants to bribe and get their jobs done? It’s a waste of time of Mr. Hazare! Does the youth have answers to why they want to pay bribe? Because we pay, they take & the cycle goes on! 2G scams, commonwealth..all these are just peanuts because there are more to come for sure, this vicious cycles has gained so much momentum, and now the youth also wants to join it.

In recent times, I have concluded that India is NOT a poor country. Not at all! There is infinite money in this country; look at bollywood, politicians, IPL games, the institutions of baba’s like Puttaparthi, ramdev, etc and many more! Even the poor have enough money to live. This is say based on the slums I had close to my Pune house; where the slum residents had two-wheelers, dish TV, fridge, everything, that I still consider luxuries I will take when I need them than just piling them up in my house to display to the world!

We probably have made up all the money that even the Brits and Moghuls took from us, from all the bribes we take at every opportunity! Isn’t anybody embarrassed from scams like Commonwealth? They put the whole country to shame internationally! I sometimes wonder how other countries like US, China look at India or think of Indians. Of course, their countries also have a scandal, a scam once in a while, but we beat everyone, right? I believe we are a great country, with great culture, people, traditions and knowledge to offer to the whole world. I have seen how people in the US are drawn to Indian people and the culture; if only we had a clean honest govt. and people too! There is so much to improve in our country; just the change of mentality itself would bring a lot of change.

I try to fight my way through each day with manipulated people and services than just complain. But the fact is everyone has really become comfortable with the bribe situation which gets every task done. It’s really sad! L

Btw, I proudly don’t belong to the youth the news talks about, because I am NOT paying any bribe in my life! That is one thing I am sure of!!!

Jan Lokpal Bill - What is it?

Anna Hazare is fasting unto death since 5th April 2011. He is demanding enactment of a strong anti-corruption law - Jan Lokpal Bill - to ensure swiftness and certainty of punishment to the corrupt. Last time when Anna sat on fast:

1. 6 corrupt ministers in Maharashtra had to resign

2. 400 corrupt officers were dismissed from job

3. 2002 - Maharashtra RTI Act was passed

Across India, join Sri Sri Ravishankar, Swami Agnivesh, Arch Bishop of Delhi Vincent Concessao, Mahmood A Madani, Kiran Bedi, J M Lyngdoh, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, Mufti Shamoom Qasmi, Mallika Sarabhai, Arun Bhatia, Sunita Godara, Swami Ramdev, All India Bank Employees Federation, PAN IIT Alumni Association, Common Cause, Foundation for Restoration of National Values and many other prominent organizations and leaders, as India comes out on the streets!  200+ CITIES WILL RALLY BEHIND ANNA!Salient features of Jan Lokpal Bill

1. Drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal, this Bill has been refined on the basis of feedback received from public on website and after series of public consultations. It has also been vetted by and is supported by Shanti Bhushan, J M Lyngdoh, Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare etc. It was sent to the PM and all CMs on 1st December.

2. An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up  Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations. Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years. The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction. How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant. 

3. So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month’s time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years. But won’t the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.

4. What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.

5. What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician. This movement is neither affiliated nor aligned to any political party.

Latest I read was that corrupt politician and Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has resigned.

End Corruption - Support Anna Hazare

Recently, I had shared my anger and disgust about the endless corruption cases in India. And I used to discuss with my husband as why don’t people do anything about this! One or two scams are typical but each day a million dollar scam comes to light. Each and every politician is so deeply involved in fraud that they don’t even think once before saying they are innocent!

FINALLY, the famous social activist Anna Hazare has stood up against corruption and thousands of Indians are supporting him. Activists fasting for various reasons are very common in India. But this is truly for a great cause. I cannot praise him enough for starting a movement that will hopefully get the corrupt politicians behind the jail bars! I know it’s a long fight, but at least there is start now.

Here is a website you can join to support Anna Hazare.

More on politicians, recently after India won the world cup, every state government is giving away prizes to players participating from their states in the form of cash prize, land etc. The Karnataka chief minister didn’t stay behind; he declared lands for EACH player in the team. I stopped to think, who is going to pay for these lands? Is the minister paying these prizes from him pocket? Its either WE - the tax payers will pay for it or even worse, the poor farmers will lose their lands to some world cup they wouldn’t even know of! On what basis does the govt. decide to give away these prizes? Wait! Unless they are false commitments like one made to the differently-abled athlete Ramesh Tukaram, who was promised a land when he won the Arjuna Award from President APJ Kalam in 2002 and has not received it yet! (Not sure if I should laugh in disgust!)

This shows how “king-like” life, the politicians live who openly declare prizes at the cost of the tax payers, which is by the way ILLEGAL! Go Anna Hazare! Please help this country from this disease of corruption!

7 Scam Maaf

While we are on the topic of corruption today, I just happen to see this REMARKABLE image on one of my Facebook friend's page. It is so apt, even the Sonia Gandhi Govt. would laugh at their selves. Really very shameful!!!! Based on the recently released movie 7 Khoon Maaf.
The list as it goes, the SEVEN Scams –

1.      Kalmadi - CWG Scam

2.      A. Raja - 2G Scam

3.      Ashok Chavan - Adarsh Housing Scam

4.      P.J Thomas - CVC Scam

5.      Sharad Pawar - Food Scam

6.      Vilasrao Deshmukh - Indiabull Scam

7.      Sashi Tharoor - IPL Scam

I PAID A BRIBE

I came across this interesting website - wwww.ipaidabribe.com

A website where one can log an entry into the website with details like the amount paid, the department, organization and the name of the person who received the bribe.

You can also view the logged reports! Pretty interesting! The idea is quite appealing but it would mean something only if we can crack down the corrupt officials and reduce the corruption in our country. It would count only if the bribes logged are geunine, can be taken careof by arresting the offcials. But the list if entries is so huge, it would be a tedious task to track one at a time and fix it. I hope it doesn't end up as a database of bribes only!