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Corruption Self Mirror (October 23) Kenya, is reported to be the most corrupt nation in the world for the current year as per an International Monetary Fund report earlier this year. The country's government, it is again reported, was given an instruction by the IMF to reestablish its Anti Corruption Authority disbanded last December. And when the Kenyan government failed to meet this criterion, the IMF and several other fund donors to this impoverished nation froze further fund flow making it desperate. It is said bribes have become virtually the ticket for availing the service of any government servant of any rank. From the lowly clerks to the top notch bureaucrats, from the traffic constable to the police top brass, everybody takes bribe, and bribe taking has become a way of life and firmly institutionalized. Nobody seems, anymore to think there is anything extraordinary about it. A very familiar moral landscape for those of us in India and most specifically, Manipur, isn't it? No, Manipur isn't the only place where constables harass rickshaw drivers for a few rupees. Anybody who has traveled from Calcutta to Nabadeep, (a very frequented route by many in Manipur) and bothered to look around will realize what happens on the streets of Imphal is nothing compared to the brazen manner in which cops here spread their nets to make their daily catches. Yes, corruption has become institutionalized in Manipur too. But we would like to add, like many others have already, it is not just the much caricatured government employees who are corrupted. It is the mindset of the entire people. Corruption too Put in the position of the government employee, most of the most ardent critics of official corruption too will be no different from their object of criticism. We have no doubt; a general dip in civic and moral sense is the fundamental cause of this malaise. An interesting experiment in societal honesty Readers' Digest conducted earlier this year came out with some very interesting results. The survey conductors dropped 1100 wallets containing an approximate of Rs. 2000 in local currencies as well as the addresses of their owners, in shops, cinemas, streets etc., in different countries with varying images of corruption. The result buttressed the belief that generally the clean image of a country as well as its government was proportional to the honesty of its ordinary men and women. And so in Norway every wallet dropped was returned. In Japan 70 percent returned, in the US 67 percent, in Britain 65 percent, in Italy 35 percent, in China 30 percent and in Mexico 21 percent. The experiment was not conducted in India or Kenya, saving us all the embarrassment. Perhaps Readers' Digest, which has a strong presence in these countries knowledgefully assumed what the result would be. In Manipur, a staffer of The Imphal Free Press dropped a digital diary (not deliberately), and also knows approximately where. Repeated appeals for its return on the plea that the telephone numbers in it were extremely valuable, even more than the instrument itself came to naught. We repeat the appeal again and anyone returning it will be given a new digital diary of a little smaller memory size. If the finder still wants to keep the diary, he might as well come and collect the user's manual. (Courtesy: The Imphal Free Press) FrontPage Manipur Profiles Features Potpourri Opinions Editorials Books Photos Links Archives Contact Policy/Disclaimer |
