From VIR SANGHVI's article in today's (Sunday, 31 Oct 2010) Indian Express:
In the old days, corruption scandals would follow a familiar pattern - a minister taking a bribe from a businessman for some favour.
But now a new pattern of corruption is emerging. The CWG Loot and Adarsh Building Society scam. Distinctive features of the new scams and corruption are :
# Nothing is sacred any longer. People will make money out of anything with a complete absence of shame.
Nothing is sacred, not the CWG and India's prestige, not the sacrifices of our martyrs.
# The hallmark of the new corruption is that people will defile anything in their greed for big bucks.
# Once upon a time it was the politicians who had a monopoly on corruption. Now people from all fields - sports administrators, local Govt officials, bureaucrats in case of CWG, and Generals, and Admirals in case of ABS. Gs and As felt no shame in misusing the names of Kargil martyrs to get flats worth crores allotted to them.
# In case of the CWG, there were no good guys who did their best to stop the crooks. No whistle-blowers. The looting went on merrily. The most shocking thing about ABS was that everyone from Regional commanders, defence chiefs, local collectors, revenue ministers, govt officials, etc - everyone got something out of the scam.
# In the old days, it was the business men who had the money to buy up politicians and manipulate the system. But now, the CWG loot and ABS scam shows businessman hardly entering them.
In CWG loot, the officials decided that they could rip off the Indian State and steal money from the Indian Govt. Because India's prestige was at stake, the Govt went on providing more and more money.
In the case of ABS, the defence officers tricked the Govt into parting with the precious Real Estate at a prime locality.
# When the businessmen were the villains, there were at least some limited checks. But when corruption is an internal affair in which soldiers, bureaucrats, and sports officials steal from taxpayer there are few checks - Everyone gains from the rape of the system, they all keep their mouth shut.
# It is the sort of corruption that marks the complete collapse of a nation's character when everybody at all levels decides that morality is a waste of time and so it is best to get rich quickly.
# All societies have bad apples. But how can one be hopeful about a society where all the those we put our faith in, from sports officials to chiefs of defence staff, have no hesitation in stealing from us? As far as they are concerned, the state exchequer is their personal piggy bank.
And you and I, the taxpayers of India, are the ultimate victims.
Thanks to Indian Express, 31 October 2010.
Rajappa
31-10-2010
11:00 AM
In the background, one may think also about the 2G Spectrum corruption, IPL frauds, and other corruptions.
In the old days, corruption scandals would follow a familiar pattern - a minister taking a bribe from a businessman for some favour.
But now a new pattern of corruption is emerging. The CWG Loot and Adarsh Building Society scam. Distinctive features of the new scams and corruption are :
# Nothing is sacred any longer. People will make money out of anything with a complete absence of shame.
Nothing is sacred, not the CWG and India's prestige, not the sacrifices of our martyrs.
# The hallmark of the new corruption is that people will defile anything in their greed for big bucks.
# Once upon a time it was the politicians who had a monopoly on corruption. Now people from all fields - sports administrators, local Govt officials, bureaucrats in case of CWG, and Generals, and Admirals in case of ABS. Gs and As felt no shame in misusing the names of Kargil martyrs to get flats worth crores allotted to them.
# In case of the CWG, there were no good guys who did their best to stop the crooks. No whistle-blowers. The looting went on merrily. The most shocking thing about ABS was that everyone from Regional commanders, defence chiefs, local collectors, revenue ministers, govt officials, etc - everyone got something out of the scam.
# In the old days, it was the business men who had the money to buy up politicians and manipulate the system. But now, the CWG loot and ABS scam shows businessman hardly entering them.
In CWG loot, the officials decided that they could rip off the Indian State and steal money from the Indian Govt. Because India's prestige was at stake, the Govt went on providing more and more money.
In the case of ABS, the defence officers tricked the Govt into parting with the precious Real Estate at a prime locality.
# When the businessmen were the villains, there were at least some limited checks. But when corruption is an internal affair in which soldiers, bureaucrats, and sports officials steal from taxpayer there are few checks - Everyone gains from the rape of the system, they all keep their mouth shut.
# It is the sort of corruption that marks the complete collapse of a nation's character when everybody at all levels decides that morality is a waste of time and so it is best to get rich quickly.
# All societies have bad apples. But how can one be hopeful about a society where all the those we put our faith in, from sports officials to chiefs of defence staff, have no hesitation in stealing from us? As far as they are concerned, the state exchequer is their personal piggy bank.
And you and I, the taxpayers of India, are the ultimate victims.
Thanks to Indian Express, 31 October 2010.
Rajappa
31-10-2010
11:00 AM
In the background, one may think also about the 2G Spectrum corruption, IPL frauds, and other corruptions.
Comments
Post a Comment