Farzana Behram Contractor: Our kleptocracy runs on ‘speed money’

We probably live in the worst possible times for India. Morally speaking. Never before has the ordinary man been as disgusted as now, with the way our system functions or ‘dysfunctions’.
Corruption has permeated every area imaginable, making life so difficult that we can only oscillate between anger and despair. If you don’t bribe you don’t get your work done. As simple as that.

‘Speed money’, is how my young nephew describes it. The poor lad, who was innocent enough just two years ago, at 21, to not understand why the cop had opened a drawer and kept it open, just staring at my nephew who had gone to the local police station to verify his credentials to renew his passport. Dropping names only antagonised the cop further and the poor chap was made to revisit the police station three more times.

His mother, my sister, a teacher, upright and staunch in her beliefs and principles, did not bow under pressure when faced with a similar dilemma. My mother left in her will an attractive property in Malad to be shared by us sisters. One day, an innocuous postal slip reached our home, announcing that the tenants of our building were in the final stages of proclaiming our building to be a co-operative housing society.

I was made to use my ‘contacts’ and found myself sitting in the cabinet secretary’s chamber at Mantralaya, explaining the situation. A very honest man himself and known to me for many years, the bureaucrat smiled apologetically, shook his head, and said, “Yes, these things happen in our country. Your tenants bribed officials and got their work done!”

Confiding that this particular department was one of the most corrupt, he advised me to go with the flow. But my sister would have none of it. She hired a good lawyer and got down to the task.

Determined as she was, she made umpteen visits to the back of the beyond (Wadala) and won the case. But alas, petty bribes to the clerk, ‘to move the files’ had to be made. It’s everywhere, this rotten system. And if you think it’s just the big cities, think again.

It’s that much worse in small towns. Years ago, I was blatantly asked to pay up for getting an electricity connection changed to my name. More than two decades later, it still stands in the previous owner’s name.

Nobody cares a damn for any wrong they commit, for they know they won’t be caught. Even if they are, they won’t be booked. And if they are, it will be years before justice will take place, anyway. Chalta hai ... So what do we do? Where to from here?

In my opinion, the solution is two-pronged. One, create fear for the law of the land. The courts must clear up the backlog (like Gujarat did), so fear is instilled in the wrongdoer and confidence in the one wronged. Two, inculcate a value-based education, so we develop a new breed of honest individuals with integrity.

Corruption may not impact the very rich or the very poor in the manner it affects the middle class, which is where, fortunately, a new dawn is shaping up. Thanks to Anna Hazare, 2011 will prove to be the watershed in public tolerance of corruption particularly in the political arena, the root cause of all forms of corruption.

We ought to support this new messiah and the Lokpal reforms he has in mind. Read about the Jan Lokpal Bill on Wikipedia and decide; do you want bribery, extortion, nepotism, patronage, embezzlement, drug trafficking, human trafficking, criminal enterprise to thrive? Or do you want a good, clean form of governance where you live in an atmosphere of peace and dignity with the least amount of daily harassment. Decide; You want kleptocracy or genuine democracy?

— The writer is editor and publisher, Upper Crust