PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: Nationwide breastbeating has just begun over the arrest of Nadeem Kashmiri, a Bangalore BPO worker, for allegedly being part of a racket that ripped off close to Rs 1.8 crore from HSBC clients. Coming on the heels of scams built around Karan Bahree (Infinity e-search) and Samuel Thomas (Mphasis-Citibank), there are now questions galore on the inadequacy of our cyber laws, the data protection mechanisms, the future of BPO if this keeps on happening, etc.
Things like these happen in other countries, too, if only to prove that human beings are after all human with their own moral and ethical frailties. But the key question is: Is India the unrivalled global capital of cads, crooks, cheats and the corrupt?
An extraordinarily rotten society of venal scamsters, individual and institutional, willing to do anything, everything, for a few rupees more?
Look at the pantheon of people caught with their hand in the till in the recent past: Actors, bankmen, bureaucrats, businessmen, constables, cricketers, culture czars, customs officials, defencemen, electricity linemen, engineers, excise officials, foreign service officers, government clerks, income-tax officials, industrialists, journalists, ministers, phone linemen, police officers, politicians, professors, software tycoons…
Of course, there are honourable exceptions. but….
It’s a heart-breaking question to ask, but is it—corruption, crookedness, cheating—in our genes? Does any other country in the solar system match this kind of mind-numbing, bottomless desire, across the board, to loot and scoot?
28 June 2006 at 9:40 pm
I was surprised how ‘Nadeem Kashmiri’ , a 12th passed out guy could get into ‘Accenture’ before joining HSBC .Looks like he prepared himself for ‘CON’ing and must be a smart guy too .He used his smartness for a wrong doing .
Oho yella deshdallu yidhae swami . Nigeria tops as CON country I suppose .Read this story in ‘Washington Post’.
China Discloses $1.1 Billion Bank Fraud
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/27/AR2006062700584.html
Manushyange aasae annodhu yirovaregu yidhella sahaja . adanna naanu helbeka nimge KP . Nimge Gothu ‘Pathe dhaari Ptrakartha’ neeve allvae
28 June 2006 at 11:03 pm
Surprised how ‘Nadeem kashmiri’ a 12th standard found a Job in accenture and HSBC
29 June 2006 at 2:21 am
Answer is – yes, it’s in our cultural genes, not the biological genes. We can apply this to explain many other things that we relate to different ethnicities as well. The same genes can explain why Indians have stable marriages, hard workers, good money savers, shrewd business men, corrupt and rude!
29 June 2006 at 3:14 am
ಈಗ ತಾನೆ ನಾನು ಓದಿದ ಹಾಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ದೇಶದಲ್ಲು ಇದೀದ್ದ್ದೆ
ನಾನು ವಾಶಿಂಟನ್ ಪೋಸ್ತ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಿದ್ಧು ಹೀಗೆ
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/27/AR2006062700584.html
29 June 2006 at 3:15 am
ಆಯ್ಯೊ ರಾಮ ಹೊಯ್ತಲ್ಲಾ
29 June 2006 at 3:20 am
ಒಳ್ಲೆಯ ವಿಶಯ …ನಾನು ಕೂಡಾ ಇಂದು ಒದಿದೆ
29 June 2006 at 3:24 am
ಈ ವಿಶಯ ವಾಶಿಂಗಟನ್ ಪೊಸ್ಟ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದದ್ದು
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/27/AR2006062700584.html
ಚೀನ ದೇಶದಲ್ಲು ಈ ಸಮಸ್ಯೆ ಇದೆ
29 June 2006 at 6:38 am
ನಮ್ಮ್ ವಂಕಟಾಚಲರಂತ ಅವರು ಯೆಲ್ಲಾ ರಾಜ್ಯಾ ದಲ್ಲು ಇದ್ದರೆ ಬಹಳ ಉಪಯೋಗ ವಾಗುತ್ತೆ..ನೀವು ಏನನ್ತೀರಾ
29 June 2006 at 8:05 am
On one hand it is good for us to think that we are the most corrupt and then to act on it. Think of how Indira Gandhi poo poohed the whole problem by syaing corruption isa world wide phenonomenon.
On the other hand, we need not feel ashamed that we are the most corrupt. There are various former communist countries from Soviet Union who vie for such position. I am familiar with three such countries, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkemnistan. I have tried to expose corruption in oil sector in those countries and it is as bad or even worse than over in India.
We all know about the high level of corruption in the most afflunet country in the world. In fact we should some times wonder (not out of psuedo patriotism or misplaced nationalism) despite being extremely poor, how there are some honest people in our country?
29 June 2006 at 12:50 pm
Countries in erstwhile soviet union are moving from communism to democracy. Corruption is not new to them. Before people were not aware of corruption because they didn’t had access to the govt machinaries and did not know what is going-on.
But I wonder how corruption started in India where this land has leaders like m k gandhi, s v patel, l b shastri, etc., who were clean and died poor. Is it the nehru family (i gandhi, s gandhi, r gandhi, etc.,) or the congress party in general started and nurtured this evil.
corruption in india is so rampant and stretched everywhere that people have accepted it as part of life. only the people who live or travel outside will realize how dangerous this evil is and has become. afterall, those are the only ones who easily recognise it and get disheartened about it.
i guess, “trunamapi na chalathi thena vina” has to be changed “trunamapi na chalathi luncha vina”
29 June 2006 at 1:22 pm
the root of corruption in india is the way we achieved freedom. freedom struggle was reduced to hero worship & party worship. this later took the shape of corruption. real ideas, real voices like netaji were suppressed and sycophancy was encouraged. what we are experiencing now are the after effects .
INDIAN DEMOCRACY IS DAY-LIGHT ROBBERY PERSONIFIED.
( best example is BMIC PROJECT)
29 June 2006 at 4:34 pm
Nobody seems to be surprised how Bush could become Prez of the US, Dr Reddy build a hospital empire, Venkaiah naidu the prez of the BJP- one wonders whether the Lincoln thing about not being able to fool all the people all the time has exceptions
batthini
30 June 2006 at 12:32 pm
This is the thing which has its roots evrywhere idhu ondu thara devara hage sarvanthryami. Kanakadasarige hege devaru illade iro jaga sigalillavo hage namage luncha illade iro jaga sigolla. Namma deshadalli melininda kelaginvaregu ellaru thogothare bere deshadalli secret aagi doddoru thogothare adhu gothu aagolla .
I have read about woman who was sitting infront of the Whiter house protesting against wars. The photo which i had seen showed her carrying a placard saying down down to the govt who lives on the kick backs of weapon manufacturers.
This doesn’t mean that wwe shouldn’t feel ashame.MH avare idhu nija ee lanchavatharada soothradari I Gandhi. During her tenure only this evil started.
1 July 2006 at 12:47 pm
To trace roots of corruption is like discussing the theory of evolution, that whether Darwin was right or there is some intelligence that created the Homosapiens. It has existed, exists and continue to exist and its origin is buried in the womb of time. It is subtle and like viral fever there is no specific remedy because there is a constant mutaion and no medicine is effective. The best way as evrybody knows is to suffer in silence. Amen
2 February 2009 at 5:50 pm
What is this corruption you talking about. It is nothing to the corruption we have in Sri Lanka! We have invented it long time ago and distributed free of charge to those who wanted it. Our corruption makers are highly qualified and elected to the Parliament too. It was in their great grandfather’s genes and they are very proud of it!
2 February 2009 at 10:14 pm
Its funny how some Indians (nee Hindus) speak of corruption in our country :)
“but is it—corruption, crookedness, cheating—in our genes?”
Conveniently, the accuser always forgets himself in this free-for-all!