Continued
from previous post –
Continuing
with the topic in this post, I want to discuss the true cause for
corruption in any society. Corruption is a social disease and it has
its ramifications in all aspects of social life, not only finance. In
simple terms corruption means doing something or to desire to do
something that is not fit in moral life. It is type of immorality.
People who have no bother for moral standards indulge I corruption.
In simple language, those people who are not having any shame
entertain corruption. People with self-respect cannot entertain
corruption in their activities. Our country has been in slavery for
about thousand years. This slavery has reduced our basic
self-respect. A slave does not have any self-respect or we may say he
is not allowed to develop any aspect of self-respect. As a result,
such people become corrupt in their life style. Economic activity
also becomes corrupt.
One
other aspect we see that person who wants to make easy money or money
without risk and responsibility desires to make money by all corrupt
means. These two mentalities are behind all economic corruptions. For
example, in northern India in most places when they want to judge
economic status of the bridegroom they ask one question
inadvertently, that is, "does the boy have upper income?"
this upper income refers to corrupt income! If they find that the boy
is an honest fellow in such matters, he is generally rejected by
bride's side as being unfit to keep their girl happy. This is a very
common enquiry. Other example I can point to is that in Delhi and
other cities, a shop owner will ask his sons who are managing that
shop; how many customers they have cheated on that day? If the answer
is none then he rejects his that son as incompetent to run that shop.
Cheating other people is taken as a qualification in most Indian
markets.
This
has been our culture for last one thousand years. Corruption is not
defect but merit-able quality in India for all these years. If now,
we want to revert to that attitude and accept something that was
considered as disqualification for all these thousand years, I know
our typical Indian mind-set will not accept that easily. Our up
bringing is of corrupt practices. How can we change all these in a
few months just because one Modi says?
Old
habits those have become part of our typical Indian character will
not go so easily unless we change our basic values of life. We prefer
to cheat without second thought that we are doing something wrong.
Hardly 5% Indian will be morally correct and they will not indulge in
any corrupt manners.
I
remember one instance, where a businessperson deliberately put a
100/- rupee note in corner of a room as if he has forgotten. He
wanted to taste the honesty of his maidservant. That girl after
sweeping that room on finding it gave it back to him he was shocked.
He told me that he is surprised that that poor girl is not corrupt.
When we find some honest person, we become surprised. This is the
condition of our mind set. To be honest is like to be a fool in
Indian society. That does not mean we do not have honesty but that is
in a very few people who have high sense of pride.
Now
the question is how to inculcate this high sense of pride? Can
education or family upbringing develop it? Can law enforcement
develop it out of shear fear for law? We should remember this is
effect of one thousand years of slavery, we were not allowed to be
honest by that slavery. Continuous oppression, insults, mistreatment
at the hands of rulers has caused this. We found corrupt means as the
way out of all that oppressions. Desire for easy money also comes out
of that treatment. When you make laws to enforce, honesty there is a
desire to counter react to that law and more corruption we shall see.
For
example, recent action against corruption and hauling of that money
has developed in minds of concerned people to react to that by
indulging in that again in more forceful way. Police who were taking
50 for violation of traffic rules are now asking 100, municipal
engineers who were taking 5000 as bukshis or bribe to pass plans are
now asking 10000. Their touts are asking for more bribes to get
signature of the officers.
What
Modi achieved is zero. People do not change in one day. It needs
three generations of good moral treatment and for each generation to
develop pride and self-respect. We shall see improvement in this
behavior.
In
my next part on this topic we shall see the myth of cashless
transaction and digital money.
This
serial will continue in next post –
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me on my Email ID given below,
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