look: what patterns and practices distinguish us.
by Aakar Patel
Analysis on corruption in India does not address its cultural aspect. We see
nothing peculiar about corruption in India (except that it is everywhere). We
see many corrupt individuals in a system unable to correct itself. Our media
reports corruption episodically. One independent incident of greed follows
Let us set all that aside and look at it differently. No race can be
congenitally corrupt. But can a race be corrupted by its culture? To know why
Indians are corrupt let’s look elsewhere. What patterns and practices
Religion is transactional in India.
We give God cash and anticipate an out-of-turn reward. Our plea acknowledges we
aren't really deserving. The cash compensates for our lack of merit. In the
world outside the temple walls, such a transaction has a name: “bribe”. In India
God accepts cash from us, not good work, for which there is no reward. We don't
expect something from God in return for sweeping our neighbourhood streets. We
go with money.
Observe this in another way.
Why does the wealthy Indian give not cash to temples, but gold crowns and such
To ensure his gift isn't squandered on feeding the poor. Our pay-off is for God.
It’s wasted if it goes to man.
See what this has produced:
In June 2009, The Hindu published a report of Karnataka minister G. Janardhan
Reddy gifting a crown of gold and diamonds worth Rs 45 crore to Tirupati.
According to the temple’s website, Tirupati got 3,200kg silver and 2.4kg of
diamonds in just one year.
alone it is worth Rs 325 crore. In May 2010, according to The Economic Times,
1,075kg of gold was deposited by Tirupati with the State Bank of India (SBI) for
safe keeping. In 2009, 500kg was deposited with the Indian Overseas Bank.
of gifted gold ornaments because devotees had stuck precious stones to their
gift. This 8 tonnes of metal, worth Rs 1,680 crore but actually useless, was
gathering dust in temple vaults.
deposited with SBI, and the temple trustees had yet another 3,000kg of gold
What will they do with all this metal? Gold-plate the walls of the temple (lending new meaning to the phrase “India Shining”).
aren't vulgar to Indians but because it might have damaged wall inscriptions.
When God accepts money in return for his favours, what is wrong with my doing the same thing? Nothing. This is why Indians are so easily corruptible. Our
culture accommodates such transactions morally. This is key. There is no real
stigma. The demonstrably corrupt Indian leader can harbour hope of a comeback,
unthinkable in the West.
Question is: Why do we have a transactional culture while civilized nations don't?
The answer is that we haven't learnt to trust one another as Europeans have.
Indians do not buy the theory that we can all rise if each of us behaves
morally, because that is not the message of our faith. This is the third point.
Our faith assures us that God will deliver for us individually, but we must
deliver to him too.
When Europeans came here they built schools (there were zero schools in Gujarat
before Mountstuart Elphinstone built the first 10 in the 1820s). When we go to
Europe we build more temples. Patels alone have built 12 Swaminarayan temples in
Unfortunately, the European is tolerant and the Indian quite shameless, though
it’s true also that he’s unaware of what he’s doing. He’s practising his magic
in a culture where it isn't needed. He doesn't need God’s favours in a society
that isn't corrupt, that is moral, that is equal. All he needs is hard work,
which he’s quite capable of giving. Some might say the doctrine of our faith
doesn't support this behaviour. That shouldn't concern us here. We’re talking
about its practice, the way we do religion, rather than its philosophy, which is
The way we do it is Hobbesian.
We are up against everyone else, except God and even he must be bribed.