Corruption does matter positively to us, as it helps in
circumvent the law and get our way. Not the way crusader like Anna Hazare would
like it to matter.
No one minds corruption if his child gets admission in a
good school/college through backdoor; if he gets his passport without waiting
in queue; if he can construct an additional room in his house without
permission; if he could encroach upon the pavement in front of his house/shop;
if he can dig a deeper borewell in his house or put a powerful motor in his
water supply line when his neighbors’ taps go dry.
Most office goers in Delhi were happy with the flyovers
constructed during the CWG. They have long forgotten and forgiven Kalmadi and
other people responsible for putting the nation to shame.
Once the home minister of
a state visited the Jail on the Independence Day. After finishing his speech,
he asked the inmates about their problems and what he could do for them. Most
complained about mosquitoes and quality of food. Few wanted new blankets. Some
daring one asked for a TV in the library. No convict asked for freedom. No
under-trial requested that his/her trial may be speeded up, or he/she be
released on bail as the trail proceedings had procrastinated beyond the maximum
sentence they would face if convicted. The minister granted their wishes and
won their adulation.
Last week two leading media channels broadcasted the findings of
their respective opinion polls on Karnataka assembly elections. The finding of
these polls prima facie do not match with the assessment we made while we
toured across nine districts of the state a week ago, as part of our nationwide
road trip to feel the socio-economic pulse of the nation.
Both the polls find that the corruption is the primary concern
of people. Paradoxically, both the polls see large support for the former Chief
Minister B. S. Yeddyruppa, widely considered as the epitome of corruption
outside the state of Karnataka.
In our numerous informal interactions with people in past one
month we found that at first instance people do express corruption as their
primary concern. However, on scratching the surface a little bit, we found
corruption has permeated deep in the DNA of people. The adaptation is so
complete that very few (we found no one) would not want to use the means which
are ethically or morally undesirable for their convenience.
For example, we found most would vote for a hard criminal, if
the candidate is known to them personally, or if they feel that he would help
them in getting their constitutional rights like license to work, school
admission for kids, passport, BPL card etc. Everyone in a midsized town
admitted that they would feel privileged if they “knew” local municipality
clerk, SI at local police station or even a bus conductor who will give them free
ride whenever they wanted to visit the city.
Last weekend, we happen to attend a meeting of a housing
society’s members in posh Bengaluru location with the local candidate of a
national party. The only request these educated upper middle class people made
to this politician was to “provide a right turn in front of the society gate,
as they have to go 500mtrs ahead to take a U turn”. No matter if this “right
turn” would be very wrong as it would cause huge traffic disruptions. No one
asked him to give an undertaking that he would not encourage corruption, if
elected.
In our trip to Delhi we visited a colony Patel Nagar in central
Delhi. We were shocked to find that over 95% houses in the locality have
hazardous illegal construction. Many studio apartments originally allotted to
the refugees from Pakistan in 1947, have been converted into 4-5 bedroom
apartments. All pavements have been appropriated by the residents and there was
no room to walk even on the road due to illegal parking of vehicles. If someone
suggests that corruption is a concern for these people – he is grossly mistaken
in our view.
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