IS INDIA A DHaRMA BHOOMI?
Lord
Curzon , Viceroy of India from 1898 to
1905, made the following statement in
his speech in the convocation of
Calcutta University(1905) “I
hope I am making no false or arrogant claim when I say that the highest ideal
of truth is to a large extent a Western
conception. I do not thereby mean to claim that Europeans are universally
or even generally truthful, still less do I mean that Asiatics deliberately or
habitually deviate from the truth. The one proposition would be absurd, and the
other insulting. But undoubtedly truth took a high place in the moral codes of
the West before it had been similarly honoured in the East, where craftiness
and diplomatic wile have always been held in much repute.” It meant that India and Asia came to know
about Honesty only after the advent of Europeans. He drew flaks from the Indian
intelectuals at this denigration. They charged
back that “India is a Dharma Bhoomi, a Karma Bhoomi. We are the
people who taught the world about Dharma and honosty is on of its innards”. More
than a century had elapsed since the
departure of Lord Curzon. India got independence from the British and probably from Honesty as well!
There is no second opinion that India is a corrupt country as evidenced
by its rank 85 in the corruption perception
index 2014 analysed by the Transparency International . (https://www.transparency.org/c). Transparency International defines “Corruption
is
the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It hurts everyone who depends on
the integrity of people in a position of authority.” Corruption in India prevails with least resistance from a
street vendor to a conglomerate , student to vice Chancellor; peon to chief secretary; court clerk to chief
justice; ward boy to chief surgeon;
labourer to chief engineer and Panchayath counselor to Prime minister.
George
Curzon (1859-1925)
Generally bribe is given to get things done out of the way either breaking or circumventing the rules, whereas in India bribe is common even to go by rules. There is a strong instinct among the business and general public that bribing is an inevitable part of the system which speeds up the process.
(Times of India Mar/10/15)
John Stuart Mill, political economist and advocate of individual liberty remarked that “Despotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians". As an advocate of liberty against authoritism he did not want individual liberty to be extended to all. He was of the opinion that except Europeans the rest of the world is occupied and run by barbarians and benevolent despotism is the right form of government for the uncivilised world.
There is no point in frowning at John Mill. The first 15 in the list of perception index are all European nations with the exceptions of Singapore and Japan.
The Columbia University Professor Jagdish Bhagwati said the problem in India is that "nobody gets punished. In America, if you are caught, even God can't help you." (Hindustan Times Dec/2/2010) According to him the yearly cost of corruption to the Indian economy is around Rs. 20,000 crores. This is a clear proof that Indian politicians are well united in feathering their own nest and protecting their escape routes. Accountability will never be allowed to take shape and become a force in India
Conclusion:
Tarun Kumar
(IDSA Issue Brief – Oct/12/2012) who analysed the 2000 years old Kautilya’s Artha Sastra in relation to corruption has given shocking revelations..
Kautilya
reflected serious concerns about opacity in the operations of the corrupt. He
compared embezzlers to fish moving under water and the virtual impossibility of
detecting when exactly the fish is drinking water. He also noted that while it
is possible to ascertain the movements of bird flying in the sky, it is
difficult to gauge the corrupt activities of government officials. Artha Shastra furnishes a comprehensive list of 40
different types of embezzlement in
public administration and also provides
the methodologies to find and punish the culprits.
This is a clear indication that corruption in public life was rampant even in ancient India.
Indians, by instinct, speak, write, discuss, advise and preach endlessly about Dharma and Karma with least inclination to implement them in real life. All the reform programmes of the government are delayed or blocked by corruption. John Elliot wrote in Times of India (Mar/30/2014) that our democracy and free elections are tawdry and a ‘fig leaf” to cover our weak corruptive system. It is difficult to digest a foreigners’ sneer but If we mull over these statements, we may have to reluctantly accept them .
Sri Kalyanam (94) living Chennai , the last private secretary to Mahatma Gandhi, lamented that Gandhi would have started another revolution against corruption had he lived now. (The Hindu Nov/28/14)
Are Indians cursed to be basically corrupt ? There seems to be no improvement in the last 2000 years. We can not blame the politicians because they are not aliens but one among us.
What is the solution?
There is a saying in corporate world “you pay peanuts you get monkeys”
meaning less pay will fetch only mediocre managers. This saying has to be revised as “ you vote
and elect crafty demagogues , you get
only peanuts”, which we have been getting since independence. The ball is in our court.
