Legalise Corruption or Institutionalise Hypocrisy

I was reading about this incident where a senior executive of Samsung has duped the company of crores of rupees. Pretty smartly executed! Though we hope he gets caught, I don’t know if he will get reasonable punishment. In other news, we see a sting operation carried out by Cobrapost exposing small time MP’s of taking bribes to ask questions in parliament. The value of the actual bribes seems ridiculously low, and you almost pity these MP’s. I would’ve expected the payout for discussions at a national level to me much higher. But I guess the transacting parties (MP & fictitious NISMA) knew the true worth of discussions in Lok Sabha. ;)

As much as we may try & express shock & disbelief over such incidents, deep in our hearts we know that corruption is rampant in the society. So these incidents are not at all surprising. I almost expected another sting operation on MP’s. This sting operation has done nothing more than expose another channel of money making which our esteemed MP’s use. The corrupt will still remain corrupt. But they will be more careful in future & will probably use newer advanced channels for satisfying their monetary requirements. Well at least these sting operations will ensure that the corrupt are on their toes & continuously have to come up with new innovative ways of making that extra income. Some consolation!

I recently saw Apaharan & more than the story & the message, what I liked about the film was how it showed about the system of working of gangs, police & government. On the face of it we have our laws that are supposed to be followed. But there is another (probably more practical) system of working that is in no way related to laws. Almost everybody inherently subscribes to this alternate or parallel system of working.

The business class blatantly break all rules to save as much tax money as they can. The kidnapping gangs target the business class for ransom. They actually return the kidnapped "party" after the ransom is paid (the kidnapping business runs on this trust). The police have their own cuts from the ransom. As a result getting into the police force is very rewarding & hence that too has its own price. The businessmen know the nexus of police & kidnappers & meekly pay the demanded ransom. The highly funded kidnapping gangs form their own government. The loop seems complete. Businessmen cheat govt. Businessmen pay kidnappers. Kidnappers form govt. In the end the govt which is cheated by businessmen is formed by gangs who get paid by the same businessmen. The only difference is that the money is of different colour.

But there are some misfits in this whole scheme of things. Mohan Agashe’s character is an old idealist who believes in the rule of law. Nobody (not even his son) around him understands his foolish ideals. But for this character, the whole chaos, the whole violence & so many deaths could have been avoided. It was his action (a sting operation of sorts) that disrupted this whole parallel system.

This makes me wonder- Wouldn’t it be better if idealist characters were not there in the first place? After all, everybody is involved in this whole cycle of cheating or blackmailing one another. Since everybody is involved, Shastriji (Mohan Agashe’s character) actually disrupts the balance with his attempts or rather misadventures. Why do they do that? They do that because they feel what is happening now is bad. They feel that people should be punished for cheating, for corruption, for kidnapping. Why? Because they do not have clarity of the present day situation. They feel that whatever is written as laws are the only truth.

But some rules are unwritten. Many offices have almost institutionalised the charges for getting things done. I had a hard time getting my driving licence just because dad didn’t allow me to pay the extra money. Though I finally got it (& was extremely happy to have done it without the charges – felt like I had done it for free!). In govt hospitals, we have to pay extra to get see the doctor, get medicines, or get tests done. This institutionalisation is actually a good thing. At least things are clear. There are no uncomfortable moments where we are thinking how much is appropriate & who should be approached. There is no unnecessary time waste in bargains. But then we have these idealists who do not understand the new order. What do we do about them?

Solution 1: A solution could be that we legalise the new order of working. We legalise corruption. Extreme? Yes. Practical? Again yes except that it has to be implemented carefully to be successful. The idealists then have no base to justify their actions. If implemented properly, I don’t understand why it won’t work.

Solution 2: If we do not have enough courage to out rightly legalise corruption (which I’m sure we don’t have), a (weak) middle path solution could also be implemented. As kids we are taught something, while it is totally something else that benefits us in real life. At least teach both these approaches right from the beginning. Children should be taught how to keep two faces, one for speaking, preaching. And another for actually getting work done. The getting work done part should be hidden from public view – I know that is obvious, but kids being kids have to be taught everything. By institutionalising this way of life, we will prevent any idealists to even take form.

Yes I am being a cynic. I am not sure if that is such a bad thing. At least I am no pseudo idealist.