This refers to the article, “Roots of the PNB scam” (February 27) by Sanju Verma. Our acceptance of the ‘Might Is Right’ jungle maxim is indeed the root of Punjab National Bank (PNB) and other bank frauds. Madhu, a mentally unstable tribal man, who lived inside the Attappadi forest range in Palakkad district, was recently lynched in Kerala. A group of over a dozen people tied him up with his lungi. They took selfie with the victim and posted on Facebook about the torture, bragging that they had nabbed a ‘shoplifter’. We are always very severe to poor pickpockets. We do not like to give even a suspected shoplifter enjoy any benefit of doubt if he happens to be a poor person.
Yet, we have no problem in accepting the ongoing loot by some rich bank defaulters although that amounts to crores of public money in just one financial year in 2016-17 itself. It is difficult for us to tolerate a poor man taking any dishonest means to keep his body and soul together as we are enamoured of our well-dressed gentlemen like Vijay Mallya, Mehul Chokshi, Nirav Modi and Vikram Kothari for their shining glamour. We are even ready to pay through the nose for the bad loans created by some rich cheats.
It is a new normal that we, the victims, must be penalised for the loot of our own money in a number of ways like penalty for not having minimum balance in a bank account; lower interest rates of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation; General Provident Fund and bank accounts; and high rate of inflation in essential commodities as well as in education and health expenditures. And it is because of our acceptance of such regressive jungle-maxim that makes India further slide two more ranks from 79 to 81 in one year in the recently published Corruption Perception Index 2017.