There is a saying that says, “The more corrupt the state, the more laws.”
Corruption, the word when spelled to us fills us with rage and anger on how we are used in the name of law. The fodder scam, the electricity scam and other scams which the media only reports when they are given enough money and TRPs or shall we say the bribe. Are we surprised by the disclosure about embezzlement of huge public funds by officials whom we do not think twice to bribe when we have our means to be solved? There are ways where the requirement of the government for infrastructure, the competence of various contenders and tendering process boost the corruption process. By now we are well aware why unscrupulous employees resort to three-phased modus operandi of circumventing the prescribed procedure, pushing up the cost of material in collusion with pro-determined dealers and making arbitrary purchases. Higher the price the greater the underhand returns for them. This dirty technique has ceased to be innovative but continues to be in vogue. The officials mint money upon several such fraudulent transactions. The pursuit of corruption has brought us face to face with quite a few ugly facets of multi-headed monster that has eaten into our governing apparatus. Dishonest beneficiaries are exposed to charges of spending their black money on procuring benami property in and outside the State. They have also been audacious enough in storing it along with jewellery in bank lockers. These are the same officials who shout for Government's campaign against corruption. From bottom level, corruption has deepened its roots including members of the ruling political class.
Corruption is most visible in services directly concerning the ordinary citizens. A 2005 study of Transparency International has held that more that half of those surveyed in this country have first-hand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office. It has estimated the monetary value of petty corruption in other basic services provided by the government like education, healthcare, judiciary and police etc.
The people who make so much of hue and cry are at fault themselves as the people pay bribes to speed up their work. It is a short-cut to avoid running from one department to the other. If they don't pay over and above what is necessary their apprehension not without a basis is that they may end breaking their heads against walls. We, the people can take an initiative to reverse the trend a little. The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently bur own indifference. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today.”
The source of corruption is inherent in the democratic system itself, and it can only be controlled, if at all, by finding ways to encourage legislators to subordinate ambition to principle.