Khiudia Newmai
Dimapur
For centuries saints and sages have urged the people to eliminate graft and corruption from private as well as public life; there have been countless sermons against this deep-rooted menace that has eaten into the vitals of society, distorted all values and made mincemeat of morality, truth and virtue.
But the evil has grown to gigantic proportions and there is hardly any sphere of social, economic, political and even religious activity that is free from graft, deception and corruption of some kind. Like the air we breathe, it has become all-pervasive and entered every aspect of life to such an extent that it is now regarded as a fact of life and an evil we have to live with.
In fact, a time has come when very few eyebrows are raised when we are informed of a case of blatant bribery; it is so common, so usual and all too familiar. We give and take bribes in the sphere of education, government and private service, all branches of administration, trade and commerce, industrial activity; scrupulous honesty is rare; even temples and other places of worship are not free of it. Most of our politicians and legislators indulge in it without any qualms of conscience.
Corruption has continued, and even increased beyond measure, even as democracy has spread and civilisation has advanced; so it can no longer be asserted that democracy and corruption are incompatible; both are developing fast, and simultaneously, and as far as human vision can go this duality will continue.
Hasn't the time come to accept this menace as inevitable, incurable, almost as the price of socialism, progress and civilisation?
The types of corruption have increased a thousand fold; the panorama is vast and baffling and beyond control however loud the talk of anti-corruption measures, stringent laws and of deterrent sentences. Every few years there is much discussion of this problem which is described as the foremost issue in the country; corruption is condemned as a cancer in society, but then there is silence; the flush of enthusiasm fades away and life goes on in the same way.
The fact that ministers sometimes accept gifts in cash or kind is undeniable; several instances are known of ministerial corruption, but there has hardly been a case of a minister getting convicted or even publicly censured for dishonest practices. This also applies to politicians, legislators and above all the public who think money can buy everything!
There have been many cases of such people accepting bribes. No wonder, there is a general belief that politics and democracy bring corruption in their wake; since politics and democracy are indispensable, corruption cannot be avoided; hence it must be tolerated as a necessary evil.
Every man, it is said, has his price, and by and large this has proved true. When the entire social and economic set-up breathes of what is called "speed money" to push things through, it is almost impossible to resist temptation—human beings are, after all, human beings. But the stink lies not only in the prevalence of the lure of gold, but in the hypocrisy that accompanies it.
Even after having accepted bribes the corrupt person talks the very next day of high moral standards and urges people from public platforms to follow Mahatma Gandhi's principles and be honest and pure and zealously, serve the nation.
Such hypocrisy compounds the offence, but our ministers, politicians and officials are getting thick-skinned; it is all a way of life, a routine, and hence may be described as unavoidable and a disease that is incurable. After all, when there is graft, deception and bribery, on a small or big scale at every step—in the administration, in the educational sphere, in legislatures and even, it is believed, in religious institutions—what is the relatively honest person to do but to fall in line?
Don't we also bribe the gods with gifts of all sorts, so-runs another argument. Promises and oaths of honesty are soon forgotten, and the norms return again. These norms are palm-greasing, extortions by politicians from industrialists, by inspectors from shopkeepers, by officials and clerks from the public and by everybody from everybody else, even for small favours. The vicious circle remains.
