Corruption: It Starts at Our Fingertips

Corruption. It has been defined as a fraudulent or dishonest conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery. Most of us think- or rather, know- that today, our country India is renowned for her corrupt politicians. However, what most of us don't understand that we are to be blamed for corruption and bribery. 

Whenever we need to get some work done, for instance, get our passport renewed; instead of going to the passport office and waiting in a queue for hours, we just send our passports through a 'middle man' with a number of thousand rupee notes, and voila! our work is done. Isn't this bribery, and isn't this the start of corruption? 

Six months ago, my mother sent her passport to the passport office to get a change in address. She didn't send it through a 'middle man.' She went to the passport office herself to get it changed. The passport office should have been able to carry out this address change in less than a week. However, since my mother did not put a heavy sum with her passport, it is still 'under review' in the passport office. My mother has been called for a police verification twice for a mere change of address. On the other hand, if she had given some money with her passport, she would've got it back within a week. 

This corruption, that starts with us affects millions of the 'lower-middle class' families who wait for hours everyday in government offices- for a passport, for pension. Even in courts, families have to wait for months- even years- before they finally get justice.

Another aspect of corruption- whenever we go shopping to a fairly expensive store, we have the habit of 'bargaining.' A few days ago, I'd gone to our local grocery store to buy a few things. While waiting at the cash counter, I overheard an educated woman(I deduced this from the fact that she was wearing a lab coat over her expensive- looking saree, and she had a hospital ID card around her neck) asking the shopkeeper to give her a bottle of ketchup with a fixed MRP at a lower price. This is, in reality, an attempt to get something with a fixed price- which cannot be changed- at a lower rate. It can even be considered a punishable offence, as it could be assumed that the buyer is not willing to fulfil taxes. 

Thus, most government officials are unwilling to work efficiently unless they are bribed. If we, on one hand, stop bribing them, we could potentially prevent the two elephantine problems currently being faced today because of our misdemeanour - bribery and corruption.