The national neurosis of India

Is it any consolation arguing that 8220;corruption is a universal phenomenon?8221; Can there be any comparison between corruption insmall society or state and the country of India8217;s dimensions? Can there be any assessment of the damage inflicted by the ill-gotten wealth and the unregulated flow of money on the macro-economic scene of India?

On a rough calculation, the Rs 1.3 cr-ore in cash recovered from Pahari can buy 43 Maruti 800 cars or 18 Honda City on the spot. Alternately, the amount is equivalent to the lifetime savings plus provident fund and gratuity of six or seven senior retired honest joint secretaries to the Government of India estimated at Rs 20 lakh per retired official on the present scales. In other words, the loss caused to the state by one official is equivalent to non-payment of income tax by seven higher-income group assessees.

That is, if the Rs 1.3 crore are accounted for. However, as prima facie the ca-sh amount appears to be unaccounted for, Rs 65 lakh out of it will immediately go to the income tax department and thus to the starved state exchequer. If we have 1,000 or 2,000 or 3,000 such cases fromamong our 980 million people, the estimated loss to the nation stands at the mind-boggling figures of Rs 650 or 1,300 or 1,950 crore respectively.

We will be living in a fool8217;s paradise if we dismiss the threat of corruption as a 8220;universal phenomenon.8221; Universal or not, it can only lead to disastrous consequences at the national level. Evidence is available in plenty.

Can8217;t one see the Bangladeshi and Pakistani infiltrators and the deterioration in the security environment owing to their illegal stay, overstay and permanent stay in India? Does not India know how a large number of these foreigners managed to enter India without valid documents? Do not most Indians know from innumerable press reports about the consequent threat that the country faces today?

Does not India remember the serial blasts of Mumbai on that fateful Friday, March 12, 1993 8212; ones reportedly caused by several customs officers allowing RDX to be brought into India for a few lakhs of rupees?

It can be argued that, while theofficials at the border or airports are allowing their conscience to be purchased for Rs 500-5,000, sahibs ensconced in the airconditioned rooms of Lutyen8217;s architectural creation are minting between Rs 5,000 and Rs 500,000 in one shot. So, whose offence is greater and graver? The answer is that both are guilty. Both symbolise the 8220;national neurosis8221;.

The war against corruption has to start in Delhi, the Capital of India. The war can be waged in several theatres: the Delhi Development Authority, the Land and Development Department, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the New Delhi Municipal Corporation, the Delhi Vidyut Board, the Delhi Transport Corporation, the Delhi Customs and Central Excise, the Delhi Police, the Income Tax Department Delhi, Doordarshan, and the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited Delhi.

Our hard-earned freedom will itself be endangered, along with our enviable democracy, if a serious attempt is not made to cleanse the corrupt and insensitive administration.

The writer is amember, International Institute of Strategic Studies, London