Corruption Everywhere

(Published in Banking Services Chronicle November 2007)

When a nation completes 60 years, its pillars are expected to be reinforced in strength. But when corruption becomes part of the business, you can’t expect the same. We are used to the caving in of roads and collapsing of bridges because of corruption involved in the contract. Somewhat similar is the case of the four pillars on which our nation rests, viz the legislative, the executive, the judiciary and the media.

The legislative consists of the politicians. Their lack of integrity is an open secret. The high pedestal that Gandhi and Nehru occupied seems to have disappeared in the sky for the politicians of today. They see elections as a business where money is invested in order to reap a bumper harvest when they come into power.

The executive too has lost the prestige it once had. Bureaucracy has become a much-abused word. There are few Indian films where the police are not portrayed as being greedy for money. The sleaze in bureauracy has alienated many a bright person from the corridors of power.

And now it’s the turn of the judiciary to be exposed. Whether the allegations levelled against former chief justice Sabharwal turn out to be true or not, it is clear that there is rot in the system. Things had ceased to be fair right from the days judges began to be handpicked. But now their avarice seems to have stooped to new lows.

Nor is the media, the watchdog of democracy, above suspicion. Cases like the one of Uma Khurana project the journalists in a poor light. The debate on the abuse of sting operation has once again been brought to the fore.

In short, it is a gloomy scenario. One that takes us on the verge of despair. But that would be a losing proposition. Instead, let us remember that a disaster in the World Cup may be followed by sheer brilliance in Twenty20. The recipe is: Promise that you will not be corrupt. That would leave us enough to hope.