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What is the root cause for rampant corruption in

India?
Corruption exists not only in Indian politics, but almost everywhere in
even smallest of organization, whereas there are other countries where it
is almost non-existent. Relatively lenient laws, and excess power to
elected officials are definitely one of the causes, but at its heart there
have to be some cultural or psychological reasons driving it. Strong family
culture is probably one of them because I think it means there are a
larger set of people for whom a person is willing to bend the rules. Are
there any other such causes/explanations?
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23 ANSWERS

Anonymous
25 upvotes by Nitant Gupta, Nikhil Vij, Shamsu Dheen, (more)
I'm Indian American. I've lived in India all my life, but go to the US for 3-4 months every
summer (5 months when I was younger). This places me, I think, in an ideal position to
compare a relatively efficient & corruption free country to a country which is plagued with
petty and large scale corruption everywhere.
Lack of systems. That's all it is.
It all comes down to systems; at the end of the day, every country has roughly the same
proportion of good, bad and ugly people because human nature is the same everywhere.
What is different is the framework in which they live and how that framework is being
enforced.
When I look at traffic rules for example, I'm appalled. People in Delhi, where I live, have
absolutely no regard for lights, lanes & pedestrians. It's easy to blame them, but is it really
their fault? This is how they think traffic should run because they've always seen it this way.
They have no idea, that if everybody followed rules, traffic would go smoother and
everybody would get where they want to go faster.
The problem starts at the root. 
When I went to get my driving license, the main guy asked me to go around the main road
once, while he took tests for 6 drivers simultaneously, all whilst sitting underneath the
shade of a tree. Did he actually see me go around? Maybe. I doubt it. I certainly didn't have
his undivided attention, which might tell him whether I was doing ok or not. What he cared
about was wrapping up. And quickly.
When I went around, that was it; I was done. A guy next to me was failed because he hadn't
turned on his right flasher to take the U-turn. I was pretty sure that this was just a way for
the guy to exercise his feeling of power though. I doubt he cared an ounce about the flasher.
How could he, when he carries out tests in this manner?
People like him are absorbed in their self importance; because he gives out licenses, he
would not want anybody to tell him that the 'test' he's taking is meaningless; that those he's
approving are not anywhere close to knowing how to drive. So, the problem propagates; he
hands out licenses to crappy drivers, who become the road ragers of tomorrow.
He's part of a hierarchy; no doubt the man above him tells him not to waste time testing.
"Just hand 'em out quickly!" is what's on their minds.
The license office itself is a mess. There's a guy who goes around asking for Rs. 500 as a fast
pass. You go around to the back and they take your details quickly. Here's where you see
ordinary people willing to break etiquette and indulge in a spot of corruption. Your
hardworking everyday ABC will not want to stand in a snaking line which might take 3 hrs
to traverse. It's just easier pay up to save time & I don't blame him.
Now suppose the system was smoother. Suppose that they upgraded the office, trained a
bunch of people who actually took tests which test road knowledge and knowledge of signs.
Smoothed out the waiting by handing out appointments or at the very least giving out
waiting numbers. Removed the corrupt middlemen from the area. That they have an
accessible rule book like the DMV gives out in the US, which you have to read before you
stroll in for your license. Now, every new driver you put on the road would know his stuff.
But, as soon as he's on the road, the system would corrupt him to poor habits.
So, the whole system would have to be replaced. The traffic police would have to hand out
tickets indiscriminately. Traffic lights can't not work. All of them have to work. Pedestrian
crossings have to be respected. Any violation of the law, and you're fined. Multiple
violations, and hand me your license.
It's like taming a lion; you force him at first & slowly he learns, because he realizes that
falling in with the trainer's wishes or the system in this case, is easier than resisting. And
that's what has to happen to get rid of corruption. Don't expect people to change; they will
just do whatever seems easiest. Adapt the system to something which forces them to abide
by the law. Make no mistake, this requires an iron hand and excellent management. But,
that's the only way to get rid of corruption.
And that's why, in the US, when you drive on I-95 on the East Coast, nobody's breaking the
law. Because they know, state troopers might be driving around in a plain car, waiting to
catch violators. And as good law abiding habits form, you automatically become generous on
the road. If you see a pedestrian who's not placed at a crossing on a road, you might possibly
stop to let him pass. Because, it's always been that way for you. It's almost like breathing for
 you.
I guarantee, if you got rid of the law for a week in the US, it'd turn into India.

I don't think there is any social reason for Indian corruption. Our culture or society is not
telling us to break laws. It's the system which is allowing us to; and telling us as well, that if
you don't break laws, you're a fool for whom it'll take 10 times the effort. And slowly that
becomes ingrained in our minds; and thus appears to be a part of our culture. So, as you've
pointed out in your question, yes, it is psychological.
I've only talked of once instance here, of traffic. But, you can take my arguments here and fit
them to almost any situation of petty corruption you see. Different people may have
different opinions about this and I respect that; this, is just my opinion.
  
Written 10 Dec, 2012. 1,399 views.
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Comments3+
More Answers Below. 
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Anubhav Srivastava
15 upvotes by Nikhil Vij, Joydip Datta, Shubham Chandra Gupta, (more)
1. Failure to implement and/ or abide by the rules (or laws of the land).
2. Inability to find pride in being a corruption free society.

I will give you an example. Compare the New Delhi Railway Station and say, any, Delhi
Metro Railway Station. In Delhi Metro, why is it that no one litters, people don't sleep on
platforms and rules of boarding/ de-boarding are followed? We all know penalty and fines
for all these activities also exist for New Delhi Railway Station.
The answer is the mix of the following reasons:
1. Someone built the ground rules before opening it to public.
2. People perceive Delhi Metro as a pride and want to conserve it.
3. And most importantly, when no one else does it, there is a strong fear of
being singled out, or facing strong rebuttal from everyone else, or being the center of
all glaring eyes, in throwing a food packet on the floor. That is the key. When the
majority does not do something, or considers it bad to do it, rules are itself laid.

All this talk about family responsibilities etc. does not justifies anything. The truth is
most of us, and I mean more than 95-96%, are corrupt in some form or the
other. It is ingrained in us. It could be as miniscule as taking the wrong turn on a traffic-
police less square, getting midway into a queue seeing that a person standing midway is off-
line and is looking the other way, or paying paltry bribe to a policeman. 

So, if you evade tax by writing a faulty landlord signature on rent lease agreement, justifying
it on the basis of high taxes and paltry salaries, you are as corrupt as someone who
siphons millions out of the country illegally. Your tax evasion might be 2% of your
income. His tax evasion might also be 2% of his income.
  
Written 10 Dec, 2012. 1,368 views.
Upvote 15
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Comments2

Vishal Kale, MBA; 16 Yrs WE; Avid Business Book Reader

5 upvotes by Balwant Padaki, Lalit S. Doshi, Quora User, (more)
Culled from my previous articles on @Reflections :

We say the politicians are bad, We say the babus are corrupt. We say the police is inefficient
and bad apart from being corrupt. But baar baar meer zehen mein ek hi baat aati hai...
iska kaaran kyaa hai? Aisaa kyun ho rahaa hai? Aakhir pareshaani kahaan hai? Yeh
bharatvarsh kaa sundar sapnaa itnaa kaalaa kyun dikhai de rahaa hai? Aur kyaa waakai
itnaa kaalaa hai? Humne kahaan galti ki hai? Where have we gone wrong?

Chetan Bhagat: 
The simple, bitter truth is that the electorate just doesn't care much about financial
impropriety. Sure, we bicker, moan and fuss about politicians looting us. However, it is
not that high up in the hierarchy of wrongs a politician could commit. A moderate amount
of corruption is almost expected and accepted. It is only when graft is done in an obvious,
large-scale and arrogant manner that Indians get somewhat upset — and that too for a
short period of time. Until we, as a society, really feel graft, unethical behaviour and
nepotism are huge problems and start to truly care about all of it, politicians will not
change" 
Which brings me to my fundamental question: what happens to our internal sense of right
vs wrong in the case of corruption? Why does it not kick in? And even more pertinently, why
should the thought itself occur to us? Remember one thing: corruption has 2 parties - the
bribe taker as well as the bribe giver. So long as there are people ready to give a bribe there
will be people willing to take a bribe. The stronger controls will undoubtedly have some
impact, but simultaneously, people will find more innovative ways to escape and avoid
detection. During prohibition, Booze was readily available despite strict controls and laws.
The case of corruption will be very much similar to that, methinks. 

The problem is our own internal sense of right or wrong, which cannot understand that
giving a bribe is basically wrong. Most of us just do not see anything wrong in giving 10
Rupees to a traffic cop, for instance. Why, boss? You are in the wrong - you have parked in a
no-parking zone. So, in  order to escape punishment, you decide the easy way is better! Are
you a part of the problem! Follow the thought process to its logical conclusion, and the same
reason emerges in the bigger scandals - winning a contract, or buying a land etc. 

There are a host of factors to this problem. The scarce resources being chased by a larger
number of people is one, for example. The plain fact is that there is cut-throat competition
with a norm of winner taking all. And, in our pressure of living, we resort to unfair means to
achieve our goals. It is a sign of the times that we live in, unfortunately. And so long as
demand outstrips supply by a large margin, this is a reality that will exist. 

There are a host of manifestations of this problem. But the core of the issue can be
encapsulated in a few points:

1. What happens to our sense of right or wrong when giving or taking a bribe? If the
thought of stealing does not occur to us, why is the thought of bribing coming to us?
2. In the larger scandals, people at all levels of hierarchy have been involved. Why has
no one complained, or resisted? Major scandals cannot happen without the passive
support of hundreds. It is the silence of normal citizens that is at the core of the
problem. Each person remains silent simply because he is scared of being victimised
and caught in a minority, while the majority keep silent and enjoy the fruits. The need of
the hour is to vocalise the majority of passive supporters into speaking out.

As I always say in such posts...

Jaago Sonewaalon!
  
Written 22 May, 2013. 493 views. Asked to answer by Balwant Padaki.
Upvote 5
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Comment1

Anonymous
2 upvotes by Quora User and Mohammed Kalam.
It is the mentality of our people.

Corruption starts at the grass root level. It is deeply ingrained in our thinking. That is where
it ought to be weeded out. Innocents like you and me also (unwittingly or otherwise) aid in
corruption. I shall present small examples from my experiences. 

Not every, but many postmen, policemen, bus conductors, auto wallahs do it. For them, it's
about making an extra buck. They make it seem beneficial to you too. Most people succumb
to the hope of this tiny gain and play the game. And this grows and grows in scale. To avoid
huge scams that our government has been embarrassingly linked with, the mindset has to
change.

Here are some examples.

In Bangalore, some of the bus conductors charge less than the actual fare and do not give
you the ticket. People usually don't bother about such things. I was new to the city and
insisted on a ticket. They conductor made a face that said, "Are you mad or what? What
kind of a person wants a ticket?" and took Rs 4 more. She charged less than the ticket fare.
As it turns out, many people do this. The conductor would have pocketed a tidy amount this
way. It is the mentality of the people that has to change. Come on. Saving a few bucks in
this manner is not worth the ghastly consequences our country has to face
because of that. 

In Tirupati, there lay a huge line and a daunting task ahead of us. The guy at the ticketing
counter offered to get us in 1 hour straight for an extra 50% on the ticket- Rs 300. It doesn't
seem all that bad in that situation. My mom was all for it and was also very vocal about it.
But my father said no. We took five hours to get in (which is still considered pretty good) but
I was happy. We had said no to corruption.

Most people don't give their driving test. They pay some extra money and get their license.
Not only does this jeopardize the lives of many people this possibly bad driver may drive by,
it is also inherently wrong. It is not cool to cheat the system.

You and I can be the harbingers of change. We can make our tiny, yet, significant
contributions. It is for the greater good that we have rules and have to stand in lines. Please,
let us spend a moment in self-introspection, identify all such incidents we face in day-to-day
life and refrain from indulging in corruption. 

Thank you.
  
Written 30 May, 2013. 189 views.
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Comment

Anonymous
4 upvotes by Ishan Chokshi, Mridul Maskara, Quora User, (more)
The answer lies squarely in this matrix, first explained by 1976 Economics Nobel Prize
winner Milton Friedman in his famous best-seller "Free To Choose":

Let us investigate this matrix, row-wise.

 
1st square represents you spending your own money on yourself. Here yourself
encompasses your family and those who you hold very dear. So when you spend your own
money on yourself, you tend to spend the least possible and try to gain the maximum value.
Of course a rich person will spend more than a poor person, but he will also demand more
value for whatever amount he spends. If he wants to buy a private jet, he won't simply buy
the 1st one he finds and whatever price. He will shop around, check the specs, negotiate etc.
and then buy. This quadrant is the best case possible.
 
On the top row, to the right, the 2nd square deals with you spending your money on
someone else. Let us say you are buying sweets to distribute among your office staff, most
of whom you barely know. Certainly for your close friends you would buy excellent quality
sweets, but for the rest? You would probably buy some decent sweets without burning a hole
in your pocket. You wouldn't spend hours hunting for the best quality sweets for the same
price. Any decent quality is going to be fine.
 
The 3rd square(first on the bottom row) talks about you spending someone else's
money on yourself. The best example would be the food allowance employees get when
they are working overtime or travelling on company's business. Usually the company sets a
limit, say Rs. 500 per meal. You will be reimbursed maximum that much amount when you
submit the bills. If you eat for less than Rs. 500, you don't get the balance amount refunded
to you. In such a case, pretty much everybody will try to spend around 500 Rs. Even if
normally you spend say 100 Rs. on a meal, now you will ensure you go to a high-class
restaurant where you can get 500 Rs. worth of food and service. In this case, you don't
economize i.e. you don't try to save money. But you do go to the best possible restaurant you
can. After all you are going to eat that food, so you are likely to search for the best
restaurants in that expense range. You wouldn't go to a crappy restaurant and waste Rs.
500, even though that Rs. 500 is being borne by the company.
 
And now finally the 4th square. It is coloured red because it is the worst possible
scenario. This is the domain of bureaucrats and politicians. They get their money through
taxes. Taxes are forced. You can't choose to not pay your taxes just because you are
unhappy with the Govt.'s handling of various schemes. If you don't pay your taxes, you will
be tortured in jails and your whole career and life will be ruined. So whether the bureaucrats
and politicians are good or bad, they can force you to pay them with the threat of violence.
Knowing that the money they spend is not theirs and the people they spend it on (i.e. the
general public) are not related to them, they simply don't care.
 
After all, which mad man would visit the same restaurant again and again if it serves filthy
food? Wouldn't people stop going and won't it shut down? But if the restaurant was owned
by some gundas who have threatened to kill you if you don't come often, then you will
patronize that restaurant out of fear. The exact same is the case with bureaucrats and
politicians. Our grandparents, our parents and we are suffering for decades under a system
that has failed over and over again. Yet we fund them relentlessly with our taxpayer's
money. And this will continue to our children and their children unless we change things.
 
Think of the highly-educated IAS officer who has to do some work for a village. He is
allotted say Rs. 10 crores by the Govt. to do the work. The money he spends is not his. He
gains nothing except maybe a small bonus if he finds the cheapest but best contractor to do
the job. The benefits of the work are reaped by some strangers not related to him. Neither he
nor his family has any connection to that village, let alone live in that village. So why should
he go to great lengths to economize and save money? Why should he go to great lengths to
ensure the best quality of work is done? What he spends is not his. And what he
saves is not his either.
 
What if the same IAS officer is building his own house. Let us say he has about 1 crores of
his savings to spend on it. Do you think he will so callously spend his own money? Do you
think he will buy the land at whatever price is quoted to him? Won't he first survey and
study the land? Won't he then engage the services of a reputed contractor who uses good
quality materials? At every stage, won't he shop around and negotiate? Won't he go to
people and websites,  and get information from them? Why the stark difference?
 
Why this selfishness towards what is your own and complete apathy to what is not
yours? Would you have done better? Are you also that selfish? Here is a small test :
Imagine you have to send your 2 children to school. You and your spouse are working full-
time and you can afford to spend 5000 Rs per child per month. So that's Rs. 10,000 per
month in total you have budgeted for your kids' education.
 
You have a choice : Send your 2 children to a good private school for Rs 10K per month OR
send your 2 children and 8 other very poor unrelated children to a Govt. school for Rs. 1000
per month. Remember that you are playing with your children's whole future. If they drop-
out of school, they will never go to college. So are you still ready to sacrifice your own
children's future in order to help 8 other children who otherwise would have no schooling at
all?
 
But you say how about I send my 2 kids to this good private school for Rs.10K and
additionally send the other 8 poor children to Govt. school for 1000 Rs each? But here too,
you have shown amazing selfishness and partiality! Clearly you value your own kids much
more since you are OK with those 8 children getting lousy education at Govt. school , but
not your own! You care so much more for your kids than others' kids!
 
And what if you say "Maybe when I have 10 times more money, I will send all of them to the
good private school". Ok let me increase your salary 10-fold. Now you have Rs. 100,000 per
month to spend on education. Will you still send your children to that same private school
or will you now try to send them to an even better International school? Or save that money
so you can send your own kids abroad for higher education? Think carefully and honestly!
Wealth and poverty are relative! You can grow as rich as you want but you will never
sacrifice your own children's future to ensure other childrens' futures.
 
But then if we all are so selfish, what is the way out? Are the people in corruption-
free countries altruistic and unselfish? No! Instead they have utilized their selfishness to
benefit not just themselves but the society as a whole yet while having very low corruption?
By what mechanism is this possible? In short, how can we, being selfish Indians, end
corruption in India?!
 

Dr. Milton Friedman

 
The answer to this can be found by watching Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose"
documentary series or reading his book of the same name. The book and the documentary
were made in the 1980s, a time when there was regulation, stagnation and corruption even
in the Western world, not to mention the Communist countries and our very own socialist
India. But his crusade against them brought about a revolution not just in the Western
world, but also led to the downfall of Communism  and Dr. Manmohan Singh to implement
the reforms. We would still be stuck in ration lines and waiting years for our telephone lines
 and our scooters if it wasn't for him and his philosophy. We owe a huge debt to this man!
 
If you are truly interested in learning the answer and ending corruption, you owe it to
yourself to watch his documentary series. Just watch the 1st episode and 
you will get your answer from this intellectual powerhouse who changed our lives forever.
Please upvote and share this post if you feel this is truly insightful.
 
  
Written 22 Nov, 2013. 412 views.
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