Corruption?

Interesting incident on the way back from Goa to Pune last night... the bus was crowded with tourists and Goans alike, returning from the New Year revelries.. one such co-passenger was a young doctor from Goa, taking 8 bottles of liquor for his friends in Pune. With liquor in Goa costing barely a 3rd of what it does in Pune, it makes sense to smuggle it across the border, avoiding the heavy excise duties imposed by Maharashtra.

At 1.30 am, the bus was stopped by a mobile police check post. A thankless job, undoubtedly, waking up angry passengers fast asleep, and checking their bags. Interestingly, inspite of all the precautions the doctor had taken to hide his stash, the cop found it.

I do not know all the details of what happened next, but the doctor had a private conversation with the cop outside the bus, and came back triumphant, flashing a victory sign to me, and I saw the cop walk away from the bus, looking like he was stuffing something into his pocket. I did not bother to ask the doctor what exactly has transpired, but it got me thinking.

For that cop, what is the motivation to enforce the law? Spend sleepless nights on a New Year weekend, wake up sleeping travellers in the middle of the cold night, and confiscate bottles to empty them on the road? All for a paltry salary, which probably comes to less than the value of the bottle?

And for Goa cops, why should they prevent this "smuggling", when it's reaping rich dividends for the state?

What's the motivation for the doctor? All he is doing is taking a bottle he has legally bought in Goa to his home town! Why should he forego a good deal, simply because he is expected to pay higher taxes when he crosses an artificial border that shouldn't be there in the first place?

Can you, then, really blame the doctor for saying, hey, here's something to cheer you up on a beautiful New Year night, look the other way now, it's just a simple bottle of vodka, after all? And can you really expect the cop to say, hell no, please empty that bottle on the road?

And if at all you did want to blame someone, who would you blame? The cop or the doctor? The sad part is, the doctor will probably go ahead and gloat over his success and vilify the cop for being corrupt!

I am not condoning corruption or bribery, but if we want to stop corruption, we need to get rid of the "opportunities" we have created through a system that encourages, and in many cases, almost forces corruption.

Most people will grudgingly pay a traffic fine if they can do it on the spot and move on. But if the cop takes your license and then asks you to go to the police station, pay the fine, and come back with the receipt to collect your license, would you really go to the trouble? (In all humility, I have done it, not once, but twice - but that's because I had all the time in the world to indulge myself)

I had bought a brand new Ford Fiesta, and was zooming away on the Expressway, 100 kmph above the speed limit of 80 kmph, when I was stopped by cops with a speed gun. I had slammed brakes on seeing the gun, but he still caught me doing 130 kmph. When I stopped, he asked me to go talk to the officer in the jeep by the road... the officer gave me a verbal reprimand in the nicest manner imaginable - talked about how I would be excited with the new car, but I need to observe speed limits - and asked me to be careful, and waved me on.

I was impressed, but a fellow passenger remarked... he was waiting for you to pay him! Really? Why did he think so? Neither was the officer stalling, nor was he being trouble... he was really honestly doing his job, and here we were, educated, smart folks, condemning him for a crime he never committed!

Anna or no Anna, we, the civil society, first need to take a hard look at ourselves and our behaviour, before we take up cudgels against politicians, the police and the babus.

It all needs to start at home!