I have a good friend who used to to tell me this sentence, “All are guilty until proven innocent”. I took his comment on the lighter side.

But, now during election time, I had an interesting debate with my friend about political parties and their qualities. My friend was putting the entire blame on Politicians for corruption in the country. I was unable to accept that. I told him that almost everyone is corrupt in this world. Politicians are no exceptions. He didn’t agree to my statement. I gave some examples to prove my statement:

1. A petty shop owner who has his shop on the road bribes the police to run his business. Here you may say that “Police is corrupt”.
2. A house owner bribes the “Property Evaluator” to reduce the “Property tax” for his house. Here you may say that “Property Evaluator” is corrupt.
3. A Driving License aspirant bribes RTO officer to get his driving license. Here you may say “RTO officer” is corrupt.
4. A motorist bribes Traffic Police when he violates a traffic signal. Here you may say “Traffic Police” is corrupt.
5. A person who has a “wait-listed” train ticket bribes the TTE to get a confirmed ticket. Here you may say “TTE” is corrupt.

All examples above show that a “Government Official” is corrupt.

Let’s take examples where a “Government Official” is not involved.

6. A software company owner or a Home User uses “Pirated Windows Operating System” / other “Pirated software” for his PC.
7. Many software professionals who earn very good salary downloads “Illegal copies of Music and Movies” from Internet.
8. A college student illegally takes photocopy of an expensive book to save money.
9. A reputed software company illegally sends it’s employees to foreign countries on “Business Visa” to work since “work permit” is not available for them.
10. People buy gold ornaments from jewelery shops without proper receipt/bill to reduce cost by not paying tax to the Government.

In the last 5 examples none of the Government Officials are involved. It is common people who are involved are “corrupt”.

Even after giving these examples, my friend was not willing to accept the statement “almost everyone is corrupt”. The reason, I believe, is, I missed few more words. I should have told him “almost everyone is corrupt in their mind”. If you are honest, you will understand what I mean.

A “petty shop” owner who invests, say, Rs.10,000/- for his shop will expect a return of at least Rs.1,000/- per month.

In India, at least 10 lakh people vote to elect a Member of Parliament (MP). Assume that each electoral candidate spends on an average Rs.10/- per vote during election time, he/she would have invested at least Rs.1 crore for his/her constituency (in reality, it is between Rs.10 Crores & Rs.20Crores).

Where did the candidate get this Rs.1 Crore from? Why does he/she spend such a huge amount during election? How will he/she get that money back?

Do you think that by becoming an MP one can earn Rs.1 Crore in 5 years through legal means? Impossible. When a petty shop owner wants to earn at least Rs.60,000 in 5 years for initial Rs.10,000 investment, what do you think the elected MP will do after investing at least Rs. 1 Crore for the election? He/she has to get at least 6 Crores in 5 years. How will he/she get this amount? Yes, you got it right – only by getting bribe. Hence corruption is inevitable in India. Do you have a different view point?