It is no longer enough to say we are a corrupt society. There is a threshold beyond which even the word ‘corruption’ sounds like an excuse, an attempt to somehow deflect attention and suggest an aberration, rather than a fundamental flaw. Corruption is a talking point, a conceptual sequitur that holds at least the promise of repair, no matter how deep the rot runs. So many middle class people would not have rallied behind Anna Hazare if they did not believe something could be done to stem the tide of corruption in this country. The concept of a corrupt society (the editor of this paper published his book, The Corrupt Society, in 1999) sounds benign compared to what we have ended up as, ie, a criminal society. Our polity today is not just corrupt, it has been criminalised.
Broadly speaking, corruption involves gratification to do what ought to have been done in any case in the first place — like passing a building plan or issuing a liquor license. Illegal gratification means the gratification is illegal, but that for which gratification is sought need not be illegal (though at times there can be illegality involved in terms of the facilitation offered). The Prevention of Corruption Act (1988) states: “Any gratification whatever, other than legal remuneration, as a motive or reward for doing or forbearing to do any official act or for showing or forbearing to show, in the exercise of his official functions, favour or disfavour to any person or for rendering or attempting to render any service or disservice to any person, with the Central Government or any State Government or Parliament or the legislature of any State or with any local authority, corporation or Government company referred to in clause (c) of Section 2, or with any public servant, whether named or otherwise, shall be punishable with imprisonment.” Criminality is something else. Violating the law, or subverting it, is a crime. The question to ask then is this: Are we today merely a corrupt society, or have we so degenerated as a nation that we subvert the law and our institutions, simply because we have the power toIJ
The recent scandal involving cricketers playing in the IPl got me thinking about criminalisation versus corruption. Cricketers indulging in spot fixing were obviously doing something criminal. But what a journalist friend said apropos the scandal completely bowled me over. Why have they caught such small fish who have barely made the starting line up and can’t really influence gamesIJ What is the price for letting big names slip throughIJ What if more names emergeIJ So what, he said, that could still be the tip of the iceberg! Even if the insinuation was merely an innuendo, it appeared symptomatic of how things areIJ Are the investigating agencies themselves criminalisedIJ Do cops take money to not file false charges, or weaken cases of the accusedIJ Does the CBI play by the book while investigation serious crime, especially of the high and the mightyIJ Do appointments to high places happen without suitable gratificationIJ It is difficult to theorise the rot. But the fact is that common ordinary citizens in this country are extremely cynical about what goes on around them. Inside farmhouses, in tax heavens, within the deep corridors of power, inside sequestered offices protected by officialdom, they believe little deals are being struck all the time that undermine the hard working honest vision common people have for themselves and their society.
Ethics and ability are separate categories. Is it possible that while we are a nation of tremendous ability, we are somehow deficient in ethics, especially when it comes to our roles in the public domainIJ The same clerk who is busy amassing wealth at the sarkari office is a diligent father when it comes to organising his daughter’s wedding. We are somehow lax about public ethics and morals. Back home in Chandigarh after being sacked as Railway Minister, Pawan Bansal was feted by numerous supporters, sans any embarrassment. When criminal activities are normalised to the extent that it becomes the norm and draws no social sanction, we need to look within and cringe. The word on the street is this: Most powerful people have their hands in the till; the unlucky few get caught. The question remains: Are our powerful merely corruptIJ Or are they a bunch of criminalsIJ