Anti-corruption Movement — Some Observations. The origin of the word corruption is traced to the Latin word corrumpere of which cor means ‘altogether’ and rumpere means ‘to break’, and is generally associated with ‘working dishonestly in return for money or personal gain’. In the context of anti-corruption movement, it is generally associated with the misuse of government authority for the personal gain of a few persons at the cost of others or even general well-being of the state. It starts as ‘gift’, develops as ‘graft’ and ‘bribe’ and ultimately turns into an organized loot. It, thus, breaks the system altogether. Rabindranath Tagore in one of his writings has quoted a Sanskrit shloka serititerd ara aelt aati weefet, aa: wucerrer orerfer wagereg, Froveerter / “By unrighteousness man prospers, gains what appears desirable, conquers enemies, but perishes at the roots.” THE INDIAN CONTEXT. After 1947, the government took upon itself the task of building a strong and modern state exhorting its citizens to make sacrifices for a short period to make India an egalitarian society in which at a subsequent stage all will share the fruits of progress. A galaxy of tall leadership and a believing public made a gala start in which a few wise counsels went unnoticed, and the cracks started appearing within a decade or so. In the earlier period the tainted were sensitive enough to withdraw from public life. Subsequently the tainted started to wait for being asked by the top leadership to step down. And now we find that even the convicts may try to continue in high offices on the plea that they are innocent as long as their appeals are not rejected by the higher court. There have been strong voices against corruption and soft governance and there is a good record of a sincere effort to make the governments responsible for the misuse of government machinery and make amends for it. Even the so-called illiterate and naive electorate made good use of their voting rights to change the governments but the entire political class either willfully or helplessly did notmuster to plug the loopholes. One of the glaring example is the issue of the Single Directive which was ‘invalidated’ by the Supreme Court in the Jain hawala case in 1997, but subsequently it was brought back in the CVC Act by the NDA government. It was again challenged by an IPL in 2004. Now, the scale of corruption and public anguish against various forms of corruption and perversion is very large, though its expression is fragmented and individual oriented. Handling of this malaise by the government has also been disoriented as if the protesting voices are an attempt to destabilize it, or as if to take measures commensurate with the gravity of the situation will weaken their position. As a matter of fact, strong measures not only at the higher level but also at the primary level to bring back sanity in the governance at all levels would have immensely benefitted the government as well on a long term basis. VARIOUS ASPECTS OF CORRUPTION For the academic analysis of the problem, it may be approached from various angles: social, historical, economic, political, legal, religious, etc., but when we confront the problem from the point of view of a solution we will have to take a syncretic view and try to tackle the problem on several fronts simultaneously as also on individual as well as collective level. A solution can work only when it takes into account the genesis and growth of the problem. PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSION We in society perceive a right course of actions for individuals as also for their groups. In the initial stage we call it moral but subsequently these take the shape of norms and become the basis of laws. Since laws are relatively inflexible in the short run, those who are inconvenienced by these laws try to take liberty with these laws. Slight deviations in the initial stage are felt by the concerned parties but, if ignored, become the starting point of corruption. We assume and believe in the basic goodness of human nature due to which they do not take these initial deviations seriously until they cross the tolerance- limit but at this level they cannot go back on this softness and hence more and more people deviate and drift and the secondary nature of human conduct startcompromising the basic human nature at the group level and society gets divided into various interest groups to safeguard their sectional interests. So long as those at the helm of the affairs of the conduct of society remain above group interests, problems remain within manageable limits, but as their numbers dwindle or they are marginalized by the mainstream society (being blinded by their narrow self interest), the animal conflict begins and with it begins a sense of insecurity in the members of the society gradually breeding various vices associated with the modern society. In spite of all the advances in science and technology and wealth, the society gets afflicted with greater conflict and unhappiness born of lack of wisdom on the part of those who matter. Thus, even though we have a number of inspiring wise people, generous wealthy men, and competent and honest administrators, they are finding themselves helpless in the present situation while scams and scandals of huge proportions take place regularly with impunity. What is more alarming is the abominable defense of the obvious culprits by members of the governing party even while the beans are spilled to the point of brink. After going through the opinion of Mr.Anil Divan (THE HINDU, June 30,2011), the wise counsel by Mr.T.J.S.George (EXPRESS buzz, July 2,2011) and the narrative of Mr.Mohan Murti ‘Is the Nation in a Coma’ ( JANATA, July 4, 2010), one can easily understand not only the gravity of the problem of corruption but also the immediate need for an effective solution to it. The efforts by the government and the political parties either to belittle the problem or to malign the campaigners only show how short-sighted and self indulging they are that they merely want to cling to the power and enjoy the privileges by any means. They are perhaps emboldened to adopt this timid and self serving approach by the fact of a weak and fragmented opposition, and even if they manage to tide over the crisis temporarily, they will turn out to be the biggest losers in time to come in terms of the lost opportunities. THE COMMON MEN The peasantry and the low- income self-employed workers are the worst sufferers of the petty corruption of the court and police station which has almostchanged the character of this class. This class is also the victim of another form of corruption called INFLATION which the government openly applies as a legitimate means of promoting the so called growth-rate. Government employees get the D.A. and providers of the goods and services of growing demand also easily adjust the prices of their goods and services accordingly. But a large majority of the low income groups has to manage his subsistence by such ‘means’ that even they themselves cannot justify, but have no alternative other than accept them to survive in the current social sense. This is perhaps the biggest curse thrust upon these people by inflation made respectable by the famous Keynesian MONEY ILLUSION. It is now no more an illusion but has got the acceptance by a class which gains by this and which matters in formulating the policies of the government. However, the dimension of this subtle corruption can be comprehended by the CRISIL report as reported in The Hindu According to a CRISIL report (The Hindu, June 29, 2011). inflation has caused the Indian public to be squeezed to the extent of Rs. 2.3 lakh crores. According to the Comptro''er and Auditor General of India (CAG), the estimate of loss to the exchequer owing to the 2G spectrum scam is Rs. 1.22 lakh crores. THE SOLUTION The immediate solution under the circumstances is (i) to spread the awareness of not only the problem but also its probable consequences amongst the masses without any affiliation to any group: it is a secular problem likely to adversely affect all classes of society sooner or later, (ii) display of disapproval of corruption of various types by imaginative means as say bearing of badges while on work, organize meetings of small groups without disrupting public life , (iii) keep contact amongst various protesting groups and persuade them not to bring in any detracting issue in anti-corruption forums, and (iv) avoid forming political pressure groups. For a longer term perspective, there is perhaps no alternative to the Buddhist economics solution of lesser wants; lesser wants not to make man primitive but to make him enlightened. The society should endeavour to make provision for a basic minimum for all. Beyond this society may make provision for a decent living for as many as possible but collective effort should concentrate on the advancement of knowledge, and economic growth should be allowed to remain within the parameters of ecology. Stability at a fair level of sustainable growth withoutcompromising the health of eco-system should be the goal and humans should keep a fair balance with other forms of life. It may sound utopian , but given a proper educational system, this is not impossible. If starting from the basically good nature of humans, if we can deviate to the present stage where it appears as if man is basically bad and only an organized state is keeping them or compelling them to a civic life, we can, with determination and action after proper thought, start a process of reform towards recovering our original state. For this we will have to include in ‘ourselves’ even those who have drifted to the extreme. This is perhaps the ‘ life divine’ of Aurobindo in simplest terms which is not based on religion but on the subtle psychic laws to include a universal spirituality which leaves sufficient space for those who would not like to admit the ‘spiritual’. To begin with, this process of reform should include (1) a movement of the type suggested by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam without opposing any other form of legitimate protest by various groups and (2) a radical change in the educational system which inspires the seekers of education to attain excellence in skills together with the art of keeping away from the vices of an acquisitive society.