Corrupted Nation

Does the word corruption ring a bell??

If you are an Indian, it would have set off a string of alarms. Or it wouldn’t have rung any at all. We have largely started to ignore corruption as it has become far too common for us to pay attention. The 2G scam, fodder scam, Bofors Scam, Commonwealth Scam, Satyam Scam…. the list never seems to end. I doubt if there is a single public office where you can have attention being drawn to your case without exchanging some sort of favour, be it monetary or of some other kind. Present politicians almost never have a clean sheet. Some sort of corruption seems to be lying around in some corner for most of them. It is not my intention to classify all of them as corrupt but going by the trend, corruption seems to be the most common trait. There are other classes of the society also who have hogged the limelight……military officers, judges, police officers, industrialists, even cricketers; match fixing is also a form of corruption. Even the anti-corruption department may have some names to brag about.

So what makes these people make such a misuse of the state’s resources and still maintain a clear conscience? India, with all its numerous gods and goddesses, is the last place one would expect such a malpractice to thrive the way it does. So has religion has lost its value? How can one be religious and still carry on with such an unethical action? 

Indians are a very soft hearted people. Ruthlessness has never been a part of the culture. Otherwise, who would have let themselves to be ruled by all sorts of foreigners? We accept everyone from everywhere and let them assimilate into our society. We have never been warring people and thus we lack discipline. So a little bit of tweaking of rules is not such a big thing. Even in our scriptures, we have tweaking of situations to suit the mythological heroes. Even Lord Vishnu has a few such incidents to his name. He assumed the form of a lady to steal the Amrit from the demons. Such incidents are strewn all across our sacred books. The good always prevail in the end in all of our sacred texts but there always seems to be some kind of corruption by the divine Trinity. One would argue that 'that' bit was done for the good of humanity, but corruption is corruption, no matter how insignificant and what might be the end purpose. And they were the powerful people. Who was to decide if their actions were righteous or not? And most of the times their actions were undetected by the people who could cry foul. If a wrong remains undetected, it is never done. Our accepting nature made us overlook that weeny bit. It was all done with a sense of good purpose with a clear conscience, after all. So how can we blame the present day politicians, who also have a clear conscience about making their own fortunes?

I don’t want to justify the present day corrupt actions that are so ubiquitous. My intention is quite the opposite. But I just want a change in perspective before we all start making these corrupt people scapegoats because most of us have been part of some sort malpractice. Only we were not caught and these people have done it at a magnificent level (they made it large!!!!…..remember the Seagram’s ad) and brought all attention to themselves, most of the time unwanted. Even I can’t claim to be completely free from any corrupt practice. It has now become almost imperative for Indians to accept corruption as a part of life.

Not that corrupt practices don’t take place in other countries, but what concerns me most is that we don’t look down upon corruption as we ought to. Only if we develop in ourselves an utter disdain for malpractices can we hope of becoming a developed nation…