The issue of corruption is now center stage. The Hazare and Ramdev movements are based on the understanding that politicians are corrupt and therefore a strong mechanism is needed to checkmate them. This has led to the ongoing long drawn out and heated debates and discussions on the proposed lokpal bill.
Inadequate appreciation of the issue of corruption has caused the above scenario.
Corruption has two faces, financial and professional. Due to lack of understanding of the the professional kind, financial corruption alone is generally considered synonymous with corruption per-se in the nation. The genesis of financial corruption lies in the rapidly depleting standards of national character, and its root cause lies in the complexity of the sarkari system that we have adapted to ru(i)n the nation. Too many thumb impressions for even petty decisions have diluted the concept of responsibility while at the same time giving adequate cover and shield to the corrupt. Enabling corruption has therefore emerged as the strong point of our existing system.
Professional corruption on the other hand is as damaging as its financial counterpart, maybe even more, primarily because of its extremely high ripple effect and its being freely practiced by almost the entire bureaucracy. The higher the pedestal occupied by the bloke, the higher is the damage he causes through his blatant acts of professional corruption, the most common of which is the art of "not taking decisions". And therefore the file, the sarkari tool for taking and communicating decisions keeps on shuttling up and down, right and left, backward and forward and in the process keeps on bloating like a pig.
Identifying the politician as the major culprit in the popular game of corruption is perhaps the biggest mistake almost all of us make. While the politicians are no doubt generally corrupt, the bureaucracy invariably takes the cake in this field with the lower rung generally specializing in financial and the upper crust in professional corruption. Service, only of the self, family and friends has emerged as the motto of the bureaucracy, cutting across sectors and states. Besides why deliver, when no one asks for it. Keep on coasting along, purposelessly and handle files as one would a ping pong ball or a shuttle cock and in the process keep on rising to the top, like muck in stagnant water.
Movements such as those witnessed in recent times are no doubt piloted by men with good intentions, but unfortunately these good men have very little idea of the manner in which the wheels of governance move in this nation. And therefore it is imperative that before another watchdog institution is created, the contribution made by the CVC and the Lokayukta needs objective assessment. The creation of a Lokpal, without cleansing the tantra would tantamount to creating one more checkpoint, one more roadblock that would further slowdown the snail paced system of governance that we have in our nation.
Sir, there is no denial that concept and creation of Lokpal alone is not going to act as “Ram Ban” to treat this all pervasive, ever burgeoning, cancerous growth called corruption without understanding it in entirety with radical change in our perception and objective with further collective will for concerted effort and action for eradication of this epidemic to sensitize the future generations, as individuals can’t fight this monster alone.
ReplyDeleteLokpal is simple but effective step forward…
Present watchdog institutions, at all levels, have so far acted according to dictates and directives of “higher ups” governing these at a particular point of time which resulted in the loss of their credibility and resultant mushrooming of corrupt. At least we expect Lokpal to be free from these clutches.
Defining corruption and more so tackling it is not an easy task but it should not deter us for rational approach to the solution keeping in our conscience the plight of “aam aadmi “ lowest in the ladder.
I see stark resemblance between the “geometry” of corruption and “Mandelbrot set” of a fractal-both remain the same in shape and pattern…from macro to micro level…
…Corrupt citizens, corrupt babudom, headed by absolutely corrupt, not so corrupt and even “not at all corrupt” but all indifferent to the vice, exhibiting sometimes a cold shudder but practically doing nothing to resolve it or even to address it, forcing the hapless to carry the ever increasing load of corruption and the corrupt, forever like Sisyphus ! The only difference is that Sisyphus was once a king and today’s aam aadmi will never be king despite any form of governance.
I feel the only way out of this maze is to define and formulate role collectively at the individual level following the beautiful and inspiring dictum of E.E.Schumacher, “Think globally but act locally” (in Small is Beautiful). We have to clean our own stables first. If we really wish Ramrajya, then we ought to follow the ‘Maryada’. Ram abandoned Sita, fully knowing her innocence and purity. But here we carry the corrupt on our shoulders and ridicule, persecute and crush the ever diminishing tribe of whistleblowers who are at the verge of extinction.
We tend not to see muck beneath our own carpet. We choose to remain oblivious of ills of our own ilk!
And so … the caravan of corruption goes on accelerated…unhindered…uninterrupted…