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Why Corruption Is Not An Issue

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Why Corruption Is Not An Issue
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WHY is that sense of moral outrage that the hawala revelations were thought to have elicited missing? Has coruption become so endemic that Indians have stopped reacting to it? And have the thinking classes been collectively guilty of punditry on an unprecedented scale vis-a-vis the hawala scandal, confusing what should shock the nation with what does?

These were some of the more obvious questions raised by the findings of the Outlook-DB-MRAS poll. And the only possible answer to all three questions is that classic line from the Yes Minister series—yes and no. At least, going by what a cross-section of social scientists feel about the poll findings. They do add that there can be no absolutes in such an issue except one—that the politics of survival has primacy.

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Says Ashis Nandy of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies: "It has never happened that an issue which dominates the media spreads like wild fire through the rest of the country. There is a gestation period. Especially because, till today, over 50 per cent of the electorate depends on state-run TV and radio for information which do no justice to issues like corruption and hawala. It is only very gradually that the information itself, and the mood in the rest of the country, filters down to the masses."

As he adds, "The issues that top the electorate's agenda—unemployment, rising prices and water scarcity—are not overtly political issues, except water to an extent. It is difficult to convert these into viable electoral planks, though these are perennial problems that will divide the people along partyines. And this time around—unlike in 1989 when there was Bofors, a scandal centering on Rajiv Gandhi's alleged involvement—corruption too may not be a viable electoral plank. The issue, this time, is not well-defined. Secondly, politicians from across the political spectrum are involved. There is a lack of specific focus on any one individual as a symbol of corruption. Also, public consciousness is experiencing a sense of fatigue due to the corruption scandals of the past decade." 

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T.K. Oommen, professor of sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, is "not at all surprised" at the public apathy towards corruption. Says he: "It's a storm in a tea cup. The mainly urban middle class is certainly concerned with corruption as a central issue, but for the masses material needs are far more important. Corruption has never been a successful electoral plank, but slogans like 'garibi hatao' have caught the imagination of the populace because they promised a better life in material terms." 

As for the divergent responses of 1989 and 1996, Oommen explains that Bofors became an issue primarily because of the "conductual variation" factor. "The point then was that, since 1984, Rajiv Gandhi had been built up as the youthful Mr Clean who would guide us into the 21st century. And this had filtered down to an extent, before the bubble burst. Now, though Rao is alleged to have been among the recipients of hawala money, the fact remains that he had no such aura about him which could be dimmed by allegations of corruption." 

Professor Satish Saberwal of the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU, refocuses the issue to bring in pre-existing factors that explain the 'missing shock': "I suspect this attitude assimilates with a historical tradition of offerings to the ruling classes. The system is in such disarray that India's rural and semi-rural population is not too bothered about corruption; if an unemployed person can get a job in return for a certain sum, do you think he/she will refuse?" And how many of us will be surprised at the answer to that?

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