Curious Case of Corruption

There may be a debate on whether corruption is indeed the most dangerous threat to our nation or not, but there can simply be no debate about the fact that no other threat can materialize without help of corruption. Few days back, I was chatting with a friend. When we were talking about the ongoing general election, he asked me, “What do you think? Why do we have so much corruption?” After much deliberation on various topics, we settled on some points on which we both agreed. I wish to document that conversation through this article.

The issue with rampant corruption that we face today is fueled by multiple issues and causes. The mistake we (Government and citizens in general) all are doing is; looking at corruption through same old pair of lenses. Though it is true that corruption of any kind should not be tolerated, but trying to handle all kinds of corruption in same way might not prove to be a good idea in the long run, as it won't be sustainable. To understand this better, let us categorize corruption based on its origin.
We are well aware about the first type of corruption; that is a person filling up his coffers by looting public money. Fixing government bid processes, leasing out public land to big industrial houses for meager amounts, selling public property like spectrum, coal blocks, and gas blocks all come under Greed based Corruption. The only way to check this menace is by legislating strong anti-corruption law and enforcing it swiftly. We all are more or less already aware about this type of corruption. Moving on to the next type of corruption which, I feel, has more wide reach and which affects our day-today life in a more profound way.

Let us take a simple example from our daily life, getting a travel ticket from city X to city Y. There are 20 odd trains running between these two cities, each having around 18 coaches and each coach having 72 berths for passengers. I will skip the mathematics here, but I hope by now you have calculated the number of passengers which our system can support. We do not need to apply any rocket science to understand that the main culprit is the poor infrastructure, which force us (yes, you and me) to bribe a railway official for a paltry sum of 500-1000. I believe, here we (the passenger and the Railway ticket checker) are not looting the public money or killing someone to fill our coffers by swindling government contracts, but we are just making a compromise with the poor standard of infrastructure we have even after half a century after gaining independence (oh! that reminds me, weren’t the public services much better under British Raj?). The bottom line is; if you have more demand and less supply, then this type of corruption is bound to happen, which I feel can be aptly named as Need based Corruption.

We have a shortage of supply in traveling, water, electricity, and every other public service that we can think of; still most of these commodities operate through state machinery, whose performance is hidden by none. The frustrating paradox here is the fact that, we (middle class ordinary citizen of India) earn and thrive on the well-known and well acknowledged concept of capitalism, where we want better services and are ready to pay for it. But, we are at the same time expected to be utopian and socialistic to the core when it comes to availing public services. Why on earth, would a hard working salaried person wait for a railway ticket that will never reach him through legal means, when he can get the desired service through illegal means? For reasons obvious you can't justify one person's need to travel as more urgent than other (thanks to our forefathers that we are not living in a communist state), the only solution is have more seats available to passengers at reasonable costs and services.

Like a simple railway berth, there are many things which we need to lead a healthy and happy life. We may/can check the Greed based corruption through legislation and laws. But, if we seriously wish to remove the Need based corruption, then we need to have our complete focus on growth of infrastructure and economy or simply choosing a government which features this quality. Of course, we all have to be an integral part of this journey, just assuming that one superman will emancipate us all of all our sorrows and problems will not work.

Edit: I found this very informative and enlightening blog by Mr. Alex Paul Menon, IAS


Feel free to share your experience with corruption, where you have felt that it could have been avoided if we had enough for all.

Jai Hind,
Abhinav

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Let's take a break

Alright! Tell me what pops in your head if I ask you "What makes you happy?"
Sounds childish? Or too silly? Then it's cool, because that was the intent.
There is no dearth of topics and thoughts if we sit down to discuss about how to live life, spread positivity and happiness. Hence, for limiting my thoughts, I have zeroed in on two trends/concepts that I found really worth taking note of and which make an impact on lives of people.

1. Concept of Gross National Happiness Index (GNH)

            "Gross national happiness is more important than gross national product"
                                                         - His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan

Let us first see how most of the nations calculate their development. The most commonly used scale is the GDP or Gross Domestic Product. Which roughly is the sum of all goods and services produced in an economy or say the total amount earned or spent. Some countries calculate their PCI or Per Capita Income, which is, again in simple terms, the sum of all earnings of a country divided by total population. The latest in economics terminology is HDI or Human Development Index, it is a more comprehensive scaling index calculation based upon composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and of course the regular economic stuff.

But, a country, nestled in the calmness of Himalayas calculate its development and growth not upon these monetary terms but upon how happy her people are!! Yes, it is true and you can know more about it here. The idea is not based upon some lofty ideology that all her people must be smiling and laughing all the time. Instead, it is calculated upon several factors which not necessarily absolutely quantifiable but is defined more by the intangible and emotional aspect of things like psychological well-being, time use by people, cultural diversity and resilience, community vitality, ecological resilience and general living standards.
The central idea of Bhutan's pursuance of GNH is the belief that, to be happy one does not need to be in the mad rush of getting all the physical comfort available on the planet and in the process leave behind the true human value of empathy and compassion. Though, Bhutan certainly don't have all the material luxury present on earth, but I think they surely have one; Peace of mind.


2. Concept of Slow Down Culture

Ever wondered why do we need to rush for things? Why do we need to eat fast? Drink fast? Listen to our favourite music on a go? Visit a place haphazardly? And virtually do everything as fast as we can. The answer lies in the sense of urgency created by us. Now, let me express here that in no way I am saying that we should slow down the manufacturing process of an automated car production plant or a response to medical emergency. What I am referring here is the idea of appreciating finer things in life.
Now, one may have a question in mind,"Why do we need to slow down and appreciate things?". For this I would urge one to take a step back, zoom out and see our planet from space. What do you see? It is a planet with few thousand different type of creatures roaming around. Then how do we humans stand apart? Yes, there lies the, answer; we humans don't do things just to survive. Just take a look around yourself, do you need all that just to survive? Now that we have established this fact, we should ponder as to why don't we appreciate things in all its glory? Why are we mechanizing ourselves? Robots are fine, let them do their work, but we are humans.. let's not forget that. Let's not make our little lives so much short on time.

You might be aware of Sweden and other Scandinavian countries and the quality of life there. I feel it's worth  mentioning here that the headline of this paragraph actually comes from Sweden. There is a movement going on in that part of globe, where people already are getting more and more aware about their human nature and appreciating life as it should be. Eating a meal within 20 minutes in a restaurant is considered rude to the chef, He will personally come to you, thinking that you didn't like the food! And if you think that with such mindset they will be left out in this Industrialized world, think again, because Sweden houses few of the world's best known enterprises like Electrolux and Ericsson known for their 'innovation' and quality. No wonder many of these are suppliers of NASA for its space missions.

Imagine grabbing a burger on the go and munching while talking on phone. Now, let's imagine a good lunch/dinner with family, disconnected from virtual world and enjoying the meal in every bite. Discussing about spices and how they taste. Which one seems more attractive to the human in you?
We must be thankful to our age old Indian traditions that we still can enjoy such moments in our lives. But the rate at which we are pursuing individualistic life style and modern culture, this would soon become a luxury. So next time you are on visit to an art gallery, an eatery, a hike with friends or a music concert, before rushing to get back, do remember why you were there in the first place.

I hope you read the whole article without rushing down directly to the conclusive paragraph. ;)

Cheers,
Abhinav

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