A dear friend of mine shared this blog/article by a New Zealander about why there is corruption in India. I did get angry as my friend must have, because this person has made some huge assumptions and passed it off as truths or facts. Today, I searched the internet and found out that this was written some eight months ago. Here’s the link to it – http://tennews.in/a-new-zealaders-view-on-reason-for-corruption-in-india/. I also think this is probably an Indian who now lives in New Zealand !! Because we have several brothers and sisters of his floating around in our own country who try and make a half truth the whole truth.
Well, here’s my reply to “Brian”-no-last-name, New Zealander –
Mr. Brian you say “Indians are Hobbesian (Culture of self interest). Corruption in India is a cultural aspect. Indians seem to think nothing peculiar about corruption. It is everywhere.Indians tolerate corrupt individuals rather than correct them.” How did you decide that corruption in India is a cultural aspect? That it is everywhere (which also is a half truth), doesn’t mean that we tolerate corrupt individuals. And the human culture is a culture of self interest ! Its not as if everyone is out to help the other selflessly. We wouldn’t have China trying to gobble up territories all around, or the US meddling in Afghanistan, Vietnam, Laos and every nook and cranny if it were not for their self interest. Even a saint acts in self interest. Its just embedded in the human DNA.
Next you say – “Religion is transactional in India. Indians give God cash and anticipate an out-of-turn reward. Such a plea acknowledges that favours are needed for the undeserving. In the world outside the temple walls, such a transaction is named “bribe”. A wealthy Indian gives not cash to temples, but gold crowns and such baubles. His gifts can not feed the poor. His pay-off is for God. He thinks it will be wasted if it goes to a needy man….. India’s temples collect so much that they don’t know what to do with it. Billions are gathering dust in temple vaults.”
Buddy, I don’t know what kind of religion you follow because the above statement is hilarious and pathetic at the same time. God is a crutch that man invented and so is religion. Every religion teaches you to pray – why? Every prayer is for some favour, deserved or undeserved. Temples in India were built for social and scientific reasons but I don’t expect you to get that. The social aspect was to get people to gather together and pray so there is positive energy in the society. Every religion asks people to gather together and pray – why else do Christians visit the church on Sundays or Muslims pray on Fridays or Buddhists get together to chant? The money that gets collected in the Indian temples were earlier used by the Kings during emergencies. Now the money goes to provide free food, education and health services. Please read about how the money thats collected at the Tirupati Balaji temple is used – http://qr.ae/TFFH3y. Also read about what other temples do with their collections – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Shirdi-temple-gives-away-53-earnings-Siddhivinayak-13/articleshow/20020265.cms. Can a church anywhere share details on what they do with the money that gets collected? There are really scary news items doing the rounds about the Vatican’s stash … maybe you should do some half baked research about that too.
The worst statement in your entire article is this – “When Europeans came to India they built schools. When Indians go to Europe & USA, they build temples.” Europeans also built churches and they continue to build churches through NGOs and other means even today. Thanks to them for the schools that they built but hey, at the time that they came to India, they had such low attendance in their schools that they borrowed the Indian school system and then returned it to us with no innovation. Also just to say it – the first university in the world was in ancient India. Btw, Europeans also did other great things like cutting off the thumb of every muslin weaver in India so that their coarse, utterly disgusting cloth could be sold, they also forced cultivation of indigo on arable land rendering it barren and this will shock you, but a European, deserves the title of the most corrupt man ever – LORD (@*!#) Robert Clive was a thief, plunderer and stole a fortune from India. He was not an Indian but a European. He robbed your late Queen Victoria blind !! Go figure. And by the way, Indians go to Europe and USA and become CEOs of their corporations because we are “bloody” good and so much more educated than your dear European and American dropouts.
****Moron alert****
These statements of yours can only be classified under the “Moron” category “An utterly corrupt politician can make a comeback, just unthinkable in the West……Indian moral ambiguity towards corruption is visible in its history. Indian history tells of the capture of cities and kingdoms after guards were paid off to open the gates, and commanders paid off to surrender. This is unique to India. Indians’ corrupt nature has meant limited warfare on the subcontinent. It is striking how little Indians have actually fought compared to ancient Greece and modern Europe.”
A corrupt politician cannot come back to power in the West??? Thats the joke of the millennium. Just read up on Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal etc…
If fighting wars is the only sign of being a corruption free country, then yours must be topping the charts on corruption ! Cant remember any war that New Zealand has been part of, except supporting your colonial masters, the Brits in all their wars. I won’t even speak of what happened to the native Maoris and how suddenly New Zealand in the 1800s became “white” from “polynesian”, am sure no bribe was involved, it got done with just love, sex and prayers. Also to improve your knowledge of history, India was made up of several kingdoms. So it was easy to buy off gate keepers and other ministers by promising them a part of the kingdom. Btw Judas was European, not Indian…and read up on Simon Bolivar and the petty gain for which he gave up Francisco de Miranda.
Brian, you really should consult a psychiatrist, something is certainly off. I feel deeply for your lack of understanding … You say “Indians do not believe in the theory that they all can rise if each of them behaves morally, because that is not the message of their faith. Their caste system separates them. They don’t believe that all men are equal. This resulted in their division and migration to other religions….. This division evolved an unhealthy culture. The inequality has resulted in a corrupt society, in India every one is thus against everyone else, except God and even he must be bribed.” How moral is your Queen? She enjoys all the loot and bounty and has she spared a thought for the Africans dying of hunger? What has New Zealand done for world hunger? You talk of the caste system, why not speak also of racism? The President elect of the US, Donald Trump, says all Muslims and Mexican migrants must leave America. Is that not discrimination ? Much worse than the caste system because his country is made up of immigrants. His ancestors were immigrants who killed the native people to establish themselves ! Also the Americans killed their President who abolished Slavery .. slavery is a terrible form of inequality.
The Caste system has been interpreted incorrectly. No one was ever “born” into a caste. The division was on the basis of the work you chose to do. Please read about this to improve your knowledge at this link – http://qr.ae/TFFu0P. The way the caste system is used right now is incorrect and has to go… but that doesn’t mean it exists only in India. Inequality is all over the world, just called by different names.
I just want to ask you a few questions and hopefully this post reaches you and you choose to answer these in all honesty –
- Enron happened in the US… is that because the American culture is “Hobbesian” ?
- Volkswagen, a European car maker fudged their emission data … is that dangerous corruption or you have a nicer sounding name for it??
- It is rumoured that the “cola” companies have allegedly got some political leaders bumped off in certain Latin American countries just to sell their sweetened poison drink … do you have some details about this? And would you say this is a result of a culture of self interest or was it done in selfless service to humanity?
New Zealand tops the list of the least corrupt nation in the world and congratulations to you and all your fellow countrymen and women. Someday, India will be tied at the top spot with your country, have no doubt.
I also have no issues with anyone speaking about the corruption that we have in India. Its a reality that is being addressed and needs to be addressed speedily. I only take strong exception to the reasons that you give and especially linking it to our culture. Some of your observations are juvenile and vile, some are convenient leaps over gaps in your knowledge and some are plain moronic. The challenge of the modern age is, anything that google finds, automatically gets a few readers and some tacit approval.
India’s image has been tarnished by half truths and full lies …. didn’t want one more piece out there in the internet cloud without some clarification.
Brian sure got your goat. Rest easy. Corruption is built into the system world-wide. No one has a monopoly on it.
I would like to point out that “self-serving” is not the same as “exploitation.” It is possible to pay yourself (self-serving) without being exploitive. Maybe it’s when groups of people gang up on others that corruption and exploitation reign.
By the way, when the British came to India, they made slaves of the Indians to grow opium poppies, which they smuggled into China, thus precipitating the opium wars.