We all are civilized citizens of India, at least in our claims. But
civility is not a binary value confining to zero or one. We all have
a grade of civility which may varies over a large scale. But when it comes to
corruption our grade of civility is as high as our inflation. If we stand in a
queue and someone bypasses it we explode as IED’s in Hyderabad-conditions apply.I said
conditions apply since if the defaulter is a common guy our mind automatically
tunes to angriest, loudest channel available in spectrum. But if the same guy
is a higher bureaucrat/politician we remain like hapless Warne bowling to Sachin
in 1998-want to do everything available but nothing more than being a mere
spectator.
But if we are in that situation of
receiving those privileges we care nothing, instead we feel as the
happiest person on earth for accepting that. We even proudly advertize to
others that I went through that shortcut, my friend allowed me to meet X in
just Y minutes etc. In some situations, we ourselves offer petty bribes to
gatekeepers just to allow us to pass. So what is our grade of civility in such
situations? Can we proceed further just because everyone is doing the same?
Today, my friend boarded a bus for
some short distance which is charged Rs.15 in our beloved Bengaluru Metro
Transport Corporation (BMTC). As most of conductors in Bangalore he took Rs.10
and didn’t issue a ticket. Many of us accept this as we are also in line of
profit, but who are losing exactly? -A public enterprise which is nothing but
ourselves. This may look as
petty issue but these are the commuters who felt dissatisfied when BMTC fares
are up recently by Rs.5-10. If we had agreed to pay genuine fares previously
they wouldn’t have increased prices in the first place. So, who are losing
here? A question we all should ask ourselves.
It doesn’t ceases to these petty
issues only; from Rs.5 ticket to 5 lakh land-registration fee everyone in
society made a habit of it. If we are getting a profit by avoiding paying to
government, we are avoiding the growth of our very own. Daily we complain about
increase in prices, corruption in government etc. But in participating in
corruption we are losing our right to question anyone. In above situation we
are part of 33% corruption (5 of 15). I believe it is much more if we take the
whole bureaucracy. It is never about the amount of money but the attitude which
is prevailing.
My friend mentioned above disagreed
and demanded a ticket. He even noted down the bus number so that he can
complain online. There is a column for feedback/complaints in BMTC website. He
was glad looking at that screen. After filling every idiotic field his joy
doesn’t last even for a second after hitting the submit button. It showed a big
red error-“Unable to post, please try later”. He tried later and later
but it felt like Rohit Sharma batting again and again-both are useless. So,
that is the level of feedback they are expecting. BMTC site is not very busy
unlike IRCTC (they should keep unavailability index for IRCTC-curve reaches
Everest during 10 AM); many of us don’t even know the site really exists. I
should appreciate the intelligence of BMTC. Indirectly exercising veto power
regarding complaints, they should pass it to RTI columns in many other
government sites.
We are so civilized that we
apologize unconditionally even when we sneezes but equally uncivilized to be
part of corruption and in turn criticizing it. For retaining our right to
question corruption we should stop practicing it in first place. At least if we
try to highlight those loopholes in government, they may change. Our media
doesn’t care much about it as they have prerequisites for unearthing scams-they
should be at least X lakh crores. These petty crimes are as equal as the heavy
ones since it deals with attitudes of our civilized people. So, Can we
behave civilly?
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