Question Raised: Patriotism and Corruption

Someone has asked: "A person has bribed an officer of another country as part of his duties, and has saved his country from certain shame. Is it acceptable?"

The answer is: we have no moral position on this. Since such examples are but a small minority, we have decided to ignore them in the larger interest.

Question Raised: Is it open to persons from all countries?

The problem of corruption and harassment in government offices is a worldwide problem. And it is a problem of huge dimensions. So any participation is welcome!!

However, because we have just started, we will first concern ourselves with problems that we know first-hand: the problem in India.

Besides, the socio-political situation differs from nation to nation, and trying to provide general solutions could just lead to ineffective solutions. Therefore we would prefer to concentrate on India alone.

Question (Not Yet) Raised: Are you taking a high moral stand?

Yes, we are.

Not because we are 100% clean, but because we would like to be.

If someone feels corruption is right, we would respect him/her for this opinion! We would not even try to change such persons to our mode of thinking!

This blog is meant for those who feel that corruption is wrong and evil, irrespective of their being either clean or corrupt themselves.

Question (Not Yet) Raised: Why is this blog in English?

We are sorry. We would like to post content in Hindi and other Indian languages, but ...

It is our limitation at this point. We are trying to overcome it.

Question Raised: How do you define corruption?

Now this is a question we were hoping no one would ask. We politely decline to answer this at this time. Right now, we feel we have a fair idea of what corruption is, and trying to weave it into a watertight definition would only be an academic exercise. We feel it is a bit early.

However, if there are definitions that you feel strongly about, send them to us at jeevavetta@gmail.com

But we will not publish them just yet!

Question Raised: Isn't participation risky?

If you want to oppose something so strong as a corruption racket, it is obvious. The risks are high. But lok at the risks of not participating.... (Besides being part of corruption is more risk!)

As it is we have reached a stage where many of us have been corrupt in some way or the other, where we have either taken advantage of loopholes in the law or in its implementation...., we have taken advantage of bypassing law when no one was watching.... of ignoring traffic signals, of giving a donation to get a child admitted to school.... of paying a tip to the waiter after having lunch at a restaurant.

The result is we now do not have the moral right to raise our individual voice against corruption. We are afraid of being told "Those who live in glass houses do not throw stones at others' houses".

This is where raising our voice together is important. As a community, we still are not that corrupt. We do not still proudly tell our children that we are corrupt. The risk is that if we do not take personal risks in the safety of a group, we will lose this morality as a community, as a nation. Can we take the risk of losing this collective morality?

Question Raised: What about retired employees?

Retired - and current - employees have a special role to play. Whether they have been honest or corrupt, it does not matter. What is important is what they feel about corruption and harassment in government offices. And if they have been corrupt, we would like them to own up, repent and as a compensation, identify (without naming anyone) the ways and means of maintaining channels of corruption.

Question Raised: Once Corrupt, always Corrupt??

No, we don't believe so. Each person is good at heart and circumstances make him or her corrupt. Through this initiative we hope to make a platform available to support those who would like to own up to earlier acts and be willing to face the legal consequences thereof. The support could be in the form of mental conditioning, advise on avoiding confrontation and reprisals from earlier connections etc.

Of course, support from all is essential here. Send your opinions and suggestions to jeevavetta@gmail.com

Question Raised: How will we help each other?

We have certain ideas (wait! we can't disclose them now) and more ideas are expected from readers. Send in your ideas to jeevavetta@gmail.com

The answers will be posted in this space soon. So keep visiting!

Why should we be ashamed?

Dear Government Servants of the Central or any State Government or any Local Governing Bodies like Municipal Corporations, Municipalties, Zilla Parishads, and of Services/Departments like Police, Customs, Income Tax, Sales Tax, Octroi, etc.


Do you like it when people assume that because you are in Government Service you must be corrupt? It is a fact that there is corruption in the Government offices and there is harassment of the public who come to Government offices to get there work done. But not every Government servant is like that.

• There are a few who are corrupt to the core,
  
• many more who are corrupt to a moderate degree,
  
• those who are not corrupt but are forced to be part of a corruption racket
• those who are not corrupt and stay away from corruption rackets
• a few who are not corrupt and who silently fight corruption
• very few who are not corrupt and actively fight corruption

This is an attempt to bring together on a common platform the last three groups and help each other to support and maintain their dignified service status. It is also our goal to help the persons in the first three groups to come out of the forced or accepted state of corrupt service.

Please write to us with your views. Send us an email at jeevavetta@gmail.com

Come, let us join together and pledge ourselves to corruptionfree and harassmentfree service of our countryment and thus serve our country. Jai Hind