Good Morning India...
Lord Acton said: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This aphorism is widely acknowledged as true. William Pitt, the elder, a British Prime Minister, echoed similar sentiments when he said “unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.”
If organizational structures provide greater and illegitimate influence with the rise in status within institutional hierarchies, then loftier titles and higher ranks mean illicit power. Power will attract those who seek to use and misuse such license for their own ends. The IAS and The IPS are perfect examples in India.
Power and corruption seem to have a complex and bidirectional relationship. In societies which accept corruption as part of life, power appears to attract the corrupt and those in power encourage corruption. These associations seem to work on the whole. If someone chooses to stand up then woe betide him.
Corruption in its broadest sense is not restricted to financial irregularities. The abuse of religion, language, ethnicity, kinship, privilege and position also comes under this rubric. Such misuse is also a form of moral fraud. However, these may be in the form of “softer” violations which, though equally fraudulent, are much more difficult to recognize, quantify, track and document. While moral corruption may be universal, it tends to spread like wildfire when it is accepted as the norm at the top of an organizational hierarchy and within institutions and populations.
The abuse of public power, office and resources for personal gain is common. A culture, which declares conflicts of interests and institutes systems to assess them and take action accordingly, is rare and yet to take hold in India. The CBI raiding Kejriwal's Principle Secretary's office and finding pointers to him being corrupt, plus using Government Machinery for his own and his families gain, was a perfect chance for Kejriwal to stand up and throw him out of Office. This was an opportune moment for him to set up an internal machinery to attempt to set right this malaise of absolute corruption, which could have been an example to the Nation. However he chose to divert the issue to politics and also calling the PM of this country a coward and a Psychopath. He has violated the very grounds on which he was elected to power. This action also throws aspersions on his Mr Clean image.
Corruption does not necessarily imply financial fraud. All of us need to examine ourselves as individuals to identify, minimize and eliminate double standards and hypocrisy. We need to audit our systems and institutions to change the culture, which breeds such corruption. To illustrate. On encountering a red signal on the cross road, we look left and then right policemen not in sight? we take off, then suddenly round the corner there is the cop. Now we bargain about the fine for crossing a red light. He says Rs 800 with receipt or Rs. 400 without one. We hand over rupees 400 to him and are on our way. We conveniently forget our lofty talks and declarations on corruption, not only that we blame the cop that he remained out of sight to make money. We are a nation of hypocrites. Then we smugly blame everybody for being corrupt other than our own selves
No organization is immune to the abuse of power. The intense desire to leave lasting legacies and to make significant changes in institutional direction and function often result in decision-makers short-circuiting standard procedures. The culture of sycophancy, common in our culture and society, aids and abets in such corruption. Double standards in public life are accepted; hypocrisy is tolerated and is the norm.
Looking at things in a larger perspective the existing governance architecture of Parliamentary Democracy is NOT suitable for India. Both Parliament and Cabinet have ceased to play their intended role as checks on personal aggrandizement, power gain and corruption. The GOI Cabinet has become the poodle of Party bosses. The sanctity and effectiveness of Parliament is eroded by the behavior of lumpen elements, more familiar with brute force than reasoned argument or moral persuasion. Corruption vitiates executive decision making to the extent that the judiciary becomes the aam admi’s “de-facto government” for seeking redress.
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