Corruption Public (un)limited

I feel surprised when some TV reporter shrieks on a news channel telling us all that there has been a major scam in preparation on Common wealth Games. I just fail to understand what the excitement all about is. If we Indians are planning to organize an event which has a budget of some hundreds of crore obviously there will be scam and people will fill in their pockets from public money, what’s new or exclusive in it?

We are a nation of corrupt people, the whole world including ourselves acknowledge that. Whenever we rank high on corruption index of some agency conducting a survey, it is national news (some news channel run a day long debate on it and earn millions through sponsorship). We always take pride in being ranked high, be it corruption, pollution or lack of civic sense. We are always one of the top rank holders, and only arch rivals like Pakistan can compete with us there. People spend hours on street corners debating how we have fared in these surveys, some even feel ashamed that countries poorer than us have been ranked higher. So, the point is that we are used to of, being corrupt and corrupt ways of the people at powerful positions, hence we should not be too excited about the multi million rupees scam which CWG is called as now, it was supposed to happen.

There is a saying which if translated in English goes like this “In India, the whole procession eats along with the groom” I hope you must have got it or at least the drift of it. We are so proud of our corrupt ways that we make sayings out of them also, so that its easier for our kids to learn these and follow also. The dealings in government departments are always overpriced because it contains a margin component about which nothing is taught in any of the marketing or pricing course, its called “officers’ cut”. This is most important one because all other margins can only be realized if this reaches its deserved candidate, hence my suggestion would be to include this in our curriculums.

So, when we are talking about an umbrella being worth 6K then why are we surprised? Simple mathematics tells you, that cost price is equal to sales price minus margin, you subtract the margin component (including officer’s cut) and real cost will be known. That margin is one of the most important components of any deal or transaction and something which all of us accept. Don’t we know that some of the train TTEs will take one hundred rupees or so over the cost price of ticket to give us a confirmed berth on a waitlisted ticket? We are so comfortable with this system that many of us don’t even ask this to the TTE and simply roll in one hundred rupees in our ticket and deal is done. Now, if corruption is so much a part of our life then why all the hulla?

Only because the amounts involved runs in hundreds of crore or is it because we are jealous of these guys in such good positions, where they get to make crores whereas we can only make some thousands? Reason can be a mix of both, but I think there are some who are now making crores because some politicians have already made crores. I am talking about newspapers, news channels, reporters and some politicians also, who will take crores to keep their mouth shut. There are a few whose mouth are watering with the prospects, imagine some of these politicians or officers getting caught and put in jail, then there are people like policemen, lawyers, agents, deal breakers etc. who will make money. It’s a proper industry, if government puts some thought in it and makes it legal and taxable then I think their revenues can skyrocket :).

As I said, it doesn’t surprise me that people around me are taking bribes or pocketing public money, I have grown up in this environment. What surprises me is the lack of professionalism shown by these guys, earlier if you were bribing someone, you could be sure that he will deliver. A TTE will give you confirmed seat, a policeman will let you go even though you have jumped a light. The building will be ready and occupied with officers even though the amount spent is double the normal. But in this case these guys have not delivered, they just filled in their accounts but nothing happened at ground level. We are staring at the CWG and stadiums are not ready, there are no rooms for athletes to stay, roads are dug up and what not. I think that’s one very serious issue which is going to harm our country. We should identify people who have benefitted from the public money but didn’t do their job properly, those who took bribe but delivered should be spared, after all they are just following the culture of India.