IS CORRUPTION THE REAL NEMESIS OF PRESENT TIMES???

Finally a Blog post after almost 6 months……

2010 – 2011 have been years of number of scams hitting our country. A state which has of having the financial capital of the country was give the top honours as the most corrupt state in 2010.

While all these scams and corruption related news are surfacing in the recent past corruption as a phenomenon has been sadly been deep rooted in the system and has become a part of our bureaucratic culture.

It has been a long time I have been thinking about this issue and have come to a rather philosophical finding that Corruption is just a surface phenomenon rather a effect of many underlying psychological causes.

I certainly don’t want you to agree with me but just read through and understand whether it makes some sense.

Corruption arises out of the latent needs / vices of

1)     -  INDISCIPLINE

2)     -  GREED

3)     -  NOT READY TO STEP ON THE ROAD OF THORNS

4)     -  CONFIDENCE ON SYSTEM'S APATHY

Let’s talk about each one of them one by one

1)      Indiscipline: This is one of the major reasons for corruption. We have a history of a long freedom struggle which was successful because of satyagraha. But satyagraha needs immense discipline and focus towards a common goal, which was attaining freedom in those times. Early days after our freedom were dominated by the generation of so called satyagrahis who were very much disciplined in their way of life, thus corruption was not as widespread in those times. But with every new generation the problem of indiscipline compounded and it is still compounding as years go by.  It is obvious to compound more because of another problem which is problem of plenty. Each generation feels that his / her kids should be able to get everything that he / she never got. Though this is not wrong at all but the approach should be such that it would incorporate a feeling of achievement for the kid rather than just being pampered.

2)      Greed: Human race since its primitive times has been greedy and this greed to achieve more and more has bought us insurmountable power when compared to any other species. But its this very greed that often has negative connotations as it comes coupled with the inherent indiscipline and results into we being corrupt.

3)      Not Ready To Step On The Road Of Thorns: The above two factors have a result on this factor; we as a population have got into this habit of not doing things but getting them done. What I mean to say is that our system may have loopholes or lacks transparency but is robust if we look at it in a holistic way. The only thing hindering us is that we are not ready to follow it as it is, we try to tinker with it wherever possible to get our things done. If we can be patient and cooperative with the system the system will in sometime reciprocate with the same cooperation, but as I had said in the head we are not ready to step on the road of thorns.

4)      Confidence On Systems Apathy: All the above factor get a boost with the confidence that we have in our system that we can get away with anything that we wish to. I don’t endorse neither reject the Lokpal nor any other law that would put a curb on corruption but it won’t be effective unless we ourselves try to curb all above factors.

I won’t also comment whether corruption is bad or good for our country but in its very core corruption is a termite which bites through the entire framework of any system. 

To put an end to this thought I would like to quote the essence of Ram Rajya, to not flutter any religious sentiments), Ram Rajya is often termed for idle governance.

IT IS SAID THAT AN IDLE SOCIETY IS FREE FROM ANY VICES AS IT IS WHERE EVERY CITIZEN KNOWS WHAT HIS DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES ARE AND FOLLOWS THEM AS PER THE RULES WITH HIS MIND AND HEART IN PLACE FOR THE GOODWILL OF THE SOCIETY.