Trilok Singh
Corruption is a cancer: A cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. Remarks by vice President Joe Biden to Romanian Civil Society Groups and Students.
The big C of corruption can be countered with five more Cs:
- Connectedness: Corruption is much more in urban areas because there is no community sense because there is no sense of connectedness.
- Courage: A lack of self-esteem or confidence in one’s ability, fear or insecurity in a person makes one become more corrupt. He then tries to find his security only through money.
- Cosmology: Look at one’s own life in the context of extended space and time. How long is your life? Only 80-100 years! Billions of years have passed since creation. Everything is recycled. Seeing life from a different perspective of space and time is what will deepen one’s vision of one’s life.
- Care and compassion: Care and compassion in society can bring dedication. The sense of care and feeling — that it doesn’t matter even if I don’t have this; somebody needs this more.
- Commitment: The sense of commitment to contribution. When a person has a commitment to a higher cause in life, it brings a shift from gaining to giving. In society, if everyone keeps thinking, ‘What can I gain?’ rather than ‘What can I contribute’, then corruption cannot be rooted out. In society, we need to have this shift in our attitude, from ‘What can I gain?’ to ‘What can I contribute?’
But all this is not possible without spiritual uplift and a sense of belongingness with the world. This is one of the causes of terrorism and unrest. We accept food and music, for example, from every part of the world, but when it comes to wisdom, people seem to shy away.
DISCLAIMER: Personal views are expressed.
Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. Added, IASmind Author and E-writeup Author.
One of the most crucial problems our country is grappling with is corruption. As we celebrate International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, students talk about what they think is the worst form of corruption, and one step that can be taken to eradicate it.
The worst kind of corruption is administrative corruption, where representatives of the government such as police officers, judges, higher government authorities and peons ask for bribe to do the work they have been assigned to do. I think the best way to eradicate this is to have a common online portal to address all the needs of the citizens, starting from voter ID registration, passport registration and Aadhar card registration, thus removing the need for middlemen.
The education sector is extremely vulnerable. Corruption often leads to unequal and unfair opportunities for students. To prevent this, teachers and administrative staff need to be paid more. Also, becoming part of the education sector should be made extremely competitive and any malpractice should be dealt with in a more stringent manner.
Corruption in the medical and health sector is an acute crisis the country is dealing with. Bribes to doctors or hospital authorities, illegal trading of medicines, using expired syringes, informal entry into medical education programmes, sales/purchase of dangerous drugs are all forms of corruptions in this sector that could cost someone’s life. I think a proper inspection board and more awareness would help the cause. Stricter laws for punishing such crimes should be brought in.
