Article#13: Corruption
A social factor prevailing in the entire world. The greater it exists, the less developed will be the respective nation. What is corruption? What are the different types of corruption? Is there a way to eradicate or reduce corruption? If so, what is that? How good people get benefitted if there exists no corruption? This article deals with all these questions along with my perspective.
Corruption can be defined as an act that is done in an illegal way by utilizing the power that an individual possess. This is a universal definition. But, per me, corruption can be any act for which one doesn’t do justice. And in every such act, money is involved. When we talk about financial dealings, the entire world just runs on ‘Give and Take’ policy. My thought here is when you are giving or delivering something, you have every right to fight for taking the expected thing back. In the same way, when you are taking something, your responsibility lies in giving the expected thing to the other party or person. If either of these criteria doesn’t meet properly, I call such case as corruption because it’s not justified in any of the two cases. But how does this cases evolve? It’s simple because one of the party is more powerful than the other and it utilizes its power to suppress the other due to which the other party will not be able to do anything. Well, there are also cases wherein the second party itself supports corruption. Wondering how? The single word ‘bribe’ is the answer. This case is just an elaboration of universal definition of corruption.
The common examples of corruption are government officials expecting something to pass pension files, politicians using their power and money to get a common man arrested, RTO officials when bribed, issuing driving license to anyone irrespective of their capability, Traffic police officer not leaving an individual until he gets the thing that he expects irrespective of whether the individual follows the rules or not, etc. Ever thought on why such things happen? Are the government officials not satisfied with their salary? What makes politicians take advantage of their power? Why does RTO officials expect bribes? Why should a traffic police officer trouble public? The only term at which the answers arrive is ‘money’. The government officials get their salary, even though it satisfies their needs, they need something ‘extra’, and that would obviously be money upon which the entire world revolves. Politicians use their power when they notice that a common man can turn against them and can damage their so called “appellation”. And ultimately, they want to remain in their position for money. RTO officials expect bribes because they know that not everyone who arrives to get a driving license have the required set of skills and to make everyone’s work easier, they get bribed and finish off the work at both ends. With that additional amount, they would be fulfilling their own desires. Traffic police are aware that at some point, there would be one or the other who doesn’t follow the rules. So, instead of letting the money that should be paid as fine to go to government treasury, they believe that it would be better if it goes to their own pockets so they can have dual earnings. If we think in one way, aren’t we allowing them to do all these things? Aren’t we responsible for following traffic rules? Don’t you think that we need to acquire the required skills for getting a driving license honestly? Yes, there is also another way around that I experienced, we may be right from our end, but still things don’t turn out to be alright because there is power associated at another end.
As per my thoughts, there are even many examples of corruption. You go to a hotel, have some food there. But say the quality is not good or the price is too high or the quantity is very less or it can be of anything that makes you feel unsatisfactory while you leave the place, I term it as corruption because when you are paying out, it’s obvious that you expect the food to be worthy of it. I am not saying that there is something wrong in doing that kind of business. I don’t believe business is aside and human values are aside. When you ignore the human values in a business, there are high chances that you will not be able to cope up with the business for a long time. Another example is daily you travel through roads in your city, but say they are not in a good condition from a long time. Your city corporation is not taking care of the roads which it is supposed to, I call it as corruption because even after collecting road/vehicle tax from citizens, the roads are not maintained well. One more example is even simple, you are working in an office, but say you don’t have interest on your work or due to some reason, you are not able to deliver something that is required. Even that is corruption. Also, it can be the other way around, you are working like anything, day and night. But your office management is not paying the amount that is worth of your work or just ignoring to provide recognition to your work although they are aware that you are working well, its corruption. Taking very high fare on bus/train tickets during the last minute or on festive season is also another example of corruption. Even, not providing the basic hygiene facilities in trains after collecting good amount of fare from you is corruption. In the same way, you go to a shop, buy a product. But later you find that it is not working up to the mark, even it is corruption. Likewise, we have many cases that we encounter with, in our day-to-day life. It is not that people corrupt things knowingly, but it’s just that their desire for more money makes such things happen. Money is required for getting through, but the unlimited want for money will never die and results in corruption.
To eradicate or reduce corruption, it should start from within oneself. One needs to play their role(s) effectively in every aspect. Then if you feel that corruption is going on with you or in and around you, then you can ask the other party or let them enable to give a thought from your point of view. Recently I watched a Hindi movie, ‘Ungli’. It was good, the way the director portrayed different kinds of corruption and the way he dealt with the eradication of corruption is amazing. Yes, no one knows the pain of others until they themselves are kept in that situation. To quote an instance from the movie, they allow a blind man (who was not blind but just act) to drive a car along with an RTO official who get bribed and was responsible for issuing the driving license for a blind man. The act was to let the RTO official know how dangerous it would be if a blind man drives the car with an appropriate driving license, finally the official gets to know his mistake. I don’t say that we need to implement the same thing in real, because movies are far beyond our imagination as well. However, we can at least make people realize that they are part of corruption and doing things wrong with our words.
May be there doesn’t exist a place without corruption these days, but if at all it exists, then trust me, it is the place where there is wonderful life for every human being because satisfaction enables people to live a happy life whereas greediness never lets one to be happy as there will be no end to the desires. If there is no corruption, there is no blockage to economic and social development. In fact, there will not be much difference between the rich and the poor. Everyone will be on same page. Unfortunately, that is hard to even imagine.
The conclusion here is, corruption is everywhere. The roots of corruption are so strong that change cannot be brought in just one day or one month or not even one year. And, the change should start from every citizen, but not just from an individual or a group of people. Also, it should be from everywhere, not some portion of the country. So, try to be the change and bring the change. There’s no harm in giving a try for anything ;-) let’s see to what extent we’ll be able to succeed :-)
Here’s the end of my thirteenth article, “Corruption”. The next article is going to be on something that is very valuable and precious, stay tuned :-) :-)
Corruption can be defined as an act that is done in an illegal way by utilizing the power that an individual possess. This is a universal definition. But, per me, corruption can be any act for which one doesn’t do justice. And in every such act, money is involved. When we talk about financial dealings, the entire world just runs on ‘Give and Take’ policy. My thought here is when you are giving or delivering something, you have every right to fight for taking the expected thing back. In the same way, when you are taking something, your responsibility lies in giving the expected thing to the other party or person. If either of these criteria doesn’t meet properly, I call such case as corruption because it’s not justified in any of the two cases. But how does this cases evolve? It’s simple because one of the party is more powerful than the other and it utilizes its power to suppress the other due to which the other party will not be able to do anything. Well, there are also cases wherein the second party itself supports corruption. Wondering how? The single word ‘bribe’ is the answer. This case is just an elaboration of universal definition of corruption.
The common examples of corruption are government officials expecting something to pass pension files, politicians using their power and money to get a common man arrested, RTO officials when bribed, issuing driving license to anyone irrespective of their capability, Traffic police officer not leaving an individual until he gets the thing that he expects irrespective of whether the individual follows the rules or not, etc. Ever thought on why such things happen? Are the government officials not satisfied with their salary? What makes politicians take advantage of their power? Why does RTO officials expect bribes? Why should a traffic police officer trouble public? The only term at which the answers arrive is ‘money’. The government officials get their salary, even though it satisfies their needs, they need something ‘extra’, and that would obviously be money upon which the entire world revolves. Politicians use their power when they notice that a common man can turn against them and can damage their so called “appellation”. And ultimately, they want to remain in their position for money. RTO officials expect bribes because they know that not everyone who arrives to get a driving license have the required set of skills and to make everyone’s work easier, they get bribed and finish off the work at both ends. With that additional amount, they would be fulfilling their own desires. Traffic police are aware that at some point, there would be one or the other who doesn’t follow the rules. So, instead of letting the money that should be paid as fine to go to government treasury, they believe that it would be better if it goes to their own pockets so they can have dual earnings. If we think in one way, aren’t we allowing them to do all these things? Aren’t we responsible for following traffic rules? Don’t you think that we need to acquire the required skills for getting a driving license honestly? Yes, there is also another way around that I experienced, we may be right from our end, but still things don’t turn out to be alright because there is power associated at another end.
As per my thoughts, there are even many examples of corruption. You go to a hotel, have some food there. But say the quality is not good or the price is too high or the quantity is very less or it can be of anything that makes you feel unsatisfactory while you leave the place, I term it as corruption because when you are paying out, it’s obvious that you expect the food to be worthy of it. I am not saying that there is something wrong in doing that kind of business. I don’t believe business is aside and human values are aside. When you ignore the human values in a business, there are high chances that you will not be able to cope up with the business for a long time. Another example is daily you travel through roads in your city, but say they are not in a good condition from a long time. Your city corporation is not taking care of the roads which it is supposed to, I call it as corruption because even after collecting road/vehicle tax from citizens, the roads are not maintained well. One more example is even simple, you are working in an office, but say you don’t have interest on your work or due to some reason, you are not able to deliver something that is required. Even that is corruption. Also, it can be the other way around, you are working like anything, day and night. But your office management is not paying the amount that is worth of your work or just ignoring to provide recognition to your work although they are aware that you are working well, its corruption. Taking very high fare on bus/train tickets during the last minute or on festive season is also another example of corruption. Even, not providing the basic hygiene facilities in trains after collecting good amount of fare from you is corruption. In the same way, you go to a shop, buy a product. But later you find that it is not working up to the mark, even it is corruption. Likewise, we have many cases that we encounter with, in our day-to-day life. It is not that people corrupt things knowingly, but it’s just that their desire for more money makes such things happen. Money is required for getting through, but the unlimited want for money will never die and results in corruption.
To eradicate or reduce corruption, it should start from within oneself. One needs to play their role(s) effectively in every aspect. Then if you feel that corruption is going on with you or in and around you, then you can ask the other party or let them enable to give a thought from your point of view. Recently I watched a Hindi movie, ‘Ungli’. It was good, the way the director portrayed different kinds of corruption and the way he dealt with the eradication of corruption is amazing. Yes, no one knows the pain of others until they themselves are kept in that situation. To quote an instance from the movie, they allow a blind man (who was not blind but just act) to drive a car along with an RTO official who get bribed and was responsible for issuing the driving license for a blind man. The act was to let the RTO official know how dangerous it would be if a blind man drives the car with an appropriate driving license, finally the official gets to know his mistake. I don’t say that we need to implement the same thing in real, because movies are far beyond our imagination as well. However, we can at least make people realize that they are part of corruption and doing things wrong with our words.
May be there doesn’t exist a place without corruption these days, but if at all it exists, then trust me, it is the place where there is wonderful life for every human being because satisfaction enables people to live a happy life whereas greediness never lets one to be happy as there will be no end to the desires. If there is no corruption, there is no blockage to economic and social development. In fact, there will not be much difference between the rich and the poor. Everyone will be on same page. Unfortunately, that is hard to even imagine.
The conclusion here is, corruption is everywhere. The roots of corruption are so strong that change cannot be brought in just one day or one month or not even one year. And, the change should start from every citizen, but not just from an individual or a group of people. Also, it should be from everywhere, not some portion of the country. So, try to be the change and bring the change. There’s no harm in giving a try for anything ;-) let’s see to what extent we’ll be able to succeed :-)
Here’s the end of my thirteenth article, “Corruption”. The next article is going to be on something that is very valuable and precious, stay tuned :-) :-)
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