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Whenever an index for most corrupt countries in the world is made, India is right there among the top five. It is a chronically corrupt nation. When the British ruled India, bribery was given the name bakshish, which is difficult to transliterate in English, but the general meaning is tipping, or giving a person something which he is not legally entitled to, but which the giver gives after being happily satisfied for services rendered. In that period, petty government officials got work done in anticipation of receiving bakshish.
While bakshish was given after one got the work done, bribery is often given before hand, to entice the receiver in doing the giver's work. It has now become a matter of right in most government departments, with even fixed rates in some places, where no work is done without greasing palms. It can be for anything like getting illegal work done; or getting work done out of turn; or getting work done by bending the rules; or for information from which the receiver will benefit but the giver is not officially entitled to give him. This list is only indicative and not exhaustive. Bribery in India takes bizarre forms.
While India is now in the grip of disclosures of huge scams where people have been alleged to have received unimaginable sums of money that has caused the national exchequer unheard of losses, bribery is a cancer spreading from grassroots level that is eating away at the vitals of the nation. A lowly peon will not move your file from one officer's table to the other if he is not bribed. Your pension will not be sanctioned if you do not bribe the officer authorized to do so. The list is endless. It is also not limited to government departments. Private business also has its share of corrupt officers and practices.
It is very easy to point fingers at the bureaucrats, but it is the common man, people like you and me, who bribe them that are equally responsible. When faced with an official who demands a bribe to get work done, we always seek the easy way out. We bribe him or her and get the work done. We do not lodge a complaint against him. We not trap him by informing the concerned vigilance department. Then, our thinking is like; let me first get my work done. But when Anna Hazare starts a movement against corruption, we are the first to join it. If we have heard the story of who would cast the first stone, we choose to be ignorant of it when we egg on Anna.
Like every other transaction, bribery is also between two persons. One is the taker and the other is the giver. One cannot exist without the other. Hence, both are equally guilty. Why should we pay the government officer to get our work done? Doesn't he receive salary, which any way comes from the taxes we pay? How many of us think like that? Going by the statistics of complaints lodged, not even one in one hundred thousand do so. That is why our nation gets scams like 2G spectrum.
There are enough laws to punish the guilty. There are enough laws, also, to punish the corrupt from committing the crime. In the rare case when an offended citizen reports to vigilance, officers are known to have been caught red-handed with bribe money. But many citizens do not report due to fear of reprisal. Hence, the government should seriously look into enacting a strong whistle blowers protection law, as Team Anna is demanding.
A Lok Pal may be effective in curbing corruption in high places. But it would be disastrous to burden him with everything like the lower bureaucracy and the lower judiciary. We do not need a Super Cop. We already have bodies in place that can effectively redress citizen grievance. Admitted they are rusted due to non-use. It is required that the public be made aware of them and they are staffed with good people.That, coupled with a strong whistle blower's protection law, would perhaps reduce corruption at lower level. I say perhaps because, in the end, the common man would need to have the spine to stand up to the corrupt.
