WHY NOT LEGALISE  ‘ CORRUPTION’?

An NRI fried of mine visited me at my home in Maryland. Over drinks he talked about  what he called a ‘ tragic’ experience’ he had when he visited India a month earlier.

‘What was the tragic experience ?‘  I  asked expecting the usual tirade against delays at airports, corruption and such  other staple  topics of NRI conversation.

‘’I met a businessman friend  of mine in Mumbai. I asked him how he could sleep in peace when he and his companies had borrowed  such colossal amounts from banks and institutions’ he said.

‘But’ I added   ’ that is how businessmen  grow anywhere  in the world’.

‘What shocked me was his reply’ said my NRI friend  ’That guy coolly told me that when he had borrowed so much money it is the lender who loses sleep’

My friend felt this was an example of the irresponsible  Indian businessman.

 Being  a good host  I did not tell him the  facts of the case.

It is obvious to me that no business can grow anywhere in the world without funds coming in from people other than the promoters.  Even a school  boy in India will tell you that there is  nothing wrong with using resources from banks and  the stock markets. It is a fact that lenders and other investors in a company have a large stake in the business. The businessman friend from Mumbai was just placing facts in a matter of fact way. It does not mean that he was about to scoot with all these funds—he has been around for more than thirty years and has every intention to leave a grand  legacy.

But there is another way of looking at this episode that I wish to dwell on. When NRI’s from the US tell you in patronizing tones   such things as irresponsible  businessmen from India they do not tell you of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US which enables a  businessman to wash his hand from all his dues to any lender. In all such cases it is the lenders who lose far more than the promoter businessman. Sounds familiar to something you have heard before? Yes this is what the aforementioned  Indian businessman was  referring to in a lighter vein. What is more the Americans have come out with a law to try and prevent businessmen from MISUSE   of Chapter  11 ! So to me, sarcastic comments about Indian businessman seem one sided to say the least.

I have just come across a news item in the Washington Post that says that the sugar industry  leaders in the US have attended luncheon hosted by  Congressmen –each lunch is priced at several thousands of dollars. These are the American sophisticated methods of bribing the politicians. Back home in India our sugar lobby would do the same in an unsophisticated manner—suitcases containing cash  would be placed  below politicians’ tables, bar girls would humour them and so on. But the purpose would be the same—to influence policy. Why single out our businessmen alone for being corrupt?   Our Indian media  gleefully publishes reports of India’s  ‘high’ ranking in the corruption index released by Transparency International. Once this report is released articles appear in papers and panel discussions are held in TV channels at which ‘ experts’ savagely attack our politicians and bureaucrats, Few of these experts  who are forever comparing India with the  US tell us that Americans have reduced corruption through   an ingenious method—they have  legalized the  passing of money  to politicians. This legal method works through  two ways—lobbying and donations. One of the most sought after professionals in the USA  are ‘ lobbyists’ who earn fabulous salaries. Rajiv Gandhi contemptuously called such Indian lobbyists

‘ power brokers’. They are an indispensable part of the America scene. These lobbyists use the same methods that Indian power brokers use—money, sex, foreign trips, house remodeling etc. I can cite at least one example    of each of these in the US but space considerations prevent me from doing so.

The US has legalized what we  in India call ‘ bribery’. But if  the amount of money that is channeled to politicians in the US every year is classified as bribing then   the US would be far more corrupt than India.

It strikes  me that India also ought to legalize certain dealings that cannot  be  eradicated.

Let us just talk of the cricket series between India and Pakistan now underway in India.  Any kid in the subcontinent will tell you that a match between these countries is the mother  of all cricketing battles no matter what the British or Australians say. Thousands of crores of rupees will be at stake  in the betting ’ racket’. No amount of policing can prevent this betting. No  doubt there will be some allegations against Dawood  Ibrahim and     some ‘ investigation’. But we know from past experience that nothing  will ever come out of these ‘ investigations.’ Why not the Government  legalize betting and allow an approved body to conduct a betting scheme along the lines of a lottery? Some counties in the  US are able to carry out  several civic projects  with the millions of dollars raised from lottery schemes. People in India might well prefer to patronize these approved betting  schemes rather than deal with shadowy underworld thugs.

However we are caught up in a make believe world of fake  morality. 

How can we legalize betting...Chee  chee   Chee’ I can hear some people say. It reminds me of Gujerat where millions of people imbibe alcohol but when  you ask politicians why not scrap prohibition laws they say

Chee Chee Chee..this is the land of Mahatma Gandhi..how can we scrap prohibition’?

 To which I can only say

‘Where was your reverence for the Mahatma in 2002 the year of the Gujerat riots?’

K.R.RAVI

USA