When I say we are a corrupt nation, I am not only referring to the corruption we see in government. I am referring to the corruption we see daily in life. The kind that you and me see everyday while going about our lives. The kind that you and me indulge in everyday.
Let us take an example. When I go to my doctor for a consultation, while paying the consultation fee to his secretary, I always tip him generously to ensure that when I need an appointment I get one quickly!
Or when I need to get anything done for my house, let us say, I need to buy some electrical switches to replace some broken ones. There are two alternatives. Either I go myself and buy them or I give the electrician the money and send him to buy them.
Now I really don't have the kind of time or the energy to go and buy everything myself! So, I have no choice but to let the electrician do the job. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the electrician over-charges me for the goods. The shop he buys from is, in all likelihood, in connivance with the electrician to ensure that the electrician always buys from him rather than go to any other shop.
If you look around you, you will find many such examples of small levels of corruption. We have become so used to this that we don't really care about it any more. We don't even feel guilty about doing this any more.
When you think about it, it shouldn't surprise us that the more powerful a person is, the larger the extent of the corruption. It shouldn't surprise us that the Union Government can actually argue that a scam of Rs. 1,658 crores is acceptable while a scam of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore is not!
Comments