All want to steal, given the chance!

At 12.30 pm on Wednesday, all the corporate slaves heard an announcement: "There is a people rally outside in support of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. Those who are interested can participate."

As this was a chance to do a team outing, all slave guys and girls ran out. This kind of a protest rally was a new experience to many of the gen next minds, and they derived great fun from it. A few geeks were seen throwing their fist in the air and shouting slogan even after the rally, while returning to the office. But a security guard inside the gate couldn’t bear the noise as this was against the code of conduct to be followed inside the office premises. He charged to the crowd and spat some fiery non-vegetarian dialogues. The geeks swallowed their tongues, put their fists in their jeans pockets and hid themselves among their girl colleagues. A guerrilla tactic they learned from Baba Ramdev. The spirited demonstrators then proceeded to the office as a melancholic funeral procession, to take the next order from their master.

While any act by Indian business magnates to purge the country of corruption is most welcome, the activities of a section of corporates in the current Anna episode could be viewed as a desperate attempt to exorcise the corruption demon they let loose in the country by resorting to bribery for anything and everything.

For years, we have seen business men trying their level best to grease palms of finance ministers on the eve of each budget session to tip the balance of the year’s budget in their favour. We have also seen Shahid Balwas heavily bribing ministers and officials allegedly to get illegal telecom spectrum. The common man is not that innocent either. Just like a telecom magnate bribing a minister to get spectrum illegally, a common man would bribe a village officer to get a manipulated income certificate. It looks like everyone wants to steal, given the chance.

There is a flip side to the spectrum issue. The Government might have lost a presumptive amount of Rs. 1.75 lakh crore in the 2G spectrum allocation, but the poor Indian tax payers are now making calls at 1 paise per second - the cheapest rate in the world. This is due to the cheaper availability of spectrum and an increased competition in the market.

A transparent and fair spectrum allocation would have filled the exchequer. But in today’s India, are we confident enough to believe that a rich exchequer would not have been looted? Not to speak of the big holes the expensive spectrum would have created in the end customers’ pockets. Wait to frown, this cynicism is a by-product of the above said culture of corruption.

Now the ever increasing greed of politicians and bureaucrats are leaving the corporates in a very sticky situation. And some of them, as many of us, are waiting for a panacea to come out of the ongoing Anna movement.

After all, Anna is becoming India itself. Anything done in support of him is justified. Even a dog holding India’s flag in its mouth!