Well, you have practically put in words what I’d done. I’ve spent a decade in govt. service and am out now. Though I didn’t know the concepts when I came to tiss then, my endeavour was to get out of the vicious cycle of the Prisoners’ Dilemma. I did notice two things: The challenge is systemic; and the people in this system are just like you and me. They are smart people attuned to ‘rationally respond to our structural feature’ as a way of getting by in life. The solutions and approaches to the problems and challenges we face, I find, is in great personal change… that will, as it increases in the degree of its manifestation in the society, sparks off individual revolutions within each person… that reaches a critical mass – and we have the Indian Freedom Movement, American Civil Rights Movement etc.

The bottom line – change ourselves in such a way that it will change our environment; a kind of spiritual KAIZEN. Too many change initiatives assume a certain constant that is not even connected to strong foundational principles, leave alone questioning them. Not that I have any conclusive answers… but I do have a strong sense of direction towards where we might find them.

1)Subhas, to me your suggestion doesn’t seem very different from certain systems in place today, and they don’t have any effect – further, when the “developed” countries were at this stage of there growth (which is a foolish comparison to make because most developed countries don’t have 1 billion people, do not comprise of 40/50 kingdoms, speaking 30+ languages and did not inherit 5000 years of blood-filled history) they DID have this much corruption. You should study American history between 1850-1950 to get a sense of the corruption there.

2) Dr. Puri, just because there has been corruption for the past 30/40 years doesn’t mean that it is a permanent fixture. You strike me as somebody past their 30s who has grown cynical. I haven’t given a bribe in the past 4 years. That’s saying something for this country.

Ok that being said, yes poverty is one of the roots of corruption, and as you say the second is a poor system – in this case it is India’s Socialist System. Nehru started it, but Indira Gandhi did the real abuse with it. She is what brought about the complete destruction of most of our institutions. Socialism in our country breeds corruption like weeds. Simple example – any company which employs more than 100 workers needs permission from the government to fire them – this means you have BRIBE a government offical to go out of business!!!!
Let’s take another example – in Socialist India, a Telephone was actually considered a luxury. Result – zero capacity for phone lines, a 5 year long waiting list, and then naturally, the bribes will follow.
Further, add archaic laws written by Queen Victoria which are YET to be amended/re-written and you have the makings of the current situation.

But of course, you and most of your sycophants in this site feel everything is doomed, and we should all migrate to the west.

Further, you of course choose not choose any points of reference, but simply report on what you se today or last week, which one can’t fault you for, because it is obvious that your are playing to a crowd. However, I have a frame of reference:

- I lived here in 1991. I had to pay a bribe for a water connection, power connection, gas connection, phone connection, driving license, traffic offense, passport

- in 1998, I moved to a different colony. I had to pay a bribe for a water connection and traffic offense only

- in 2005, you can get a gas connection over the internet at http://www.ebharatgas.com, with no bribes. I live in Delhi, so the electricity distribution is privatised – run by BSES. The meters are electronic, the call center staff is polite, and I didn’t have to pay anything except the designated fees to get the name on my electricity bill changed to my actual name (this would have been a bribe-worthy event a few years ago).
Landlines are available within 24 hours, and so is fault repair (also bribe-required events a few years ago).
As for traffic offenses, in Delhi, they don’t stop and fine you, they simply send the fine home to the address of the registration number of the car that committed the offese. You go and submit the fine (or contest it in court). I haven’t had my car towed away here, and in the few areas where somebody else had had theirs towed, they were in the wrong so I maybe that requires a bribe. Finally passport – I had to get a new one made so I went through the necessary proceedings, and the police verification dude came by, and I simply threatened him with a report to the CVC (http://www.cvc.nic.in/) and he let up. I got my passport 2 weeks later, and I can check the status at http://passport.nic.in

Now I’m not trying to say India is a first world country and we’re all done, but I think it’s time you stopped presenting everything in this frozen state, when things are clearly changing, and that too for the better. It’s all fine and dandy that you “tell it like it is” – but let’s not forget to talk about “how it used to be”. India is growing, incomes are rising, and people are getting better educated and pulling themselves out of poverty, of course, they are just not doing it as fast you would like. Other people I have read call you an India-Hater but you seem to just come across as the standard ABCD/NRI to me.

My analysis of the problem gives some solutions. There should be a system where one can file a complaint to any government department online. There should be time frames for replies and redressals based on the type of complaint. This can be called a Citizen’s charter. Everything will be on record online – accessible to the complainant. If offline, there should be a single window in every government office to accept complaints where an acknowledgement/receipt should be given specifying the date of reply/redressal according to the citizen’s charter. If the complainant’s records show that he/she is harrassed without any valid reason, the person should be able to go to an Government Ombudsman which can be composed of reputed citizens. If the fault is found to be of the government department/official(s), they should be penalized and should pay the penalty from their personal salary.

This can be made possible if the system is made by the Chief Minister(s), as most citizen’s issues are at the state level. The Chief Minister(s) doesn’t lose anything because this system addresses corruption at the lower levels of government, and corruption for giving government contracts can remain in place. As such, the government scores in votes because of relatively corruption-free government. If someone who is a humanist/patriot can convince atleast one state government to implement this system, I’m sure it will work and can be spread to other states as well.

Jai Hind!

I would concur with Sunil when he says “The cops are ruthless and could have cooked up some story and thrown you in a lockup.” When they are bent upon cheating, you can’t talk LOGIC to them.

I lost my mobile phone once. Its a prepaid and I wanted to have the same number. The mobile operator advised me to file a complaint with the police and bring a copy of it to get back the same number. When I went to the police station, I was in for a rude shock. The police men spoke and reacted like Gundas. I was so afraid of them. The whole place was so eerie. I wonder how people go there and claim justice/help.

Good that you have blamed the system. Bang on when you said “I believe that corruption is a rational response to a materially poor system”. Poor system is one of the reasons for corruption. Its a difficult topic to talk about. We are playing a part in this as well.

All I can say is “WELCOME HOME after your trip”

Jokes apart Atanu, your post makes eminent sense here. Corruption is an institutionalised phenomenon, something that cannot be ignored. The system cannot be changed- the best way to buy your peace is to stay away from it; if not becoming a part of it.

More than the “material poverty”. it is the greed and the lust of easy money. It is addictive, easy to fall in the trap and very difficult to extract yourself out of the same. Then, given the virtual gurantee of the job, one is the famous “son in law” of sarkar; this greases the corruption machinery.

I d be looking forward for your insight in this strange human psyche- everyone wants to get out of it but noone really does so.