CORRUPTION IN INDIA IS A CULTURAL ASPECT.
Now a days corruption is a very widely discussed subject in our country because it has made the daily life of every citizen very very difficult. The hard earned money of common citizen is being eaten by these corrupt people. It is very important to find the root causes of this corrupt trend and why it is going out of proportion in every aspect of our working. One of my friends has sent me a detailed study of a Europian thinker of our culturral aspect in this regard as under :
“Indians seem to think nothing peculiar about corruption because It is everywhere. Indians tolerate corrupt individuals rather than to correct them. No race can be congenitally corrupt.But can a race be corrupted by its culture? To know why Indians are corrupt, look at their patterns and practices .
First:
Religion is transactional in India. Indians give God cash and anticipate an out-of-turn reward.
Such a plea acknowledges that favours are needed for the undeserving.
In the world outside the temple walls, such a transaction is named - “bribe”.
A wealthy Indian gives not cash to temples, but gold crowns and such baubles.
His gifts can not feed the poor. His pay-off is for God. He thinks it will be wasted if it goes to a needy man.
In June 2009, The Hindu published a report of Karnataka minister G. Janardhan Reddy gifting a crown of gold and diamonds worth Rs 45 crore to Tirupati.
India’s temples collect so much that they don't know what to do with it. Billions are gathering dust in temple vaults. When Europeans came to India they built schools. When Indians go to Europe & USA, they build temples.Indians believe that if God accepts money for his favours, then nothing is wrong in doing the same thing.This is why Indians are so easily corruptible.Indian culture accommodates such transactions morally.There is no real stigma. An utterly corrupt politician can make a comeback, just unthinkable in the West.
Second -
Indian moral ambiguity towards corruption is visible in its history. Indian history tells of the capture of cities and kingdoms after guards were paid off to open the gates, and commanders paid off to surrender. This is unique to India.Indians' corrupt nature has meant limited warfare on the subcontinent.
It is striking how little Indians have actually fought compared to ancient Greece and modern Europe.
The Turks’ battles with Nadir Shah were vicious and fought to the finish. In India fighting wasn't needed, bribing was enough to see off armies. Any invader willing to spend cash could brush aside India’s kings, no matter how many tens of thousands soldiers were in their infantry. Little resistance was given by the Indians at the “Battle” of Plassey. Clive paid off Mir Jaffar and all of Bengal folded to an army of 3,000. There was always a financial exchange to taking Indian forts. Golconda was captured in 1687 after the secret back door was left open. Mughals vanquished Marathas and Rajputs with nothing but bribes.
The Raja of Srinagar gave up Dara Shikoh’s son Sulaiman to Aurangzeb after receiving a bribe.
There are many cases where Indians participated on a large scale in treason due to bribery.
Question is: Why Indians have a transactional culture while other 'civilized' nations don't?
Third -
Indians do not believe in the theory that they all can rise if each of them behaves morally, because that is not the message of their faith. Their caste system separates them. They don't believe that all men are equal. This resulted in their division and migration to other religions .Many Hindus started their own faith like Sikh, Jain, Buddha and many converted to Christianity and Islam. The result is that Indians don't trust one another . There are no Indians in India, there are Hindus ,Christians, Muslims and what not. Indians forget that 400 years ago they all belonged to one faith. This division evolved an unhealthy culture.
The inequality has resulted in a corrupt society.In India every one is thus against everyone else, except God and even "HE" must be bribed.
From the above, it is quite clear that it is now our strong tedency to get our work done without any delay and by all means. For this we are quite ready to pay any price for it. Even when we go to any religious place we offer the Dieties the maximum price or items for getting our all wishes fullfilled. It is just equal to BRIBE THE DIETIES OR GOD. This is taught to us from our childhood by our parents. That is why we are adopting corrupt practices in our routine works. We do not have the enough courage or moral to resist it. To get rid of this evel, we have to change our views to give OFFERINGS TO DIETIES OR GOD and force others to do the work without any extra favour. Instead we should spend this illeagal money on the welbeing of the poor people, to open new schools, colleges, universities, technical institutions and hospitals etc.
Our Great Gurus, taught us that “ POOR MAN’S MOUTH IS THE GOLAK (LOCKER) OF THE GURU” Similarly Mahatma Budh ji said that “ ANYONE WHO WANT TO SERVE ME SHOULD SERVE ANY ILL PERSON” . So, we must change our views and think about the teachings of our Great people and adopt it in our daily life and should must stop giving any bribe to any one. Until or unless we donot change ourselves, we cannot stop this corruption or corrupt practice from our life. Hope this will be seriously thaught by everybody for the welbeing our mankind as well as our Great Country.
Gian Singh Bamrah, Mob: 9464283050, 6283317292.. PRESIDENT, RANGARHIA HERITAGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AMRITSAR. Website: www.ramgarhiahhsociety.org