It was in the month of August in the year 1942 that the “Quit India” slogan was chanted by the nation asking the British to leave India. The slogan had charged the entire country and five years later the British actually quit India. It is in the same month of August some 70 years later that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a clarion call to rid India of corruption and other vices that still continue to plague it. What is important is that corruption is persisting since the British days. No wonder the first Prime Minister of India had emphatically said that the corrupt would be hanged by the nearest lamppost. That was more than half a century ago and Jawaharlal Nehru was talking about hoarders, profiteers and black marketers making a fast buck and holding the poor to ransom.

That it remained just a cliché can hardly be doubted as global rating agencies continue to rate India as among the most corrupt countries in the world. It was this prevalent corruption that made the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India make a historic observation around a decade ago that everyone wants to loot the country and the only way to rid the country of the corrupt is to “hang a few” of them by the nearest lamppost. With the number of such people rising in geometric progression, we will certainly run short of those lampposts if hanging them was exercised as an option. That notwithstanding, the fact remains that the corruption is rising and the corrupt are thriving despite Prime Ministers expressing their concern time and again. The irony is that corruption has consumed Government after Government, but the phenomenon continues to exist. The 1974 Jayaprakash Narayan movement was against corruption epitomised by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi-led Government.

The VP Singh Government came on high moral grounds challenging corruption at high places. The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi himself talked about corruption eating at the foundation of the country as he called the Congress the party of power brokers and was anguished at the “fence eating the crop”. Successive Governments fell prey to corruption, including the last one. But corruption did not end, making the present Prime Minister give a call to end corruption. Why is it soIJ And is there a way outIJ We need to look for answers beyond changing Governments. When corruption charges were levelled against Indira Gandhi, she put up a brave front saying corruption is a global phenomenon.

That her party was wiped out from almost entire North India was just a cosmetic change if what followed her fall is analysed. A frustrated electorate brought her back. Corruption may or may not be a global phenomenon, but it certainly is a human phenomenon. The answer then must come from the people. They must change. The post-modern India is too materialistic and self-centred to ponder over corruption. Everyone wants to make a fast buck. And with minimum efforts. Some make money in the process and most lose out for their lust and greed. Sensitising people against corruption needs to be looked into. People don’t look down on corruption because they have accepted it as a way of life. Honesty is treated as outdated and not in tune with times. We need to make honesty as the new fashion and the scenario will change.

The writer is a professor of management and public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com