The Multiple Dimensions of Corruption

We commonly believe that for corruption, only the government officers are responsible. They are the centre of the attack by the media and public alike forgetting the role of others in the act of corruption. Almost always, in the act of corruption there is collusion between of the common people and the government officer. Let me explain this with few examples.

Take the case of RTO (Regional Transport Office) office in India where we go to make our driving license and its renewal. Many people complain that they have to pay bribe to get the work done. But the fact is that there are many statuary requirements by the law before a license can be given and most citizen are interested in getting the license as quickly as they can without getting into the drill of passing the requirement of the law. Getting driving license requires tests of driving, knowledge of road rules and so on. Now most people who desire to have license actually are often not competent enough to really pass the test or they do not want to waste their time to go through the drill. They find it cheaper and better to spend few hundred or thousand rupees rather than their time to get the license. If RTO officer really wants to enforce the law, the same people complain harassment and blame the officers for following the procedures too strictly. In fact, most people would not get licenses but for many hours/days of additional efforts. So they prefer paying bribe and bypass the procedure.

The same can be said to almost all cases. People make illegal construction in their houses and then pay bribe so that legal action of penalty/demolition of house is not taken against them. If people pay bribe to the TT in a railway train, it is mostly because they do not have the ticket or have a waitlisted ticket which prohibits their entry to reserved compartments. One who has proper reserved ticket would hardly pay anything to him. People often pay bribe to tax departments so that their tax evasion is overlooked by the tax official.

Hence, corruption can’t be removed by the efforts of government officials alone unless citizens too play their role in this regard. 

We must understand the complete dimension of corruption and understand a common citizen is not merely exploited in the corrupt system but he is also exploits the system for his advantage.

 Hence, his battle against corruption is much larger than few thousands of government officers. It is easy to get influenced by the films like Nayak where the hero removes the corruption in just one day but in reality removal of corruption is a long battle. The films and media show only one dimension of the problem as they can’t speak anything against public (who are their customer).

Let us know our role in removal of corruption and fight jointly to create a corruption-free society.