Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Are we all corrupt?

Recently we have witnessed perfect examples of how anybody can be framed and proved to be corrupt using the laws tailor-made by those who have kept this handle purposely with them. Tell me why I should not have an option of travelling on cycle and ask for a payment for the luxury ride that I am entitled to if I wish to help a cancer patient to get some life-saving medicine with that money. Can anybody explain that what is wrong if I want to sacrifice my entitlement/luxury in favour of a good/noble cause. The only wrong is that the rules do not allow. But who has made these rules and more importantly why is such a rule made. The purpose of framing a rule in such cases is to stop a misuse of one’s entitlement for his/her greed. But is this greed? Shouldn’t we encourage such sacrifices?

There is another rule that states that if I avail a paid leave from an organisation where I am working then I should come back and serve the organisation for a specific duration linked to the period my absence. But why did we need such a rule? Isn’t it only because if someone becomes eligible for a higher remuneration due to the work that he has done during his/her paid absence then he should be discouraged from acceding to this temptation and in case if one does so then he/she should pay back the money that was received during the absence with an appropriate penalty? But is this rule not assuming that the person leaving the job after a paid leave must be doing so by falling for a greed for higher remuneration? Would you justify asking a person to pay back the money paid to him/her with penalty even if he/she decides to provide free consultancy in a remote village after acquiring an MD degree on a paid absence from a government hospital where he/she was working as an MBBS?

And what about him who has given hope to innumerable patients who do not have the money to avail costly allopathic treatments. Shall we allow a ‘profit’ to be considered as ‘income’ if it is not used for personal greed and luxury and is re-invested for a good cause?

And the worse is that they have been able to equate these noble deeds with the greed of Kalmadis, Rajas, Rahuls, Sonias, Dixits, Vadheras and many more. The response to Anna's recent call against corruption has emboldened these forces. However we should remember that unlike us who do not have the authority to make rules, all these people are corrupt in accordance with the rules that they themselves have the power to frame.