Changing the mindset

A paper prepared by the Union ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions for the Civil Services Day has admitted the presence of corruption at all levels of the administration. In this connection it also points to the nexus between the top echelons of the bureaucracy and the politicians.

This must be considered a significant development as such an admission did not mark even the vociferous anti-corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare.

This sounds more realistic than the virulent attempt to arouse public sentiments by a team of self-appointed moralists who were more bent upon fixing the blame than to end corruption. The very motive of the campaign got corrupted for want of honesty of purpose.

The paper admits that bribery has been institutionalized and officialdom has come to recognize corruption as an inevitable part of the administration. Illegal gratification is often justified as 'speed money.'

The ministry has also gone into possible ways of checking corruption and comes with an important suggestion: that of changing the mindset of civil servants.

The paper is likely to be discussed openly at Vigyan Bhavan on April 21,the Civil Services Day held in honour of the civil servants who constitute the backbone of the administration.

Corruption charges against politicians and bureaucrats are nothing new. Is it possible to improve the situation by replacing one set of people by another? Changing the mindset is a far deeper issue.

The scriptures have a lot to say about human nature and corruption is mentioned therein as a part of human nature. And corruption is as old as human nature.

The human heart is the source of all corruption if we go by the Bible. Greed and covetousness , the desire for unjust gain are all part of human psyche and to wish them away will be folly.

Can the government think of any magic wand whereby these seeming limitations of human nature can be overcome? Will it be able to better the pay packets and privileges so that no civil servant is tempted to make extra money through bribery? Will moral education achieve the trick? Or institution of strict laws and increased punishment drive away corruption from our midst?

For the first time the government has come to admit that corruption has been institutionalized. It is far more correct to accept the universal truth that man is born with a corrupted nature and it takes far more than legislation to set things right.

The twentieth century has witnessed more progress than in any other century in human history. Travel, communications, medicine, engineering and related fields have witnessed revolutionary changes.

Dr Charles Colson, celebrated Christian author , points out the one area which had not changed at all over all these yearsâ€"the condition of the human heart. Perhaps it has changed a little for the worse.

G K Chesterton had observed : 'The doctrine of original sin is the only philosophy empirically validated by thirty five hundred years of human history. "We have been able to improve everything in the twentieth century except the condition of the human heart and man's inhumanity to man."

Jesus dealt with it best. He said that which proceeds out of the heart of a manâ€"fornication, theft, murder, adultery, deeds of coveting and wickedness as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander , pride and foolishnessâ€"all of these evil things proceed from within and defiles man.

Can man be good without God? This is an issue which philosophers had debated for long. For any society to be sustained on moral values, there has to be faith in the Creator who lays down the laws of life.

While the pursuit of pleasure had received full attention of the human race, the erosion of values and moral decadence that accompanied material progress had played havoc with stability, harmony and peace.

While on the one hand the means of procuring 'happiness' had increased with the advance of technology, the danger of being hooked on to mindless violence, drugs, promiscuity and licentiousness had increased too. The distinction between right and wrong, greed and contentment

The western idea of progress along with increasing production and consumption has not been an unmitigated evil. Prisons had been overflowing with offenders, social evils had gone on increasing , lawlessness and inequity mark governance.

In such a scenario there is no short cut to change things overnight. Along with confession of wrongs, there must come repentance and a turning to God who had promised to put a new spirit within man. This is the content of the Christian message which the missionaries from olden times had tried to preach to the developing nations without much success.

Yet there is no alternative to the transformation of the human heart which is the source of all ills, particularly corruption.

Dr Colson puts it succinctly: "There is a God who sets standards of right and wrong. There is such a thing as absolute truth despite the fact that everyone says that truth is what you find it to be. Most educational institutions are teaching that todayâ€"that truth is relative. No, there is absolute truth and there is hope. There is something more important to live for than just personal pleasure. There is something to know, love and worship the God who created us. "

And he adds: "The only way we fix the anger, bitterness, and hatred that is in us , that causes the moral breakdown in our society, is when the righteousness of God comes into our lives."