Corruption - A alternate view

This blog is neither a endorsement  nor justification of corruption but attempts to raise certain issues which are crucial to battle corruption in India.

Ever since 2011-2012 when Anna Hazare raised the issue of corruption it has stuck a chord in the hearts and minds of the people especially the  younger generation. The crowds that thronged the movement across the country was a scene to be believed. Starting with the India Against Corruption a online body which leveraged the power of the internet it  grew into becoming the Aam Aadmi Party which swept the Delhi elections. The spectacular success and their appeal amongst the various working classes attracting even top notch professionals to quit jobs and join the party is proof that corruption as an issue is now centrestage and cannot be brushed away by any political party.  However one important  point that is to be noted here is that practically 100% of these supporters can be classified as bribe givers who understandably are upset.

Now corruption like prostitution has been in existence since humans evolved and depending upon how wide a definition of corruption you give it is a fact of life and will remain so. But corruption when defined in a more narrow sense wherein  issues like  rights, duties, obligations, fair play, equal opportunity in  life (corporate or  personal)  are  considered  is the REAL corruption that must be tackled and which eats away at the soul of a nation.

Having said this, corruption is prompted by 3 aspects – greed, need and blackmail.

 Blackmail :

A person  needing a job or a employee needing a transfer or being transferred  or meeting certain expenses  or some such issue  wherein the system has evolved into a situation where even  a honest man is forced to be corrupt. Here it is very possible that both the bribe giver and bribe taker want to be honest but are prevented from being so.  Let me give a live example. A minister/neta/high ranking officer decides to visit a place on official work and expects/demands minimum courtesy (and I am not talking of opulent expectations) which includes chai paani, food etc. He does not pay the bills, the local officer concerned is not allowed to officially spend for such expenses and  the options this honest officer has is either to shell out the expense from his salary or adjust bills in his accounts or accept the donation of the contractor.  Such situations are what I define as blackmail in corruption.

Greed :

This is easy to understand. However much of money, property a person has, he continues to crave for more and is unabashedly corrupt and it is his way of life. There is no limits on this and this is plain straight corruption which is the worst kind of corruption.

Need :

This is a situation wherein a person in day to day life wants to be honest but life does not allow him to be so. Many of us who neither understand nor have experienced this cry corruption the loudest  in this case because we see it everyday. This is the corporation sweeper who refuses to clean your street  or the waterman who does not supply water to your road or the electricity company lineman who does not repair the fuse on the pole or  the ticket collector on a train who allots a berth for you or  the traffic policeman who issues the challan  and many such people we meet everyday in our lives unless you grease their palms with bakshish.  This is need because given the salary they earn, the cost of living, schooling, food, healthcare are so costly that they have no option but to earn some extra bucks.

In my opinion while I do not have any statistics to prove my point,  80% of the day to day corruption is with such people and anyone who tries to understand the whole circle of their lives will better appreciate their need. This however may constitute maybe 30% of the cash involved.  20% of the corrupt handle 70% of the cash and do so due to blackmail or greed.

The choice a anti corruption movement can have is to target either the 70% cash or the 80% corrupt populace and if you see the movement it is targeting the populace and not the cash. So essentially you are targeting the corrupt who are so because of need. And when you succeed  your followers and the people would be happy and crown you as the king.

 It is often argued that the salary  these so called needy people  earn is decent and manageable and so must be stamped out. Is that really true ? Lets take any of these people and simply look at their circle of life.

1.       They don’t  have housing and the cost of real estate is beyond the reach of most. Rental houses near workplaces/schools cost an arm and a leg. So they settle for housing far from such locations.

2.       So the breadwinner and the children  travel to office/school long distances  which costs money. Public transport is neither convenient nor safe and often this means that hiring a rickshaw which is more expensive.

3.       Govt schools are the pits and most are run in inhuman conditions, no teachers, no facilities and yes they are free for such people. But then such people also want quality education for their children. So its private schools for them and the cheapest amongst these charge  far more than what the parents can earn. Then in such a school you have uniforms, school events and such adding to cost.

4.       Anyone falling sick they neither have insurance and a government hospital is often not a option because they would be situated far away. Anyway unless you have influence your ability to get treatment or even admission is bleak anyway. So its private nursing homes and doctors who then charge pretty heavily even if they charge low.

5.       Family events like weddings however austerely done cost a  bomb.

6.       Day to day cost of living in terms of price of food, the less said the better.

No wonder that many in this class are “corrupt” and the crowds protesting against corruption, the movement fighting corruption and winning elections is predominantly targeting this 60% of the corrupt population.  Its easy, quicker and makes the halo on their heads shinier. Also these are the people we meet in everyday life not the greedy who operate in the shadow of the darkness.

What is missing in this action is to address issues pertaining to schooling, public transport, affordable housing, affordable quality healthcare since these will take time and do not bring in short term benefits like political power and the fame and awards and so on. This primarily is my angst with regard to the anti corruption movement or the famous Lokpal which again is targeted at these class of people.

Coming back to blackmail and greed  this is what really bleeds the country and is like cancer. If you can control this 70% cash and it gets plowed back into the system it is so humungous that  you can convert this country into a paradise. But are they being targetted ?  I at least don’t think so since this 20% is the system, the rulers, the netas, the guys who make the rules. Its like expecting cancer to fight itself which is not going to happen not easily or quickly  anyway.

This blackmail and greed is essentially fuelled by a opaque system with discretion and a system that demands corruption to join and survive in and most importantly a system that starts with the fundamental premise that  the people involved are corrupt.  So its like a self fulfilling prophecy.  If one were to take some high profile cases  in recent memory like CWG, 2G spectrum, Coal blocks, Westland  choppers  the system was subverted due to greed or blackmail. Some even say it was insurance. To just take a small example.

The government tendering system started depending upon  sourcing the lowest priced item  in a socialistic economy and consequently it evolved into a 2 bid system – technical/commercial. Now unless the technical bid favoured the preferred supplier (assuming that there is honesty in intention) there was no way in which you could source the item. So you rig the bid and then someone else cries foul and the tender gets cancelled and so on the cycle goes. But then the government must function so   you have someone with guts to take a tough decision which would mean trodding on toes, defeating the system and so either as an insurance cover  or reward there is a pay off. This even in a honest intention situation. In a dishonest intention situation this simply ups the ante and corruption become endemic.

A look at the various government procedures, rules, documentation etc will show that if the system is fixed with drastic changes in procedures and ensuring that information is disseminated with clarity to people  a substantial amount of this big ticket corruption will come down. Also the system must learn to trust people and encourage excellence not lowest cost. Initially this may lead to some more corruption but that is an investment which will pay off in the long run. However this must be accompanied by salaries/perks that need not be opulent but match the powers/position of the person concerned.  Today the officer who will decide if a Warren Buffett  or  Mukesh Ambani  (who flew down in a private jet  for meeting him)  can go visit the mens room gets into a ramshackle Maruti Esteem car to go home.  

This is the most difficult part but can be tackled by what I call Reform 2.0 which like in 1991 must dismantle a whole lot of existing systems. Like Jack Welch said you must turn the system upside down periodically. Change the system so Buffett or Ambani doesn’t have to meet him at all.

If a government can tackle Reforms 2.0, improve the circle of life for the majority corruption will automatically come down by more than 90% both in number and cash. But this needs a larger vision, a longer term plan and most importantly the ability to communicate this to  the people as against a wham bham thank you maam kind of political mavericks. The former was where the Anna movement came in and the  latter is where the AAP has come in which is what concerns me about their ability/ intention  to bring about change.

Reforms 1.0 was a directional shift from committed socialism to free market economics with a human face (note I did not use the word capitalism) and Reforms 2.0 must give a further twist in this direction not reverse the direction as AAP has professed to. This is where I am all the more uncomfortable with the rich and famous who fattened themselves thanks to Reforms 1.0 jumping on this movement with a holier than thou attitude with a stated policy of Reforms 0.0. Have these fat cats who having enjoyed the luxuries of life now want to be kings with political power and perpetuate their legacy akin to our existing netas and the AAP affords them this opportunity easily which a mainstream political party would not.