Saturday, May 24, 2014

Indians aren't corrupt by nature

I reject the notion that Indians are corrupt by nature.

The majority of people are corrupt by force, not choice. If one could earn a good living honestly without being beaten down every step of the way, one would prefer that to having to lick up and pay bribes.

There are also incentives in play. Not catching and punishing the corrupt gives an incentive to people to get away with it. A major part of lower corruption rates in US are because of higher chances of getting caught and punished. It's almost like the government is encouraging corruption.

1. Business. Stupid govt regulations make it impossibly difficult to conduct business fairly. Contracts aren't awarded by competence, but by kickbacks. Environmental clearance is given on the basis of political affiliation of the state govt. wrt center. Educational institutes are only allowed to to be non-profit. Kyun be?

2. Opportunity. The craze of being an IAS officer is highest in states that have the least economic opportunity: like Bihar and Odisha. If students could get well paying jobs more easily, would they want to risk multiple drop years to get into a competitive.
                                                                Image courtesy: http://fastfoodnationhonorsproject.weebly.com/
3. Govt. Services. The retired govt employee that has to bribe the officer to get his own retirement money back from the government doesn't do so happily. He is forced to do so. Otherwise he won't get his money back.

4. Lack of Accountability. There is absolutely no accountability for a govt. employee. He can't be sacked. His promotions are dependant on how many years he has been working - not on how well he's doing his job. Him not doing his job is also corruption. How do you get him to do his job? You pay him bribes.

If you still don't agree with me, tell me how many Indians do you know that are corrupt even after migrating to to the US or UK?

Friday, March 21, 2014

When was the last time you applied what you learnt from a book in real life?

I had rented a bunch of large utensils for a party. But I couldn't find someone to clean them afterwards.

Just then a trolley rickshaw puller rolled up. His trolley was empty, but he was pedaling slowly. So it didn't look like he was off to pick up stuff somewhere.

Image Courtesy: EVOLve_the soul scan bay


I stopped him and was about to say "I need my utensils cleaned. Will you do that work?" when I remembered some advice from a guy named Dale Carnegie in a book I read a decade ago "How to Win Friends and Influence People" which went like this

Don't talk about what you want. Talk about what he wants.


Courtsey: Reboot Authentic


So instead, I said "Would you like to earn 200 rupees?"

That probably was the biggest reason why he agreed to it. It's easier to convince someone when he's thinking:
"Yes, I need 200 rupees" -->; "All I have to do is clean some utensils"

Rather than
"I'm a rickshaw puller" -->; "Why would I go cleaning utensils. That's beneath me"

Thanks to Dale, I got my job done, and a poor guy earned some money.