Leave fiction aside.

Corruptions is essentially an unbalanced phenomenon. There is no such thing as balancing it, keeping a check on the greed etc. Not just these things are highly subjective and relative, they actually legitimize the business of corruption.

Once the game is in progress no one gets to change the rules unfortunately. As the time progresses, every start to learn with the system, tries to get maximum benefit from the system, becomes more greedy and eventually the system collapses.

Corruption can not be wiped out completely one may argue, but that does not mean that we should not engage out wits in wiping it out at every possible confrontation.

It is nothing new. Nor is it unique to India. Its prevalent everywhere. There is even a mention of this EXACT example, in Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather”. One of the Dons has businesses which overload trucks, which cause roads to get more damaged, and also a road-repair business. “business generating more business” was the phrase used i believe.

I was recently on a biking trip through South India. I noticed “computerized weighing bridges” at each and every state border. I am sure the corruption exists. I am equally sure that the mechanisms to check it are in place too.

This “eco-system” has prevailed for decades, if not centuries. It is not going to go away. We have to accept it. I believe the way forward is to accept that, and make sure that we obtain a balance between the corruption, and the results that we get (in this example, the roads). We have to keep an eye on the greed levels of the corrupt, and make sure that the voters are aware how much the politicians are themselves pocketing, and how much is being spent for the public good.

To beat the corrupt at their game, we will have to change the rules of the game.

I am afraid of the overload details you have given, not sure if it is possible to overload 110%. If true, it would be breaking the back of the truck and road.

In 90’s Rajesh Pilot as Minister of Roads brought excellent regulations and implemented well. A 2 axle truck was allowed to carry 9/10T and not more. This woke-up Tata and Ashok Leyland to introduce 3 and 4 axle trucks for higher loads.
Present trend in India is to measure gross vehicle weight (to avoid penalising light weight design).

I was under the impression that the overloading is prevailing in the range of 10 – 30%. Even this creates heavy wear and structural damage to vehicle and road.

Gujarat introduced electronic weighing and penalty in all its state entry points which was successful.

NHAI is planning to introduce charging Toll based on weight of truck and stiff penalty. Hope this brings good discipline.

I can’t imagine how ‘developed’ nations have escaped this Prisoner’s Dilemma. Till we figure it out though, it’s the ol’ “Democracy is a device to ensure we are governed no better than we deserve.”

But here is my question.. Ok so there is big chain and everybody gets
their share otherwise system is simply not going to work !!. And as
we know because of corruption money which should be spent on
development gets in these thieves’ pockets. So only looser is common
man (tax paying fellow and fellows in dire need of development). And
they only get to elect these guys once in five years and we know all
what happens after that. Now this is what I call profitable business.
Think of a merchant who bribes an officer to get goods at dirt cheap
price and sell it at very high to maximize his profit. I think this is
how politicians’ math is working. They can spend some money in
“fooling” masses and financing “goonda raj”. Now in my opinion this
model works because most of the votes are free. I repeat they are
absolutely free. (Well even so called educated one). So these people
can bribe the section which will make sure they get elected just by
small margin and get to the right position in above chain. If we do
not want to be prisoners of our own design , the only way I think
this problem can be solved is :
1) Educate masses on larger scale and fast. And this should not repeat
the mistakes done in 1857 first freedom fight (or justice gets delayed
for about 150 years only to create new dynasty). One attach with full
strength. Thats it.
2) Put your vote for sell !!. Yes How about everybody telling these
politicians .(Congress , BJP,BSP,left,right whoever it is ) You want
my vote .. its fairly cheap .. just pay me around 10 lakhs (chose
your own figure here) per annum. That way that money which tax payer
lost in above chain, some of it will return to the very same people.
Now this can be very competitive market looking at the profit to be
made by whoever wins it and if we throw all our bindings (that I
support this party and that party is good etc) , parties might start
buying such votes. Once I have my 10 lakhs I can bribe everybody on my
way to get my things done .. from ration to education.
On the surface idea looks bit far fetched. But Ironically more I
thought about it more I think this is the only solution which is
really feasible.
Such it goes …

… These are the kind of details and issues the “main stream media” are supposed to be reporting but aren’t…

Of course, the media is not going to break this system, since it ITSELF is a part of it. Media’s task is nowadays to keep yourself focussed on the periphery of the issues, so that you are unable to look at the centre. This doesnt let one see the real picture, since you “trust” the media as a “news agency”, which it is not lately.

Also, corruption is not a verb anymore. It has become a way of thinking. Corruption has become a school of doing official work,where-in, a govt servant acts like goons or agent of big goon, who has been delegated official powers from the state. It is treated to be natural behavior per-se w.r.t to government. There is a cycle and ecosystem which consciously and unconsciously support corruption in many ways, this ecosystem consists of votebank-minded-party+ evergreedy-politician + unethical-businessmen + non-eligible-civilians-govt-dealings + touts-to-make-a-living + western-culture-promoting-MNCs + capitalist-companies-promoting-ZIPLIFEt-thru-media + advertisers-hungry-media.
So, in all, no one can claim to clean the “corruption”, since it doesnt exist in the third person. We all are a part of it, we feed it, we supplement the corrupt ecosystem to enable it to survive. Only when we give ourselves a nudge( none of indian likes to admit he is “wrong”), self-introspect, and refuse to “take-or-give”, then we can hope this system will improve.
IF we cant even push ourselves, we should be ready to follow the leader of the revolution who will bring about the change in Independence2.0

Corruption is institutionalized in every aspect of governance of our
country.
Slightly offtopic- If you look at India’s foreign policy since Independence, the only thing that stands out is its non-existence.
Successive governments have been too busy leeching the public to bother about what goes in the larger world-and taken ‘non violence’ to mean ‘we are a country of utter pussies who will not stand up for anything’.

A few pundits go on waxing orgasmic about us turning into a 21st century superpower. If any superpowers do emerge, China will be the one. Lack of a democracy and institutionalized corruption there has not stopped its leaders from being committed to a vision of what is best for their country, f*** the rest of the world and proceed with the grand plan.
Whereas we continue to bicker among ourselves, blissfully ignorant of the external threats as we’ve done for the last 5000 years.

Sanjay Uvach
Corruption in India

This is one of the more interesting and informative posts I have read. These are the kind of details and issues the “main stream media” are supposed to be reporting but aren’t.

Learning the principles, theories, models etc. of economics is one thing, but understanding the details of how the system really works is very enlightening. Very often I hear from several friends about stories like these, but the details are always vague. I am always curious to know things like numbers not adding up, the chain of interested parties etc. Compare this with the number of truck weighing stations we see along the freeways here in the US!

I hope you will write more articles like this.

DP

It took the truck owner 22 days to cross the border because he had to negotiate the bribe with Goan officials.

More I read such things more cynical I become about the world around me.