28 Jan 2011 | Business World

Why is it that corruption has become such an intrinsic part of the Indian society and how we need to be honest and admit our role in the crime, as the people of this nation.

The name screamed at me from the pages of the newspaper, but I still could not believe my eyes! The most talked-about insider trading case in the US had claimed its latest victim in my good friend. Here was a person from one of the IITs who had done extremely well in the Bay Area, rising to an executive level position with a large tech company. I knew him, or so I thought! What would have made him risk all he's achieved, and do something like this? He, who could be described as a poster child of the great Indian Middle Class with his right education and right career breaks? What was his excuse for doing what he did? Why was he breaking the trust reposed by his colleagues, leaking out information for a few thousand dollars? But then, wait a minute! Why am I reacting like this, in a time and age when scams and sleaze have become daily news! What made me assume that I know how to spot the type of people who would, or would not, attempt to beat the system? Why did I demand and expect a different value system from a few? Did I really believe that the middle-class educated urban Indian was somehow not cut from the same cloth? Or was it a case of yet another myth getting demolished? The myth that people like you and me are not the ones who subvert the system for monetary gains! That it is always somebody else! It is always a different class, a different creed but not our types. Now the mirror was right in the front showing a very familiar face, making me come to terms with some very uncomfortable truths.



It is a fact that there is a lot of corruption in the private sector - something we are all loathe to talk about, because it belies all justifications. Just a few days back, one of my friends had told me about his first-hand experience of unearthing a scam in the BPO he was heading. The logistics manager had hired all the cabs from companies floated by his relatives at a higher-than-market rate. Then the other day I heard about how IS folks with large budgets were not averse to taking "gifts" for buying standard equipment from "chosen" dealers. Of course, the story of how the recruitment boom in IT industry spawned a whole host of shady recruitment firms, often run by the better halves of HR managers, is now old and done. Then there is the well-publicised case of auditors conniving with Raju at Satyam. These are our crème de la crème - the well-heeled, high-in-demand executives paid at the top end of the market by their employers.


Often enough we talk ad nauseam about corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. We curse the politicians but hardly have any hopes of them changing their ways, because we know that they need increasing amounts of cash to "buy" their votes. We secretly empathise with the bureaucrats saying that India pays its government servants very poorly when compared to, say, a Singapore. We accept that the cops on the road demand bribes because they had to pay money to get their jobs. But when it comes to well paid professionals who have got to where they have by leveraging the best education the country could provide at virtually zero cost, this argument breaks down. What would make them belie the trust that their employer place in them for monies, which most often they are perfectly capable of earning legitimately? Is it just greed? Or is it peer pressure? Is it the urgency to make it to the top? Or is it something else altogether?

Perhaps this is why the whole nation got shocked when the Niira Radia tapes came out. The country could not digest the fact that it was being fed fiction by some of its eminent TV and print journalists every morning. Was it for power or for money? Whatever it was, one more myth came crumbling down as we realised that the journalists were dancing to the same tune as our illustrious politicians, matching steps with them. And it doesn't end there. The judges are willing to play ball, and so are our defence officers, even Army Generals - the crown jewels of our nation. So, no class of professionals is now exempt from this scourge. It, today, encompasses the Madrasi as much as the Punjabi. The wives are teaming with husbands to rake in the moolah. It is well nigh impossible today to take ourselves out of the picture and act like we are holier than thou.

What does this all imply? Is it our Indian DNA? Are we born corrupt? Are we brought up to look the other way when deals are done under the table? I can't believe so. If anything, we are an older, and more morally inclined, civilisation than any other in the world. By the way, how do we define corruption? Is it taking bribes in cash and kind for out of turn favors? Is it insider trading - using information that you are privy to because of your position to reap unfair gains? Is using the services of an agent, knowing fully well that he is bribing to get your work done, okay? What about friends and families being rewarded with plum positions in public listed companies? How about Diwali gifts to the right people? Where do we draw the line? So here we are. Our thousands of years of civilisation and our treasure trove of ancient wisdom don't seem to have shown us the right path.

The biggest hit that we have taken is that most of our decision making, at a national level or at a personal level, are no longer driven by the best interests of those we serve, but by 'practical' considerations. We cannot enforce quality or demand SLAs when our contractor has paid us to give him work. We cannot demand that the builder give us what he has promised, when we have paid him a substantial part in black money. We do not trust our doctors any longer because we are not sure who has become a doctor through merit, and who has made it there by paying his way. We cannot expect retail investors to flock to the stock market when it is "owned" and "managed" by and for a few. In a multitude of ways, we see the "hidden agenda" playing out. Our small businesses will not use software because they do not want to disclose their number-2 accounts. Same reason the politician shuns e-Governance.

What is it that is ailing our society? We are intelligent enough to know the cost each one of us is paying but we are still refusing to put a stop to it. All of us know at least a handful of friends, acquaintances and relatives who are living beyond their means. But, secretly, we envy them for their street smartness. We do not condemn. Why? Can it be that we as a society do not believe that anybody can play straight and win? Is it a throwback to the years of servitude, that we do not know how to use our power and not abuse it? Is it insecurity, born out of scarce resources and severe competition from birth to death that drives us to grab what we can, means be damned? I'm truly at a loss and sometimes even wonder if my angst is more because I have not figured out how to play the game! What do you think? Why are we like this? Is it just a matter of putting fear in the hearts of people by policing more strictly? Or is it about all of us who are ready to pay, and/or look the other way?

Tell me what you think? Why are we doing this to ourselves? Can we be honest for a change, and admit that each one of us is a party to the crime?

It makes me wonder if this is the reason Gandhiji exhorted people to be the change they wanted to see.