Corruption is operationally defined as the misuse of entrusted power for private gain. Like most colonised countries, India too became a victim of this scourge in post-Independence days, when power was transferred into unmeritorious hands. Corrupt practices came to be recognised as clever aberrations, not as despicable misdemeanours.

Some argue that gift giving and taking as part of negotiating and building relationships is a normal practice in many non-Western cultures. Cultural relativism ends where the Swiss bank account enters the scene. There are limits set in all cultures beyond which an action becomes corrupt and unacceptable. In a democracy, the political mandate is given by the people. Misusing this publicly entrusted power for private gain is inherently contradictory and cannot be reconciled with democracy.

Facilitation payments — where a bribe is paid to receive preferential treatment for something that the bribe receiver is required to do by law, constitute ‘according to rule’ corruption. A retired major-general visited the Regional Transport Office 15 times, to get a simple job done since he chose, out of conviction, not to bribe him through an ‘agent’. On the other hand, is a bribe paid to obtain services the bribe receiver is prohibited from providing? A typical example is the recent news report of a raid at the residence of a high-ranking army ordinance officer, involved in the purchase of ‘war-like’ equipment, unearthing disproportionate assets to a tune of Rs 50 crore. In order to amass Rs 50 crore, the corrupt officer must have allowed at least 10 times that amount — the nation’s precious assets — to be ‘earned’ by the bribe-givers.

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