Honest officers think of accepting bribes to evade transfer to inconvenient places !

Findings of research conducted in 7 States by Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur !

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Udaipur (Rajasthan) – It is a known fact that there is corruption in Government offices. If the officers work honestly, they can be transferred to inconvenient places; therefore, honest officers choose to accept bribes, as per the findings of a survey conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur, with the initiative of the ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ newspaper group. In many cases, people don’t appreciate honest officers is also another finding of this survey. The research was conducted in 7 States, viz. Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat.

Professor of IIM Udaipur Dr Saurabh Gupta

Professor Dr Saurabh Gupta of IIM, Udaipur studied 86 people that included 36 students from Bihar who had passed the preliminary examination of UPSC, and 50 students and officers from other 6 States. The research was conducted through practical experiments, group discussions, etc., obtaining their thoughts on honesty and corruption. They were even asked about a solution to this problem, and they said that though there are stringent laws against corruption, the whole system has become rotten.

Mentality observed about corruption !

1. Officers are scared if the bribe involved a huge amount and if there was a likelihood of causing harm to people on a large scale because such cases soon come to light and can result in their losing jobs, besides defamation of such officers.

2. Officers can accept bribes in case the issue does not affect people and its punishment is not severe. Many such issues are brought to light, but in negligible cases, the concerned officers have been punished; therefore, they are not scared of their corrupt practices.

3. The Government does encourage a few honest officers, but officers normally cooperate with the Government and take a soft stand on the Government’s action.

Editorial viewpoint

With such a mentality of honest Government officers in India, will corruption be ever eliminated ? This situation makes it imperative to establish a Hindu Rashtra consisting of virtuous rulers and citizens !