Radia, Kalmadi, Raja…

I think India is the only nation in the world where people discuss bribe and corruption lightly in their drawing rooms and in teashops. Whenever or wherever a few people gather, the topic of their discussion usually is which political parties, politicians or bureaucrats are going to be trapped during the day. One group may argue proudly that in the next scam the political party they owe allegiance to will surpass the other. The other group will not give in easily and they will speak for their favourite party and their icons. In India news about a scam in the media hardly lingers for more than a day or two as the next one takes over immediately. People treat such things as if they are sipping a cup of tea, even if the amounts involved in the scams run into billons of rupees.

Both our print and electronic media are today competing with each other in exposing at least one story of this kind every day. But I shudder to recall to memory the recent remark by a leading Supreme Court lawyer that eight of our former Supreme Court Chief Justices were corrupt and they amassed wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income amounting to crores of rupees. Nowadays the common people in India are forced to believe, much against their will, that our judicial system is corrupt from top to bottom thanks to the recent revelations appearing in the media about the judiciary. The law takes its course, without any mercy, if a small person commits a crime and he/she is punished and thrown behind the bars. But those who are responsible to hold high the mantle of justice and trust indulge in favouritsm, corruption and bribery with impunity. Who is responsible for this situation? Unfortunately the present judiciary has lost all morals, unlike in the past, and those who are supposed to prevent evils surfacing are sitting tight and just watching things. They are unable to move a finger against these things because they too are sailing in the same boat.

Footnote: I think it is high time that the Union Government introduced new units for measuring money. Lakhs and crores no longer work; there are too many zeros to handle. The huge amounts mentioned in the recent scams have an upside: they have given us convenient new units for communicating large figures: Rs 1,000 crore—1 Radia; Rs 10,000 crore—1 KalmadI; Rs 1,00,000 crore—1 Raja.

This will be easier for us to account for large numbers. For example;

n     Mukesh Ambani’s new residence in Mumbai costs 4 Radia;

n     India’s total annual subsidy on kerosene is Rs 2 Kalmadi;

n     India’s loss in the 3G scam is approximately Rs 1.7 Raja.

Varghese Paul