Will it take an entire generation to kill the corruption bug?
January 27, 2011Well there was a time in India when every one wanted to get a government job in India. Getting a clerical job was enough and yes the intention was not to have a job where you could have some earnings above your salary but to have a job with security. I remember my grandmother telling me that in those days people were virtually outcasted if they were taking bribes. Slowly bribery became common and instead of people feeling ashamed they started taking pride in taking bribes. You will be surprised to know that one of my friends casually mentioned that her father was working with Public Works Department and the funding received from the government for the purpose of development was brought to her house in suitcases and then it was distributed to a chain of people. I was a little shocked to see the kind of pride she took in mentioning that. This is not a lone case and bribery is quite rampant across India.
What is the real reason of corruption? Is it just the greed for more wealth? Not truly. If we see the per capita income of Indians, it is too low at present and it was even lower in past. In those days probably everyone wanted to meet their basic needs and improve their standard of living. Income was obviously in line with the country’s state and one could not meet their ends in that income. Human being a resourceful social animal found means to meet their ends (whether legitimate or illegitimate). If we see Indian population, we will find that people who were involved in corruption were mostly in government jobs. Obviously there were lot of other people who were also fuming corruption, but they could have been easily tamed if corruption was not their in enforcement agencies and the judiciary.
Kids of these people are now usually well educated and like any other youth wants to work in private sector. Obviously working in a private environment does not really promote corruption and earnings are too good for them to get infected by corruption bug. Here I am ignoring the fact that private sector also promote corruption in government sector.
The problem still remains that still there is a huge population which has not been able to give what they wanted to their kids and family. They are still waiting to get a taste of government job and recreate the corruption cycle. I agree that what I am saying here does not take into consideration various other factors and this may be generalization of the facts. But still ….
Even if this cycle is not repeated, we need to consider one more factor. Government has to be run by people. People running the government machinery earn peanuts as compared to their requirements. So how they will meet their ends and thirst to live a luxurious life?????????
Most of the communities in India (such as Bengali), are succumbed in ‘Culture of Poverty’(a theory introduced by an American anthropologist Oscar Lewis), irrespective of class or economic strata, lives in pavement or apartment. Nobody is at all ashamed of the deep-rooted corruption, decaying general quality of life, worst Politico-administrative system, weak mother language, continuous absorption of common space (mental as well as physical, both). We are becoming fathers & mothers only by self-procreation, mindlessly & blindfold. Simply depriving their(the children) fundamental rights of a decent, caring society, fearless & dignified living. Do not ever look for any other positive alternative behaviour (values) to perform human way of parenthood, i.e. deliberately co-parenting of those children those are born out of ignorance, real poverty. All of us are being driven only by the very animal instinct. If the Bengali people ever be able to bring that genuine freedom (from vicious cycle of ‘poverty’) in their own life/attitude, involve themselves in ‘Production of Space’(Henri Lefebvre), at least initiate a movement by heart, decent & dedicated Politics will definitely come up.
- Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, 16/4, Girish Banerjee Lane, Howrah-711101, India.