Corruption and Us

Common-Wealth-Games... Twitter and Facebook are littered with jokes of CWG, and rightly so. India is hosting an international level event, with funds worth Rs 50,000 Cr (nearly 10 billion USD) exchanged, and we are seeing bureaucracy at its best!

Corruption, as I see is a perfect example of Principal-Agent Problem. There is a person, who is an agent (or representative) of government. He, in ideal eyes, should act in the best interest of Government.  But he is also an individual. He has a family. Salary, for govt officials, is never too high. His son wants to attend a Public School, wife wants foreign lipstick. So, he takes slight leeway and indulges in taking govt decisions which favour him slightly.

Now, on larger scale, salary is never enough. And we expect a person earning 60k a month at max to handle dealings worth 500cr plus. And that too with 100% efficiency. Isnt the idea a bit too far-fetched? Specially since he got to that level by bribing a few officials, dealing with a few judges and all?

I personally have accepted Corruption as Integral part of our society. All of us are corrupt at certain level. How many of us nominate for being in committees in graduate college so that we can get access to funds?

Then, what is the solution? Transparency? Too broad a term for me!

The thing is, no1 wants to make themselves accountable. So govt, who is incharge of change, wont make the change. And that is where our vote counts. The middle class and upper class should realize the importance of their vote. This can be done by atleast going to vote. When a prospective MP/MLA sees a sizable population from urban area coming out to vote (say 70-80%), his policy will change to suit them! This is a slow process.. But nonetheless will ensure change in atleast 20-30 years.

Our govt has given us One basic right. Vote. And we should always make total use of it!