How to Weed Out Corruption in India

chillibreeze writer — Ravichandran Mahalingam

The memories of the past are always sweet. To go back and relish the old memories is always fascinating and thrilling, and I am no exception to it. My memories recently went back to 15 -20 years ago, when my daughter was five years and used to anxiously ask me for stories. Like any affectionate father, I also narrated stories, - the stories of great personalities from the epics to history. Harichandra and Mahatma Gandhi were two such great heroes who inspired her. She once asked me candidly if there could be a society fully made of people who would be as great as Harichandra or Gandhiji, with their upright approach and morality in everything. Two decades ago I remember replying that I really did not know the answer.

As I reminisced, I suddenly wondered why society is so corrupt and sick today. What could be the compulsion for this condition? Is truth being given a solid, irretrievable and quiet burial? Will not honesty, legal and moral values be honoured and respected? Why on earth are human values getting diminished to such a low level? Who in the universe shall make it their mission to restore the glory of truth and honesty? Will corruption be defeated? Will this land ever become, once again, a land of moral values? These thoughts made me look into this issue in an analytical way so that my conclusion could be logically perfect.

I decided to list out the roots that abet the society to be corrupt. My mind traced a number of reasons like lack of stringent legislation, slow and delayed judicial systems, poverty, illiteracy, lack of faith in “Dharma” or righteousness, greedy mind and a tendency to be smart.

It is shameful that the officials meant for administering public welfare themselves provide enough scope to the offenders to commit the offence and go scot-free, for equal compensation that they get from the offenders. Here, if the statute provides severe punishment (more than the one provided to the offender) to the erring official, perhaps, corruption could be minimised.

Society itself has had a drastic change in its behaviour today, to what it was earlier. The need to be morally upright is irrelevant, under the speed of its activity. There are many legal as well as illegal means and methods with which one can come out unscathed after committing any offence. It requires only a management skill to convince the right forums. Therefore, if society has to be cleansed from being immorality and illegal doings, just legislation, however stringent will not help. The resistance to commit offences should be developed from one’s conscience or heart and it can never be created fully by legislation. Hence, inculcating moral values in people right from infancy could provide the remedy over a period of time.

Economic need and exposure to western luxuries are tempting factors in society for the youth. They try to find means and ways to make money, however deceptive or defective these methods may be. If the economic levels of the society could be improved, so that luxuries become basics and the value for them also become affordable, corruption would be unnecessary.

The mass movement that Mahatma Gandhi led during the freedom struggle was admirable. The entire country stood behind him and followed his instructions meticulously. Mahatma also led people towards the right direction morally and legally. He was an example of impeccable morality and legality himself. This being an experimented and proven path, that could unite, educate, and bring into practice, all the humans of a very big society to one way of life, full of discipline and self sacrifice, I am prompted to prefer this method.

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—About our writer:

Ravichandran says, "I am a Religious minded, Philosophical thinker, interested in topics related to Politics and Law."

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