The hot topic currently in India is all the scams / corruption. To the best of my knowledge, below is the list of hot corruption topics being on the fore front in India:
1. Baba Ramdev's fast against severe action for corruption and the outbreak of this fast
2. Anna Hazare's fight for Lokpal bill
3. Telecom scam involving former and current central ministers
4. Various scam accusations against former CM in Tamil Nadu
Reading everyday about these makes me sick and I started to think who is the real culprit being all these scams and corruptions? Who is actually to be blamed?
Since when did politicians and officials have started asking money to make things happen? Did they pass a law, which makes it mandatory to pay money to get things done? No, we, the Indian public, started all this. We wanted to avoid long queues, so started giving some small money to the peons and clerks to action our application quicker.
We gave them the first taste of free money. Over a period of time, when the officials and politicians realized that there's an easier way to make money, they started demanding more and more and they became innovative in creating schemes to make money. When we, the public, couldn't afford the bribes they demanded we are protesting against it.
So, the bottom line is, if we could afford the money they ask, I think most of the Indians will pay that and keep quiet.
Read this article about Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin declared himself as an actor and not cricketer so that he can avoid some tax. This article can be found at:
So, what is our public's view on above? What is avoiding tax? Is it being smart or 'defrauding' the government by acting smart? I know India has a lot of fans who worship Sachin as "God"...
In my humble opinion, what Sachin is doing is also a form of corruption. He is engaging in these sort of activities to keep more money for himself and his family by avoiding tax. Why do we grumble and go to street with protests when politicians and officials do the same thing?
Kindly consider the following scenarios as an example:
Scenario-1:
I got to a movie theater to see the new movie released. No tickets are available at the counter but somebody is selling the ticket at higher price (black ticket). I buy the ticket in black market and watch the movie. The person who sells the black ticket makes money which is unaccounted for (on which he does not pay tax).
Who is to be blamed here? The person selling tickets in black market or the person who bought it? Why can't I wait one or more days to see the movie?
Scenario-2:
I am driving my car / two-wheeler and traffic police stops me for some traffic rules violation. Police informs me that I need to wait for about an hour to appear in the mobile court to pay the fine. What do I do? I ask him if I can pay something now and go on with my work. He accepts, I pay the money to the policeman (bribe) and leave the scene.
Since, I am the one who violated the law, why not I wait one hour and pay the fine officially to the Government? Instead, why did I choose to give bribe to the police (which is again income loss for the Government and unaccounted income for the policeman) and cheat the government and violate the laws?
Who is at fault here? The policeman or the person who violated the traffic rules and then went ahead and bent the law and bribed the policeman?
Scenario-3:
I return from abroad into one of the Indian airport. For the electronic gadgets I'm carrying Customs official informs me that duty is payable at 85% of the invoice value. I don't want to pay that much money to the Government. I either blatantly lie that I do not have the invoice copy or tell him it is a used one. If that cannot be worked, I ask him how to avoid 85% duty and willing to pay about 50% of total duty in cash to him (bribe). He agrees, the Customs Officer is happy and I am happy.
Who is to be blamed here? The customs official who would have let me walk through if I paid 85% of invoice value as duty to Government or me as an individual who wanted to save some money, so bribed the officer?
Let us analyze what we do as public before we start blaming the system, government, politicians, officials and everybody else except ourselves.
The official statistics is that only 57% of voters voted during India's last general election to the parliament. Which means, 43% of us did not care about who will come to power. Why 43% people did not turn-up? Because, they have to wait in the queue to cast their vote. We do not want to waste our time by voting but we expect the elected politicians to be saint and clean..... Very good... It is his responsibility not mine as a public !
When 43% of us do not care who gets elected, why are we so worried about what such elected politicians do? Are we crying and shouting because they are corrupt or are we crying because we can't afford the bribe money?
Why can't we wait one hour and pay the official fine in a mobile court for our traffic rules violation? Why should we try to bribe the policeman and get away? When the same policeman asks us for higher bribe which we can't afford, we start complaining that corruption is rampant and we start our protests and fight against corruption!!! If the same policeman will still settle for Rs.50, we do not mind since we can afford Rs.50 as bribe and not Rs.5,000.
Who are these politicians? We elected them (OK, only 57% of us - Not the 43% lazy citizens with voting rights)... When we are so lazy that we don't even turn-up in our polling booth to cast our vote, we want the politicians and the government to work for us and treat the entire 100% of public as equal. Isn't it the right of politician and government to take care of only the 57% who have casted their vote?
I've been a NRI during major part of my adult life.... Many NRI's grumble that they do not have voting rights and it is unfair on Government's part to neglect NRI's. The same Indian Government (Finance Ministry) came up with a rule that all NRI's should also file Income Tax return, even though they need not pay tax.
How many NRI's filed IT returns? Not many... Why? Because we don't want to disclose our income. We will not do what Government wants us to do but the Government should provide everything to us.
What is corruption? How all we start corruption? Look at my perspective of corruption and let me know if I am wrong in any of my assumptions below:
1. I want to go out to the shop and pick up some stuff for the house. I am so lazy I don't want to get up from my couch and miss part of my TV show. I call my child and tell him/her to go and buy the item from the shop by telling him/her "if you do that, you can also buy a chocolate/ice cream for yourself".... Isn't this a bribe to the child to do something?
2. Many of us are very religious and God fearing... We pray to God, "God, please make this happen, I will ensure to put Rs.100 in your hundi"... We are bribing God to make something happen for us. We have started bribing kids to God... We haven't spared anybody. But, if God or the child demands that bribe, we say the "system should change"!!!!!
3. Many of us are very good souls who believe and encourage donations. We go to our favorite temple or ashram and donate a huge amount towards their free meal scheme or other good cause schemes. While getting the receipt for such donation, we ensure we get the 80G (or other relevant IT section) exemption certificate so that we need not pay tax on that money. Why not donate the money and also pay tax to the government? What is this donation if you want an exemption from tax for that donation? Why should Government lose their income just because we wanted to donate some money?
Friends, I have re-read this post after I finished writing. Probably most of you are much more intelligent than me and understand the terms corruption and bribe much better than me. I may be the only one who is so confused.
Will somebody clear my confusions????
1. Baba Ramdev's fast against severe action for corruption and the outbreak of this fast
2. Anna Hazare's fight for Lokpal bill
3. Telecom scam involving former and current central ministers
4. Various scam accusations against former CM in Tamil Nadu
Reading everyday about these makes me sick and I started to think who is the real culprit being all these scams and corruptions? Who is actually to be blamed?
Since when did politicians and officials have started asking money to make things happen? Did they pass a law, which makes it mandatory to pay money to get things done? No, we, the Indian public, started all this. We wanted to avoid long queues, so started giving some small money to the peons and clerks to action our application quicker.
We gave them the first taste of free money. Over a period of time, when the officials and politicians realized that there's an easier way to make money, they started demanding more and more and they became innovative in creating schemes to make money. When we, the public, couldn't afford the bribes they demanded we are protesting against it.
So, the bottom line is, if we could afford the money they ask, I think most of the Indians will pay that and keep quiet.
Read this article about Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin declared himself as an actor and not cricketer so that he can avoid some tax. This article can be found at:
So, what is our public's view on above? What is avoiding tax? Is it being smart or 'defrauding' the government by acting smart? I know India has a lot of fans who worship Sachin as "God"...
In my humble opinion, what Sachin is doing is also a form of corruption. He is engaging in these sort of activities to keep more money for himself and his family by avoiding tax. Why do we grumble and go to street with protests when politicians and officials do the same thing?
Kindly consider the following scenarios as an example:
Scenario-1:
I got to a movie theater to see the new movie released. No tickets are available at the counter but somebody is selling the ticket at higher price (black ticket). I buy the ticket in black market and watch the movie. The person who sells the black ticket makes money which is unaccounted for (on which he does not pay tax).
Who is to be blamed here? The person selling tickets in black market or the person who bought it? Why can't I wait one or more days to see the movie?
Scenario-2:
I am driving my car / two-wheeler and traffic police stops me for some traffic rules violation. Police informs me that I need to wait for about an hour to appear in the mobile court to pay the fine. What do I do? I ask him if I can pay something now and go on with my work. He accepts, I pay the money to the policeman (bribe) and leave the scene.
Since, I am the one who violated the law, why not I wait one hour and pay the fine officially to the Government? Instead, why did I choose to give bribe to the police (which is again income loss for the Government and unaccounted income for the policeman) and cheat the government and violate the laws?
Who is at fault here? The policeman or the person who violated the traffic rules and then went ahead and bent the law and bribed the policeman?
Scenario-3:
I return from abroad into one of the Indian airport. For the electronic gadgets I'm carrying Customs official informs me that duty is payable at 85% of the invoice value. I don't want to pay that much money to the Government. I either blatantly lie that I do not have the invoice copy or tell him it is a used one. If that cannot be worked, I ask him how to avoid 85% duty and willing to pay about 50% of total duty in cash to him (bribe). He agrees, the Customs Officer is happy and I am happy.
Who is to be blamed here? The customs official who would have let me walk through if I paid 85% of invoice value as duty to Government or me as an individual who wanted to save some money, so bribed the officer?
Let us analyze what we do as public before we start blaming the system, government, politicians, officials and everybody else except ourselves.
The official statistics is that only 57% of voters voted during India's last general election to the parliament. Which means, 43% of us did not care about who will come to power. Why 43% people did not turn-up? Because, they have to wait in the queue to cast their vote. We do not want to waste our time by voting but we expect the elected politicians to be saint and clean..... Very good... It is his responsibility not mine as a public !
When 43% of us do not care who gets elected, why are we so worried about what such elected politicians do? Are we crying and shouting because they are corrupt or are we crying because we can't afford the bribe money?
Why can't we wait one hour and pay the official fine in a mobile court for our traffic rules violation? Why should we try to bribe the policeman and get away? When the same policeman asks us for higher bribe which we can't afford, we start complaining that corruption is rampant and we start our protests and fight against corruption!!! If the same policeman will still settle for Rs.50, we do not mind since we can afford Rs.50 as bribe and not Rs.5,000.
Who are these politicians? We elected them (OK, only 57% of us - Not the 43% lazy citizens with voting rights)... When we are so lazy that we don't even turn-up in our polling booth to cast our vote, we want the politicians and the government to work for us and treat the entire 100% of public as equal. Isn't it the right of politician and government to take care of only the 57% who have casted their vote?
I've been a NRI during major part of my adult life.... Many NRI's grumble that they do not have voting rights and it is unfair on Government's part to neglect NRI's. The same Indian Government (Finance Ministry) came up with a rule that all NRI's should also file Income Tax return, even though they need not pay tax.
How many NRI's filed IT returns? Not many... Why? Because we don't want to disclose our income. We will not do what Government wants us to do but the Government should provide everything to us.
What is corruption? How all we start corruption? Look at my perspective of corruption and let me know if I am wrong in any of my assumptions below:
1. I want to go out to the shop and pick up some stuff for the house. I am so lazy I don't want to get up from my couch and miss part of my TV show. I call my child and tell him/her to go and buy the item from the shop by telling him/her "if you do that, you can also buy a chocolate/ice cream for yourself".... Isn't this a bribe to the child to do something?
2. Many of us are very religious and God fearing... We pray to God, "God, please make this happen, I will ensure to put Rs.100 in your hundi"... We are bribing God to make something happen for us. We have started bribing kids to God... We haven't spared anybody. But, if God or the child demands that bribe, we say the "system should change"!!!!!
3. Many of us are very good souls who believe and encourage donations. We go to our favorite temple or ashram and donate a huge amount towards their free meal scheme or other good cause schemes. While getting the receipt for such donation, we ensure we get the 80G (or other relevant IT section) exemption certificate so that we need not pay tax on that money. Why not donate the money and also pay tax to the government? What is this donation if you want an exemption from tax for that donation? Why should Government lose their income just because we wanted to donate some money?
Friends, I have re-read this post after I finished writing. Probably most of you are much more intelligent than me and understand the terms corruption and bribe much better than me. I may be the only one who is so confused.
Will somebody clear my confusions????
Its a good post. But as its rightly said, charity begins at home. How many of us have never done any of the above? I'm sure none...This confusion will exist and prevail till the time humankind exists on this earth!
ReplyDeleteAnu, thanks for the feedback. I do agree that everyone is guilty of bride and corruption in India. My only frustration is that we do not do a soul searching and keep blaming the authority and society for everything and forget that WE are part of that society!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy ask somebody to change when we don't want to change ourselves???
In my comment above, I meant to type "bribe" but typed "bride"... Regret the typo but we also bribe the brides and hence I think it's ok !!! :)
ReplyDeleteDisagree to that main root cause of the corruption is we the people. People pay small money and get away!!!!. My question is the rules and regulation in our contry is so weak that people always find the way to cover up their mistakes by small money. It is rules and regulation of country which the main root cause of the corruption. Their are democratic countries where their rules strong and people are forced to abide them. Our politians and govenrment still the reason for the corruptions by still continuing with weak country laws by making the rules still weak and they are building the corruptions by using US. I may be wrong, its just my point of view
ReplyDelete@Anonymous :
ReplyDeleteY disagree the root cause is we the people. Please read it in borader sense we [ourself,policitian and anyone else].
So u want a strong rules with force and u can;t follow it on ur own :). if we are not fully aware of the rules, lets c what is the solution for that...
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI do disagree with your comment. The rules and regulations are not weak. For traffic violations in India, there are enough rules in MV Act, IPC, etc. But, we the people, do not want to follow them and start paying bribes to get away.
If we are patient enough to stand in queues and wait to pay the regulatory fines, who can force us to bribe???
I agree with Sriram's comment. Will we follow the rules and regulations only when they are strict? We will not follow them fully if we know they are weak?
ReplyDeleteThen, we are not democratic citizens. The right place for people who say the rule has to be strict to follow should be in jails (even their they may find some rules to be not so strict!!!)
Nice note. But not everything that is paid as mentioned above is corruption. There is a difference between, corruption, motivation, avoidance- in the various examples cited above. Broadly, you get extra for doing your work by your employer, parents, teacher etc, it is motivation. You get bonus based on performance.
ReplyDeleteIf someone pays you to do your work, other than your employer, then it becomes questionable and termed as corruption / bribe. The example of policeman falls in this category.
Mentally, we do not want to have any cash outflow, whether we do things right or wrong. This is the mindset that needs change. Paying tax, customs duty etc are important for the development of the nation and all of us should it. Whoever does not pay is not morally right.
Such people claims it is like the TDS, when you get money, tax is deducted at source. Similarly when you have to pay the government, you find ways and means to save and claim that as your TDS
Reading your blogs everyday Uncle. This is really a sensational one. Everyone should think on this and have to follow too!!!
ReplyDeleteI think its too much talk and no useful stuff.. Rather than being consused.. why can't you stop paying bribe and start eradicating the "root cause".. We all talk blah blah blah and when the blog is complete, you go out and still pay bribe for getting things done... I beleive in doing rather than talking.. One who does dosen't talk.. I paid bribe.. i am not saying i am good..
ReplyDeleteVSV - Thanks for your comment...
ReplyDeleteI do agree everything is not bribe / corruption. But with everybody getting used to free money, things change at certain stage.
All I'm trying to do with my blogs is to just post my views and understandings. I know I'm not an expert in these subjects but trying to put my thought processes as a common man...
@rnikh.... Thanks for comment...
ReplyDelete@anyonymous
ReplyDeleteI never said I am subject expert and I am not writing my blogs here which I intend to be the means to eradicate corruption / bribe.
I am also guilty some time... But, I try to fight as much as possible for my own personal reasons...
This blog is for me to express my opinions and views on the topics I write about...
I think the difference is between (more) pleasure & (little) pain.
ReplyDeletePaying a bribe to someone & finishing off the.. let's say transaction faster gives us & them more time to continue with our work. We do shell out money (sometimes the same amount), but with a lot lesser hassle, hence with pleasure.
Waiting for a mobile court & paying the appropriate fine.. Legal, but in this assumed busy, fast running world, we cannot take the pain to compensate for our mistake by doing the right.
Everyone should take a stand & make a decision to do something right. We should be proud of what we've done & if it is wrong, humble enough to accept it & NOT REPEAT IT.
According to a survey taken by an individual in 2006, 87% of the Indians caught in a mishap prefers to pay a bribe to a fine.
Where is our value system? What are we eradicating to? Is this what the earlier generation wants to teach us?
I know a government official who caught my friend who was driving triples on a scooter. The police checked his license & verified the details. Someone with the right mind might have either advised my friend, called his parents or would have taken legal action. But this police officer told him that he will have to pay a 'FINE' of Rs.200/-
On my friend's asking whether it was a bribe, he tells the 19-year old to not speak above his age!!
What happened to the legal procedures? What happened to moral values and ethics?
CORRUPTION, like charity, really does start at home. And it is definitely not something to be proud of.
Personally, I do not think even Baba Ramdev is fit to launch an anti-corruption rally, when he charges upto Rs.50,000/- to teach Yoga to people.
AaeKay... Do not confuse the amount charged by Baba Ramdev (or others) with bribe/corruption...
ReplyDeleteThat's the fee he wants to charge for teaching yoga and if we can afford we will pay otherwise will look for somebody else.
Good or bad, starts from the individual level, then spreads to family, society and finally nationwide. Corruption is not an exception to this.
ReplyDeleteAn individual learns the art of bribing definitely from his home environment. There are parents, who gift their children for passing a unit test, waking up early without making the mother shout, going to play school without crying and so on. On the parents' part, it is a small amount of money that is spent, but we give a wrong message to our child. We fail to teach them their duty and responsibility. They study go to school and wake up early only for their good and not to do any good for us.
We most of the time, pat our back if we do things in a legally correct way but forget to think whether it is ethically correct as well. I say this, because you have mentioned in your article about paying taxes. There are people who in order to reduce paying taxes and to use their HRA, show a rent deed as if they are paying rent to their own father. (When staying with parents and the house is in father's name, this can be done). This may be legal but definitely unethical. Thanks to God, my husband does not do this and he is in line with my thought process; he too feels that such behaviour is unethical.
Value education starts at home; instead of preaching it to our children, we first need to follow it and seeing us they will definitely grow up as good individuals and in the long run, we may be a part of a good society and in turn a good nation!!!
I have another point to make.
ReplyDeleteSK, you had mentioned about donations and getting tax exemption for that. You had criticised about it. This is an initiative taken by govt. in order to support these institutions. Bottom line is, these institutions that run for good cause should be supported. Those supporters who expect some return, will see this tax exemption as a great profit. End of the day, these institutions are benefitted. What I prefer to do is, donate, get tax exemption and use that money again for charity only. I learnt this from my husband.
It's almost been a year since you wrote this post, but I found this on Madhuri Banerjee's website. After watching a movie by a National Award Winner, I knew there would be more personalities to her!
ReplyDeleteShe's an adviser for DC and Asian Age. She's a writer too.
Check out this post by her that deals with corruption.
http://madhuribanerjee.blogspot.com/2011/09/are-we-all-just-corrupt-but-dont-know.html