Thus a system was created..later identified..as “corruption” in the Third-World
Reproduced from “Lies with Long Legs” – a remarkable book by Dr Prodosh Aich that I have just finished reading* (below a brief excerpt from Pg 100; emphasis added)…
During this phase it was easier to recruit personnel. The outlook of making a fortune outweighed the fear of expected adversities. The formal salary was kept rather low. Even the governors – this was the designation of the heads of the headquarters – didn’t get more than £300 a year. But at all levels each and everyone was entitled to do private “businessâ€. What did this factually mean? Well, they were in competition with each other to make as much booty as possible. By any means, of course. Opportunities aplenty for “soldiers of fortune,†adventurers, scouts and for the rest.
Thus the system was created which was later identified by “modern scientists†as â€the corruption in the Third-Worldâ€.
What was the core of this system?
…The philosophy of this system was simple. Everyone must have two sources of earnings: The minor one, agreed upon by contract, for the fulfilment of duty. And the second one depending on one’s own initiative in order to make private money, thereby paving the way to lasting exploitation.
It goes without saying that far more effort was put into the second source of income. Thus, a few people became rich, a few very rich and a handful stinking rich. The French in India had also practiced the same system. We can understand that without this stimulus the needed brutality, disregard and contempt towards the robbed, degraded, deprived local population would not have aroused…
The consequences were predictable (from Pg 133)…
Motivated by this low salary system, each and every servant of the East India Company in India was on a continuous hunt after sources of income.
…For all practical purposes, the Company was in control of all administrative committees along with the courts. The language of the public administration and the courts remained “Indian-Persianâ€. The company apparently had only indirect influence on “government businessâ€. The indigenous officials also frequently outwitted it. The same principle – small official salary and freedom for “private business†– was valid for either. This system intrigued Warren Hastings. He factually had to run a “government†which was totally corrupt. And all this at the cost of the shareholders of the Company.
Portrait of Warren Hastings, courtesy: National Portrait Gallery, UK (via Wikipedia)
I cannot help wondering if this is how the seeds of present day corruption were sown in modern India. In the sequel to this post, I will look at some of the more recent instances of “loot” by our own chosen “public servants” and political “masters”..and I hope to subsequently examine the root cause(s) of “Corruption” in modern India. Without such an understanding any attempt(s) at dealing with this menace will, at best, have a limited impact and at worst, fail completely. More on this soon. In the meantime, have a look at..
Related Posts: “Daylight rape of public interest†– excerpts , A Raja, N Radia ‘n a relaxing weekend (NOT), “Yatha Raja, Tatha Prashasan†– Guest post by Sh Krishen Kak and How to earn Rs 10 crores+ a month…
* I hope to upload the entire book as a pdf file soon. Stay tuned.
P.S. Interesting snippet re. Warren Hastings
He was impeached for crimes and misdemeanours during his time in India in the House of Commons upon his return to England….When the charges of his indictment were read, the twenty counts took Edmund Burke two full days to read.
“without this stimulus the needed brutality, disregard and contempt towards the robbed, degraded, deprived local population would not have aroused”
– very interesting take and truly fascinating explanation for what is dismissed as a casual lack of moral compunction.
Please read Clive of India and you will get a good picture of the 2 sources if income and how it was promoted and encouraged. These ideas will get clearer further
All this suggests to me that the remedy lied in making a complete break with the British administration of India. This was not a path that India’s independence leaders were willing to follow. There is nothing holy about India’s republic and the proper course correction is to dispense with it to start off with a new slate. Is India willing to cure its ills by this means or is far too comfortable with the stench of the past that it will not move one iota?
Hey, we could not be that corrupt. Impossible. We are good honest people. It got be our colonial masters.
It also must be noted that we still have a similar system in India. A good example is the case Motor Vehicles Inspector. It does not take a lot of education(inter pass or Degree pass) is enough and does not fetch a big salary. But to get a job one has to pay a hefty bribe for the privilege of standing in traffic and checking licenses etc. It is easy to see why when you realize that there is a lot of scope for underhand income. Often at the cost of palming off the poor auto vehicle drivers or others. The result is that India has the most dangerous roads and the Vehicle inspectors are rich. Almost all of them have assets far above their declared income.
After the British left we should have thrown the entire system lock, stock and barrel out. But we did not,some provisions of the police act are directly inherited from the British. In other words we have a system which penalizes good behavior and rewards dishonesty.
“Reproduced from “Lies on Long Legs†– a remarkable book by Dr Prodosh Aich that ”
I think it is “Lies with long legs”
Thanks Sandeep…My mistake…Now corrected.
Well, the corruption can not be blamed on East Indian company alone.
Consider this: Kautilya, in his venerable Arthashastra, listed forty different ways administrators can loot money. Then he noted that an officer of the king can take bribes the same way fish drank water. This particular statement shows that even the great political realist could not imagine ways to produce a corruption-free state. It also shows that corruption was not an unknown term even during Mauryan era.
This begs a question: was there a minister like A Raja available in the administration of Chandragupta Maurya? Probably not. Why not? Because then the empire would not have survived more than a decade. So, how did we reach the corrupt system we have today?
Please note that in modern India, corruption is not a matter of taboo, it is a matter of pride to hold a job that allows “malai”. Colonialists have their share of blame, but more importantly, it was the death of the old order (which considered corruption as vice) and the inability of the foreign rulers to put a new order which could tackle the vice. After Gandhis took over, the failure to destroy a colonial administration and a weak judiciary continued the grand tradition of lack of accountability among the rulers.
Among the uncivilized, powerful does whatever he wants. The definition of corruption and an effort to curb it are among the many gifts of civilization. Corrupt people would exist because without it honesty would not be valuable. But our goal should be to minimize it. The solution is not a new political party or aristocracy in place of democracy. The solution is to build a value system that consider corruption as an anti-social activity.
Perhaps a bit off-topic, one may read this post by MK Dhar to grasp the various branches of the problem:
http://maloykrishnadhar.com/my-india-time-pass-jokes
Corruption is a notion that has meaning only within a given system. If you examined and extended the idea of corruption to its logical extreme, you will probably conclude that any transaction involving money is potentially a corrupt transaction. Take the example of quantitative easing that the Fed decided to resort to last week. There is a moral hazard there. This is the basic reason why I hesitate to label any economic activity within India as corrupt. Once again, the developed nations and developed economies have the luxury of masking any or all questionable economic activity under some acceptable jargon thus keeping away the tab of corruption. A common official in India, because of India being where it is in the stage of development, has no such mask.
I hope that this post will allow some readers to treat Indian babus with a little more sympathy.
@Prakash (#9),
So according to you, nothing in India is corrupt then? We have to deny that the Indian system has illness because we lack the spine to stand up to treat it? And we have to blame west because they call us corrupt? That is one awful thing I heard.
Sid@10. I have not said anything about a specific corruption case or an individual. I have made a statement about the notion of corruption.
I have also expressed a hope that people will be more sympathetic to the plight of Indian officials. I have not blamed west for anything. On the contrary, I have praised them for packaging most economic activity with sanitised rappers. BTW, from #8, in every country, to hold a job that allows ‘malai’ is a matter of pride. In some countries, you have to dirty your hands to be able to enjoy that malai, in some other countries, you can pick it up with a spoon or a fork and keep your hands clean. I am not going to sully the name of India in this matter of corruption. I am too patriotic for that.
But that is all I wish to say here.
@Prakash,
I am not going to sully the name of India in this matter of corruption. I am too patriotic for that.Patriotism is not about denying that your country has problems, patriotism is all about recognizing it and discussing/taking steps to correct it. What you have written means that you are denying that corruption is such a big problem in this country.
What a way to blame some body else for our dirt. May be it started that way but after 60+ years in our control there is more dirt there than ever before. Blaming them is not going to help us clean this mess. You could find the true cause and whatever research you like to do, there is only one way to remove it. Get rid of it. I guess easier said than done. But would it be easier if we can truly blame some one else or just make feel good?
Left the following comment on this article by Swapan Dasgupta:
Swapan-Da: I do not agree with your assertion that corruption is intrinsic to Indian DNA..
Pl do read, “Thus a system was created..later identified..as “corruption†in the Third-World
Thanks. Shantanu
http://Satyameva-Jayate.org/