What does corruption corrupt ? The system? The perpetrators? The victims? The observers? The whistle blowers? The bystanders?
I believe corruption corrupts everything around it. An accelerating vicious circle.
Ten of thousands of crores in fair value in spectrum given away for hundreds of crores is not about an arithmetically computable loss to the Exchequer. It has distorted political, economic and social forces forever. Add up the distortions that result from the hundreds and thousands of corrupt acts that our system endures everyday and you will realize that corruption is not just one factor shaping our lives but the factor that is most important by an order of magnitude higher than the next one.
So why do we fight corruption so desultorily? A result of unearthing the spectrum scam should not be about whether Raja goes or not. It should result in suspensions of the licenses granted and cases against all the participating companies as the precipitating cause is the willingness of commercial entities to seek unfair advantage through corruption. It is not about whether the PMO knew or not, it is about whether somebody paid somebody off. It is astounding to me that the Opposition that attacks the Government on the scam not once mentions, leave alone target, the companies involved.
The usual reaction of the media and us to any attempt to go even a centimeter below the surface on a scam is to dismiss the attempt with the cliché of “Is hamam mein sab naange hain!” (everybody is butt naked in this communal bath). Well then shouldn’t we then turn-off the water and steam supply to the hamam first? Bring court cases against the companies that bid and won for the spectrum and see how everything becomes much more serious than inane walkouts in Parliament and talking head marathons on NDTV and Times Now. Yes court cases against companies and license suspensions will have the markets howling and protests about the investment climate being vitiated. But more effective an antibiotics or chemotherapy more shock a system is subjected to.
But nothing of the above will happen because corruption is insidious. The simple truth is all of us have been corrupted by corruption if not corrupt our self.
Our battles against corruption have become media-controlled pseudo witch-hunts that produces some heat, very little light and no blood.
Remember Satyam? Are you sure Raju is not recuperating in some far-off island resort as some look alike fall guy inhabits his class B prison cell with Raju winging it back when the trial happens? Are you sure PWC has not gained share in the audit market as guys who ..wink, wink, nudge, nudge. can deliver.
The fight against corruption has to be revolution. It has to be bloody and it will be more painful the more effective it is. It will paralyze the system. There will be crash and burn and there will be need to reframe rules, rebuild institutions
As of now we are trying to talk a mal-functioning Apollo 13 back to Earth with advice and alerts from a Citizen Band radio in the hope that the guys will listen. Well the guys are tuned in to Houston and Houston has no clue.
But hey why all this talk about burning decks? Are we not doing magnificently? Growth rate approaching the double figures. Effective distributive social justice with programs like NREGA and hey even Sachin back on song.
Well go ask the oncologist. When is a good time to attack a known malignancy? When the patient is in good general health or when he is bed-ridden?
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