Guru Nanak had once famously remarked to his disciples – Tell me which direction there is no God and I will point my feet there. Corruption  too has acquired similar proportions.  There is nowhere to hide from Corruption. It is becoming omnipresent.

The next time you happen to pass by a roadside Traffic Police ‘May I Help You’ booth, on way to your office in the morning, look closely.

You just might see the Traffic Policeman doing puja with ‘Aggarbatti’ (incense sticks) in his hands. No! he is not merely being religious. He is also acknowledging the fact that apart from this being his duty station, it is also his seat of business. He is beginning his workday like any other shopkeeper by propitiating goddess Laxmi.  He then proceeds to be on the lookout for candidates to extort money from. The more entrepreneurial of the lot, even hire an assistant at their cost to receive bribe money on their behalf. This is to protect themselves from getting caught red handed. Is it any secret then, that many of these booths at strategic locations are prized possessions and transfer postings to them take place after considerable sums of money exchange hands.

The situation at the Police Station is far worse. Everything there begins and ends with money. Try lodging an FIR for any crime or incident. Once you satisfy many of their preconditions such as whether the complaint is genuine, whether it falls under their jurisdiction, whether it is for a ‘material’ item or not, whether the item (if missing) is insured or not, whether the complaint is not against any prominent person, etc etc., the next thing you will be told is that there is no paper for writing the FIR. Bring the paper, get copies made, add the customary ‘paper weight’ of bribe and then only your FIR will be entertained. Post lodging of the FIR till the filing of the Final Report, the complainant becomes a potential source of regular income to the inquiry officer unless he can find the criminal(s) with whom he can cut a deal for implicating them or setting them free.

If you still can’t find corruption, walk into any of the tax collection offices. What is most shocking to a young entrepreneur is that even if one wants to take the first step for paying tax by applying for a tax registration number, be it for sales tax, service tax, excise tax etc., you need to pay a bribe to procure the tax registration number. You need to bribe for the luxury of being able to pay tax. From then onwards, for every rupee you pay as tax, the bureaucracy needs their own share. Don’t be surprised if the Tax Commissioner is cross with you for paying the entire tax that is due. He would rather, that you pay less and share the booty with him.

From one department to another the gods of corruption are watching you every step of the way and they seek your obeisance for letting you pass by.     

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