To Bribe Or Not To – That Is The Question!
I believe most of us have faced this dilemma at some point or the other. People bribe for petty things in India e.g. gas connection, phone connection, phone line repair, passport, income tax clearance, traffic violation and loads of other things. Sometimes one has to bribe just to get an appointment with a senior official. The question is should we be doing this? The ideal answer is no but as most people will tell you that it is ok to bribe as it saves lot of time and energy. Some would even defend the right to take bribe citing low salaries and benefits as an excuse.
I tried looking around to see how most people handled it when faced with a situation. It seems many people in different countries have faced this situation. Here is story of someone who got stopped in Mexico for traffic violations
This particular transito seemed miffed as well that I didn´t offer him money at first. I didn´t want to contribute to the cycle of corruption. But I also didn´t want to suffer personal expenses to be a martyr for a cause. I was trying to be realistic. After my third encounter with a transito, I´m actually starting to believe that bribing a transito, even a particularly repugnant one, may be the lesser of all evils.
while dealing with the transito she found out how much the transito made as salary and that got her thinking
But this line got me thinking – Who is really at fault here? These guys depend on bribes as a way of living. Really, the situation of a transito in Mexico is similar to that of a waitress in the States. Both earn next to nothing and live off tips or bribes.
And she decided to continue paying bribe
I have finally come to the conclusion, whether it be right or wrong, that I will continue to bribe Transitos if need be until I can sell my car and buy a Mexican one. That way, I will be able to let them ticket me without them confiscating any of my documents.
A similar incident where the payment of the bribe was refused, Keith had to suffer quite a bit
Well, I didn’t pay the bribe.
As a result, I lost the bike, missed a key appointment in the afternoon, and finished the day with very sore feet and a sunburned face. The bike had to be collected and the fine paid the next day.
There are other examples as well like one here and here.
Now everybody doesn’t have the courage or the time that Keith had and as was the case Amy she decided to bribe because the risk of losing the documents was even higher.
So the question is whether is it ever OK to bribe? The immediate answer would be no. Some people might say “perhaps”. I personally think given the circumstances sometimes you are left with no choice. An example is of an NRI who goes back to India for a short trip and loses his passport. The only possible way perhaps for him is to have a high connection and pay a hefty bribe to be able to get the passport back in time.
Is low salary good enough a reason to ask for a bribe? The answer again is no. But one might also argue that given the salaries of some it is difficult to survive in a city like say Delhi or Mumbai.
My personal encounter with bribery has come on many occassions but one specific one that comes to mind is the time when I needed income tax clearance before leaving for USA. The file wouldn’t move until I paid. Since time was short I somehow found a friend who knew the Income Tax collector and through him I got my income tax clearance certificate. Not only I did not have to pay the monetary bribe (I used the connection bribe), the official didn’t take even the official fee required to issue the certificate.
Finally I feel that most people will say that it in theory they will not bribe but in practice it is OK to bribe…
For those who have some time at their hands can use RTI to fight small cases of corruption and escape paying bribes.
November 2, 2006
· 
Ajit · 
17 Comments
Posted in: Bribe, Uncategorized
17 Responses
Well the thing is people don’t the time and enthusiasm to stand for justice. They want to get things done quickly, as was you case with IT officer. People don’t mind parting away with a small amount. But the real burden of bribe comes to the poor. For us the amount might be meagre but for them it is a big ask. We not only commit the moral crime by paying bribe but we also make life a hell for those who cannot afford!
BTW i have heard that people in Indonessia are honest corrupts
..they at least do the work they are bribed for! In India who aren’t even sure whether your job will be done or not. I have had an ordeal with my passport..may be i will write something about it 
Since it saves us time, and since most of us are okay not complaining about it, may be there is no problem here. Thus, I argue.
If we really hated bribery and corruption so much, we would be spending personal time to do something about it. Most of us don’t. So that tells me, most of us don’t mind these acts of corruption.
How does that sound!? Well, that logic has a flaw. Like Sharique said. These amounts are trivial for some, substantial for many.
But still, it is more than a rich poor thing. We all have hands and mouths. And it is not the age of Mangal Pandey that you will get shot if you raise your hand or voice against the Babus.
Collective cowardice, and our selfish way of leading lives. Thats what I put it down to. And it shows up everywhere, not just in these acts of bribery and corruption.
Silkboard: bowing to you sir. Couldnt have put it better. “Collective cowardice”. It might not be collective actually come to think of it. Its still individual cowardice. No?
Sharique,
The burden comes on the poor but I don’t think it is a rich vs poor thing. Even the rich have to pay bribe. It may not pinch them that much though.
And I have heard about honest corrupts in china as well.
silkboard
You are right in concluding that we don’t mind. In fact even before we go to the office we almost make up our minds that we would have to pay the bribe.
Collective cowardice as you say could be the reason but as indiamusing points out ultimately it is individual cowardice. But what as I pointed out that given the time some people might fight it out but most do not have the time to do so.
Given the pathetic state of implementation of anti corruption laws, people have very little reason to stand up. If one complains against an erring officer, the anti corruption squad doesn’t do anything and what ends up happening is that the guy who complains ends up to be the biggest loser.
There is no support from any quarters to the guy who wants to fight corruption. I can see that RTI might help but even that can do only so much.
India Up the Honesty Ladder « Polite Indian - November 7, 2006
[...] 21,000 crore of bribe is a huge amount. Knowing this would your answer to this question be any different? [...]
PI/Indiamusing – It is more of collective cowardice because of this reason. We dont take these corrupt officials on because we fear other harassed individuals wont support us. No-one wants to be the first, we all want to follow. Hey, let another Gandhi-ji or dictator appear on the scene and then we will take the system on – I hear this so many times.
But, in the confines of our own homes or surroundings, we all act like lions.
today, ours is a country of coward followers. That is why I term this as collective cowardice.
silkboard,
You may be right in terming collective cowardice.
I think that this can be tackled well if some kind of movement is built against corruption. Till now one couldn’t do much at an individual level but RTI has changed that and not only that it is actually helping build a movement which might turn out to be good in the long run.
People bribe because they are left with NO CHOICE or CHOICES are extremely difficult ones.
The the system of bribes happen because it is actively promoted by creating artificial shortages.
On “Collective Cowardice”:
Catch up on the news. A Judge in Delhi has asked for her case to be withdrawn after 12 Years of fighting.
Read here:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/when-a-judge-loses-faith-in-judiciary/26623-3.html
If a judge cannot get justice – you can very well imagine the condition of oridnary folks. There is serious problem with a judiciary and large govt. bureaucracy. This requires urgent attention. If collective has to happen to change it – it wouldn’t happen on its own – it happens as always – as a result of leadership.
Good Leadership is important.
Unwittingly, I had to pay a bribe to a cop in India for unintentional jumping off road signal.
Then I thought of comparing Tips with Bribe.Here is the list.
Tips:
Popular in USA
Bribe:
Very common in India,
Tips:
Paid after good service,
Bribe:
to be paid for promised service.
Tips:
Considered Legal
Bribe:
Illegal and can be jailed by ACB “If caught”.
Tips:
Popular at Hotels and tourist places,
Bribe:
Occurs at all levels, more in Govt. Depts.,
It also occurs at highest level in politics and called “Kick backs”
Tips:
The customer pays to the frontend person.
Bribe: genearlly, Govt. looses its money.
Tips:
do not create much black money
Bribes:
Create a lot of unaccounted money.
Bribe:
only ammount of 10 to 15% reached to the poor targeted and 90% goes
to middlemen.
I welcome some more comparisons and contrasts from your readers.
Paid for good service
ARK,
Pretty nice comparision. But I guess tips can be considered voluntary whereas bribe is not.
hhhhhh
Well.You all are talking about India. Let us talk about USA, where all desi comes here and bribg corruption form back home India/paksitan. I went to Indian Embassy in Chicago IL in 2001 to apply for a Indian Passport and took care of all requirment. I called them many times and no responce over the phone. I went to see Embacider and they refused to me saying that he is not there, after they found out reason and I found out he is in the office. FInally I went to see him and he asked me stupid question saying what proof do you have you are from India.They checked my police back ground form India but giving me a hard time. They keep on using differnt excuses not to give my passport till today and someone told me one ladey go ge tevery onc epassport to embassy but I have to pay her $1000 in her hand asw a bribe. WHy I should give my hard money earned if I fullfilled everything I supposed to. Few months latter I left to Atlanta, GA and called from there and long hold. And finally they told me I have to bring someone to themwho knows me from back home, then they told me if I am a citizen/Green card of USA and if I can’t proove that they can’t issue me passport, saying htey have to report to immigraqtion and basically they were aswking me to pay big amount not to report to immigration. If I have green card or not,fact is I am Indian citizen and Indian passport means or to whome to issue those are indian citizens, where is a question here about about American citizen as I wa snot asking USA passport from them.I send them certified mail and email few times but not received passport yet. These Indian criminals those are corruptd back home, exploite their own people and more money is less for them and suck their ownpeople bone mero till they die. I like to find out if there is any way to punish these corrupted Desi working for Indian embassy in USA chicago.
If you ave to give bribe take your camera and tape recod with you and after you given them bribe as no choice, report them to Govt agency with proof you have.
Dear Polite Indian,
In my opinion, Bribe givers and Bribe takers, both must be slapped with shoes (Dono ko Jute marana chahiye) at public places. The givers are creating inconvenience to others and takers are getting habituated to it and smell blood everywhere. Once takers mouth blood, they never want to abandon it and givers are making an illegal work legal. There are many occasions where givers, with help of takers, are making the law of land their prostitutes. Development of a land is also being affected because of these bastards. Please excuse me for the unconstitutional world, but this comes from me because of my experiences with these anti-social elements. For more details read my paper at: vinay1340.wordpress.com.
Thanks & Regards,
Vinaya
Sabrina,
I am not sure, if recording of bribing and reporting to government agency in India will work. What if, that agency also shares the bribe? The best way is to bring that tape to the eyes of public with the help of NGO or media.
Thanks and Regards,
Vinaya
Someone I work with visits your blog frequently and recommended it to me to read too. The writing style is excellent and the content is interesting. Thanks for the insight you provide the readers!
Leave a Reply