Anatomy of the Corrupt Indian Society

... The world is a dangerous place to live not because
of the people who are evil but because of the people who do not do anything about it. – Albert Einstein

The 2-G spectrum scam, the Commonwealth Games scam, Telgi scam, Satyam scam, Bofors scam, the Fodder Scam, the Hawala scam, the IPL scam, Harshad Mehta & Ketan Parekh Stock Market Scam, Money for raising question in Parliament scam, … we have lost count of them. We wake up every morning to hear and see ever newer scams even in places and from people we never expect. Scams do not seem to shock Indians any more. Endless debates and protest meetings are organized for months, and at the end of it all an investigation by CBI, by a retired Chief Justice or JPC have anesthetized our minds not only to believe that something is being done to protect us and our interests, but also to keep us from seeing the truth about ourselves. India should awake not only to experience the pain of the decay of the society, but to see how the deadly virus of corruption has entered and is thriving in our system.
The present efforts to address the issue of corruption are built on the faulty premise of bad apple theory. The bad, immoral people are the cause for corruption; consequently removing the bad apple and society will be corruption free. Discovering the corrupt people and punishing them would deter others from resorting to it. However, this does not seem to happening. The psychology professor of Princeton University, Dr John M. Darley finds the bad apple theory preposterous for the simple reason that this theory assumes that everything else in the system is alright and is functioning healthy. Writing about increasing corporate corruption he says: “... it is simply a useful fiction that enables those who hide behind it to avoid the more thoroughgoing implications of ... transgressions” (Brooklyn Law Review, 70, 1178). In India and in any country even agencies of identifying the corrupt elements and punishing them itself is under grip of the same evil. In a country where, according to a 2005 study 75 per cent of the people claim to have firsthand experience of corruption (Transparency International report, Berlin, 2005), hardly a couple of the corrupt get punished. Furthermore, the corruption is the by-product of the system and the system does not have the inner dynamism to prevent it. What at the most the present system does is to dupe us to believe that something is being done to protect the wider interests of the society.
The gross moral decadence is another theory that we resort to explain away this phenomenon. In India where most of the citizens who believe in faith of kali yuga, this theory deadens the will to change. Though objective moral principles arguably exist, practically, when it is come to individuals it is the subjective apprehension and application of the moral principle that matters. The grasp and application of the moral principle depends on the conscience of the individual. The individual often does not apply the moral principles objectively apart from his subjective experience. Kohlberg whose extensive studies on the moral development of an individual states that to follow objective morality (the highest moral development) persons has to assume a “veil of ignorance” as if they have not undergone the unjust treatment. This seemed improbable and even Kohlberg called this a “theoretical stage” and temporarily dropped this final stage, i.e. Universal Principle moral development stage from his research ("The Claim to Moral Adequacy of a Highest Stage of Moral Judgment" The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 70, No. 18: 630–646). A person who is himself a victim of corruption often resorts to corruption believing that it is not unjust. The victim does not rise over his experience and think objectively of corruption and feels justified in his conscience when he resorts to corruption.
To understand the psychological process of corruption four relevant phenomena need to be considered: the available data (See for instance the Crime Record Bureau reports) or even a simple social observation points to an increase in corruption, suicide rate and social violence. These have a correlation with increasing anxiety, depression, feeling of incompetency, and dissatisfaction with life. Secondly, the growing middle class who are educated seems to be more prone to these issues than the underprivileged people. The spread effect of corruption is third phenomenon. Every section, whether rich or poor – be it an autorickshow driver or a multimillionaire, and every social agency seems to be gradually swept into corruption. Fourthly, because of the blatant character of the dishonest practices, they seem suicidally stupid. They will be eventually detected, with the inevitable disgrace that this will bring about for the culprits. How can even educated people involve in such stupid activity? There are no simple answers. All these phenomena are interrelated to the Indian socio-economic system that creates a pathological mind.
Indian mind has been nurtured for the last four or five decades on two psychological premises. The first is the belief that the aim of life is happiness, that is, maximum pleasure, defined as the satisfaction of any desire or subjective need a person may feel. Secondly, egoism, selfishness and greed, as the system needs to generate them in order to function, lead to harmony and peace. Unconsciously though may be, it is on the edifice of these two premises the current Indian dream is built.
The governments, mass communication media, and industries have relentlessly manipulated and controlled us to believe that maximum happiness lies in the things and services we can enjoy. Our feelings, thoughts and tastes are being moulded by these agencies to fit a system we have created. A perceptive analysis will reveal that the clandestine objective of these agencies is not the real good of the individual but the promotion of the system which stands on the economic principle of creating demand. They manipulated us to believe that the satisfaction of the pleasure drive is not only the privilege of a minority but it is available for every Indian. Even the commonest men and women dream of having what the industries and mass media promotes for the ultimate resolution of their misery. From peripheral perspective such dreams are harmless and even projected as progressive. What is the harm in it? It helps them to work harder and achieve even unachievable, they argue. But then, Not only the premise of maximum happiness is faulty, but studies tell us that the real purchasing power of the commoners especially during the recent years has steadily declined. Income has been shifting away from the majority towards the wealthy minority. The premise that the maximum happiness can be got from the things one possess is faulty for the simple economic principle that fulfilment wants create ever newer wants. The newer wants is often perceived as musts for happiness.
Crave for maximum happiness by maximum fulfilment of needs leads to and promotes egoism. An egoist is a person: who wants everything for him/herself; who gets pleasure in possessing and not in sharing; who is greedy because his aim is having, and in more he has more he feels he is worthwhile; who is antagonistic towards all others: his customers whom he wants to deceive, his workers whom he wants to exploit. He has no end to his wishes. He must be envious of those who have more and afraid of those who have less (See Eric Fromm 1976, To have or To be, 16). These are repressed to feel good about oneself and good in front of others. Corruption generally occurs when the personal interest dominates over the general interest or interest over others. For an egoistic person the personal interest is more important than the wider interest of the society. He does not bother who is harmed or what the consequences are as long as his needs are met. Egoism is necessity in a system where the personal satisfaction of the needs – i.e. manufactured goods and services, as essence of happiness.
Both the egoistic character and the maximum happiness dream that the system produces create a corrupt society. In other words, the widening gap between the perceived present and the future needs and the means to fulfil them through honest ways surely leads to unethical ways of acquiring means to fulfil them. And the egoistic character that the system propagates reinforces it.