Bribery and Deeper Thought Process

(Many people are writing on corruption and I feel the need to comment. So, I thought I should make a small essay and paste the relevant paragraphs whenever someone posts something on corruption. You may skip reading it for three reasons – one, it is just academic suiting only few who love English essays; two, you are likely to read it later on various comments, in parts though and third, it’s quite long and you risk falling asleep while going through it) Bribes are not, always, about citizens being harassed by officials to get legitimate and legal work done. It is more about people who are not entitled to few services or papers, trying to get those services and papers by paying bribes. Example, of this is can be found in people who try to get passports from addresses which they have not occupied for sufficient periods. And, it is, equally, about someone who had broken a law trying to get away by paying a bribe, like a driver paying bribe to traffic inspector to get rid of penalties.
Instances of successful bribes, however small these might be, create a habit in individuals to get their work done. When I say “get their work done” I don’t mean just legal and rightful ones, but unrightfully and undeserved one as well. It is very common for us to see people paying donations and bribes to get their kids into schools and colleges ahead of other meritorious students. It is equally common to see people trying to make fake medical certificates for various purposes or people resorting to pay bribes to skip the drive tests which usually are mandatory (from safety points) to get a license. How sad is a situation when people don’t wear Helmet and drive and then pay bribe not to be penalized. This system of bribe makes them so gullible and they feel elated to have escaped, without even realizing that the law was for their own good. But this I shall cover some other time.
I feel many people blame the existence of intermediaries and dalals. But, is that real reason for corruption? There are two different issues here. First, someone offers you to do all the hard work on your behalf, in legal ways, with proper papers, after checking your eligibility, for a 'fee'. This is something which, to my mind, is perfectly fine - a way for busy people to save time and gets work done. Second, you are not eligible for something, or you not qualified for certain privileges, or your papers are not proper, and someone offers to get your work does by using his connections. In this second case someone is trying to manipulate the system, corrupt the process and break the protocol to ensure that he gets you what you are not entitled to. To my mind, this second case is what we should be talking about. This is worry some and is the root of corruption. But, to this many might say, something which my friend Dhawal said, and I quote – “The first issue, Akhilesh, creates the entire groundwork for the second issue to develop and prosper - panapna, as they would call it in Hindi. And the second, to the third - that is, getting the same services done for the infiltrators”. Unquote.
Apparently, the above argument is right, but the issue merits a deeper thought process and analysis. Intermediaries - who offer to do work for another for a fee – have always existed and they have helped to enrich these systems in many ways. Corruption does not arise merely because someone else is not willing to do my work on my behalf, for a fee. It arises, because I was determined to get my work done by any means in spite of being ineligible or wrong. An agent who comes to me offering me to get a license by submitting my papers is not as much wrong as me – who wants a license in spite of the fact that I am underage or I do not know how to drive. Let’s think it again! Do we think of doing something wrong because people offer to help in doing it? Is it not, because there are people like us who want to get things done illegally, intermediary come into existence to make money by fulfilling our needs? So intermediaries for convenience are very much needed for a system, but intermediaries for illegal, unjust and unfair objectives are harmful. Now the question arises – how do you separate the two?
Is complete ban or removal of intermediaries a solution? I feel the solution lies somewhere else. It lies in good conduct and hard stand against such acts – both by not paying bribes and by not accepting an offer or force to pay bribe.