About Corruption, written 3 years ago
Today seems to be a day when I write of uncomfortable things.
A friend who is an alum of one of the top india business schools, asked, "I wonder what corrupts people." Here is my response (I moderate the egroup).
Acceptance of corruption as a normal state of affairs.... is a state of mind.
I wonder how many of this class of 120 senior practitioners of business administration can honestly that that they have never given (I am not talking about taking) a bribe, engaged in politicking, or indulged in any unethical business practices, for themselves, for their families, for their friends? How many have also never tried to use influence to attain certain goals.
Not just in India...across the world.
Corruption is the live, fire-breathing, humanity-destroying dragon, not just the elephant, in the room. It is sure to exist where demand exceeds supply, it thrives in the dark of non-transparency and non-accountability. When the conscience is stilled by justification and hypocrisy, corruption is free to grow. And...it thrives in an atmosphere of apathy, and smiles in that don't-care shrug of the shoulders.
Let me not exclude myself.Starting with the my gas agency proprietor, who told me that a "transfer of resources" is needed whenever I get a cooking gas cylinder delivered at home, I have often had to give bribes. Watched my family being forced to give bribes for various things (including my new-to-Indian practices daughter and white-skinned son-in-law being forced into it to get their Indian driving licences.)
A friend who is an alum of one of the top india business schools, asked, "I wonder what corrupts people." Here is my response (I moderate the egroup).
Acceptance of corruption as a normal state of affairs.... is a state of mind.
I wonder how many of this class of 120 senior practitioners of business administration can honestly that that they have never given (I am not talking about taking) a bribe, engaged in politicking, or indulged in any unethical business practices, for themselves, for their families, for their friends? How many have also never tried to use influence to attain certain goals.
Not just in India...across the world.
Corruption is the live, fire-breathing, humanity-destroying dragon, not just the elephant, in the room. It is sure to exist where demand exceeds supply, it thrives in the dark of non-transparency and non-accountability. When the conscience is stilled by justification and hypocrisy, corruption is free to grow. And...it thrives in an atmosphere of apathy, and smiles in that don't-care shrug of the shoulders.
Let me not exclude myself.Starting with the my gas agency proprietor, who told me that a "transfer of resources" is needed whenever I get a cooking gas cylinder delivered at home, I have often had to give bribes. Watched my family being forced to give bribes for various things (including my new-to-Indian practices daughter and white-skinned son-in-law being forced into it to get their Indian driving licences.)