|
: It’s easy to be ‘Miss Clean’ when you earn a neat packet in one of those jobs which don’t require you to hobnob with the janta. But what if you’ve burnt the midnight oil to finally get to that ‘job with clout’? What if you are a politician or a bureaucrat who’s trying to put in a day’s honest work? That’s when the real test of remaining squeaky clean begins. You are now in a position where you can influence the lives of people with the flourish of that single signature of yours. You now take home an above-average monthly salary which doesn’t fly your family to Switzerland in the summers, but if you didn’t mind getting your fingers dirty, you could. After all, you routinely take decisions involving crores of rupees and speed money didn’t happen yesterday. Temptation, temptation...does it get worse if you are a woman with influence?
“It’s always a case of walking the tight rope,” says Garima Bhatnagar, additional deputy commissioner of police, Delhi. An IPS officer with 10 years experience, Garima says she’s been so focused about proving herself in a job where people think “brawn matters”, that remaining clean isn’t really an issue for her. “But not being corrupt can be a deadly weapon to use for getting work done in this field,” she adds.
There are many faces of corruption in the police. One could be taking a ‘cut’ in the collections which constables make from shopkeepers, criminals they haven’t arrested, or from those who’ve got illegal construction done. It could also be people offering you money to get a tenant evicted or to demolish encroachments on their land.
If flexing your muscles gets you extra bucks in the police, there are two other avenues that run across all civil services which also help you get the “add ons”. One is making money on getting your colleagues plum postings (for which you need to be making enough money on the side to be able to give a similar amount to your boss/superior to get you ‘that’ assignment). The other is Diwali, when people give you expensive gifts because they love the chair you occupy. A senior lady IAS officer of the Punjab cadre recounts: “When people try giving me Diwali gifts like sarees and gold coins, I refuse politely. Once when I was in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, a company sent me a silver...
| Single Page Format | 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - Next |
Discuss this story on expressindia forums
|
|
 |
 |
 |
About Us | Contact Us | Advertisers | Site Map | Make us your homepage | Work for Us | RSS | Subscribe | Electronic Edition | Privacy Policy© 2010: The Indian Express Limited. All rights reserved throughout the world
