Bribery – A System

Once before India became a republic, in a meeting of the Indian cabinet, all the ministers suggested of taking an oath that they will neither give nor take bribe ever. On this Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru said that he can’t vow that he will not bribe but he can assure that he will never take a bribe. And this is right in countries like India where the corruption status is one of the highest in the world.

Bribe is money or gift given to the recipient to alter the decision or the course of action which would turn in favor of the giver of the bribe.Bribe is a major part of corruption and usually happens at government offices in India or anywhere in the world. It’s a universal crime to take or give bribe. But can the giver of the bribe avoid or decline giving a bribe if the taker insists on taking it? What happens if the giver is bound to oblige the taker to get some work done for him? The irony is that you have to bribe an official in a government office even if you have the right to get the job done. Say for example, you need to get your driving license renewed. The simplest procedure is, go to the license office, surrender your expiring license, deposit the renewal fee, produce the required document and collect your renewed license within a week or so from the clerk of the license office. Now, here is what happens. When you go back to collect your renewed license, the clerk demands some money to hand it over to you. To avoid delay, you pay a small amount of money to the clerk and immediately you get your renewed license. Isn’t it your right to get your license renewed? Yes it is. If you supposedly approach the vigilance cell to complain about the clerk, they will not take any action for months and months because they receive a part of the clerk’s bribe which you gave. Broken down, you go back to the clerk, pay him the money and get your license.

It is a crime and a heinous one to take bribe, but who cares to complain and initiate a law suit? The judiciary in a country like India is so packed up and careless that no one approaches the court of law to complain about a small issue like bribe. Moreover, people find it better to give the bribe rather than making rounds of the court. Giving bribe is more convenient than running around courts where again you have to bribe some clerk to move your application faster.

Bribery is a problem of the system. The system cannot be changed overnight. You need to convince and brainwash millions of people to change the system. Most of us do not want to get into hassles of changing the system. But this is wrong. Someone has to take the initiative to convince people to change the system. Who me? Sorry, I can’t sacrifice my career and time to change the system for you. Why don’t you initiate and I will follow.

Linus Orakles
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