Am I angry about corruption?

Recently I was watching a debate on a news channel. The topic was – ‘ Are you angry about corruption?’ This discussion made me ponder over this issue and as an interested citizen I have an opinion.

The question asked was whether I am angry about corruption or not? Now to this question, I don’t have an answer. Instead I’ve got two counter questions.


1.  Why is this question being asked suddenly now?

Is it because of the recent scams in government which went out of control and came in full public view? Or is it because both the major political parties at our dispense are involved in the depravation more or less equally and we, the common people, are out of options? Or is it because you think that corruption has suddenly grown out of control or is it the scale at which corruption takes place these days? What in this world makes you think that people have become angry suddenly? CWG Or 2G? Come on! tell me what it is? Do you think that Anna Hazare induced this anger amongst us? Or is it the anti-corruption protests that happened throughout the country? Or do you think that this is the first time that people came to know about what goes around in governments? Or is it the corrupt government official or a clerk who takes bribe for doing something for which he gets paid by the government too, who made you think so? Or do you think that people are angry upon themselves only for bribing these public servants? Whatever may be the reason, let me tell you that if at all somebody is angry, it is not sudden.


 2) Is it really that simple?

The question is what a common man, like me, can do to alleviate corruption? Is It that simple? The complexity of the entanglement of the corruption with our system is enigmatic. We see people blaming the “SYSTEM” for anything bad that happens or anything bad that they do. Are they really right? Let us see.

Population of India is growing at an unbeatable rate. The educated population knows that it is the quality of life that they give to their children which is more important than the quantity of siblings they may have. Uneducated crowd thinks that their future income directly depends on the number of children they have. For them children are like investments. Each of their children is just an extra pair of earning hands. And since these poor constitute the major part of Indian population we have the population going north at breathtaking rate which leads to poverty and a hungry psyche.

 A population of this size (second largest in the world) generates huge revenues for government in the form of income tax which is theoretically supposed to be spent on the welfare of the masses. Sheer stupidity it would be, to even for a second, think of it as actually happening. This money has to come back to the masses.

The real clusterfuck:

 Now these politicians generally, either pave their way from the bottom of the social structure to reach the top or they inherit a political career. Both ways, one thing is common - The hungry psyche. Whatever may be the case, they do have some insecurity about their winning the next term. So this hunger-ridden- psyche forces them to make a fortune from themselves out of people’s money and major part of that money gets stashed in foreign banks or is converted into some other convenient form which leaves the hungry common man with a little for himself. Whatever is left, travels through the levels of hungry bureaucracy and is shared-and-shrunk at each level. This hungry psyche is the common thing that exists in all levels of bureaucracy, among the citizens and among our politicians, alike. It is this hunger that is drawing a citizen towards corruption. Damned be the negativism, but it appears to me that those, who can use corruption in their favour, don’t have a problem with it while those who can’t, are actually angry. Not because they hate corruption, but because they can’t use it in their favour.

And to answer your question, I am not angry, Sir!

I am Just hungry.

----  A random citizen

image courtesy - india.growvc.com