Corruption is socially acceptable in India’

‘Corruption is socially acceptable in India’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: Corruption is socially acceptable in India and millions of Indian families bribe public servants for access to basic services, said former chief vigilance commissioner Pratyush Sinha on Friday at a talk organised by the Federation of AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci) in association with the Hyderabad Management Association.
    Sinha said that while 30% of all Indians was totally corrupt, 50% of them are borderline cases. He added that just about 20 % Indians were honest. The report card on corruption in India also had a social angle with Sinha pointing out that in modern India, it is the rich person who gets automatic respect. TNN“If somebody has a lot of money, he is respectable. Nobody questions by what means he has made his money,” Sinha said. He added that while in the past people used to look down upon the corrupt, that was no longer the case.
    “There was at least some social stigma attached to it. That is gone. So, there is greater social acceptance now for the corrupt,” he said. It was for this reason, he said, that India is regarded as a hotbed of illegal betting syndicates, with gamblers and bookmakers involved in spotfixing in cricket matches.
    Quoting from the findings of a Transparency International, Sinha said that the the global anti-graft body has put India 84th on its corruption perception index with a 3.4-point rating, in a best possible score of 10.