Why corruption is not such a big issue in India?

India Against Corruption has been in the news recently. Arvind Kejriwal is trying to make corruption a big issue for the next general election. Every day new scams are discovered at the state and national level, and still same governments with tainted ministers are running, Jailed ministers are getting released and also receiving grand receptions from their party and supporters. One can ask, why Indian bureaucracy is so corrupt? Why do most people visiting any government office need to pay bribes to get any small work done? Why even common people are not scared of breaking traffic laws? Why do people think or believe that nothing is going to happen to the rich or politicians even if they break the law? There are many questions like this and most people will point their fingers towards the corrupt political, legal, and bureaucratic system as the root cause for all this. We common people are a very important part of this system because this system runs because of us and for us. We are the reason why this system exists. We help the system to run and we have the power to change it in any direction we want. So, the question is how come the system became so corrupt in the first place, and why no one is doing anything to correct it? One of my friends forwarded me a very interesting email that dealt with a similar subject (Why India is so corrupt?). Though I don't agree with the subject of this email that India is totally corrupt because according to me it's not right to label the whole country as corrupt because of its corrupt political system and bureaucracy. There are many honest bureaucrats and politicians in India, but they are exceptions and not the rule. That email mentioned some very interesting points that I want to share with my blog readers along with some of my own points.

The author of the email thought that corruption in India is a cultural aspect and Indians don't mind corruption as it's everywhere (including their culture). We have a tendency to tolerate corrupt people rather than correct them. The author blames our culture and traditions for this attitude. The author goes on to say that religion is transactional in India. Many Indians give God cash, gold, or whatever they can offer and anticipate an out-of-turn reward and he is absolutely right about this. This type of action acknowledges that favors are needed to get things done. In the world outside the temple, such a transaction is called a “bribe.” Many wealthy Indians give many gifts in various forms to temples and other religious organizations, the main intention of these gifts is not to help the poor and needy but this is their payoff to God. They think that such a donation to a temple or God can bring more wealth or good luck and it will be wasted if it goes directly to a needy person. One very recent example of this is when Karnataka minister G. Janardhan Reddy (famous Reddy brothers) gifted a crown of gold and diamonds worth approximately Rs 45 crore (~ 10 million USD) to Tirupati. It is also true that many temples in India collect so much that they don't know what to do with it.

Now the reason why this donation to God (or bribe to God) is related to our tolerance towards corruption is that Indians believe that if God can accept money for his favors, then nothing is wrong in doing the same thing in their real life. This is why many Indians are so easily corruptible because they don't see anything wrong with it. It seems that Indian culture accommodates such transactions morally. There is no real stigma, guilt, or fear associated with it. One can accept bribes or donations and then go to the temple donate part of that to that temple, feel happy about it, and get rid of any guilt or fear, it's that easy. That is why many corrupt politicians with very serious charges of corruption against them can make a comeback in Indian politics and serve as elected members repeatedly. This may not be possible in many other countries. This is the amazing paradox of Indian society for me, on one side we project ourselves self so religious and pious people that nowadays people even buy their homes or apartments after consultation with so-called 'Vastu experts', take pooja (worships) and fasts so seriously and on the other hand in our daily lives we pay bribes, take bribes, don't even care whom we vote. People claim to be God-loving but in reality, they are God-fearing people. 

This whole mindset which is the result of our social and cultural conditioning leads us to think that there is a way out for every crime and mistake. Even many rituals, fasts, poojas, etc. are recommended to correct dosh (defects or faults) or to get rid of bad omens or sins. No matter what you do there is a way to correct it or erase it by pleading, begging for forgiveness, or even bribing God. The moral obligation to follow the right path is very weak or almost nonexistent. Some people believe that no matter what you do in your life if you take God's name while dying, then your all sins and mistakes are forgiven and you go straight to heaven. I am sure they must be joking, but many people believe in all this nonsense and the result is a morally corrupt society.

We need to get rid of all these outdated ideas, the current state of society is clear proof that all these ethical or moral ideas are not working in the way they were supposed to work. All these moral and ethical concepts are relative and everyone derives their own meaning from them. We need to have something more robust and responsible system that can put a check on corruption and this has to start with common people. People like you and me. We need to make ourselves corruption-free then only we can expect our politicians and bureaucrats to be the same. So, it's in our hands to prove this theory wrong that in India corruption is accepted as a part of life and culture.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)