Ghoos Mahal

By Vijay Kumar

After Tihar Jail and Sales Tax, Ghoos Mahal 3 for the TV Channel Aaj Tak was Delhi's Service Tax offices and yesterday they 'caught' 15 officers accepting bribes. More were caught but the cameras failed them and the TV channel has gone to town with full blown reports about rampant corruption in the Service Tax department. But what's so great about it? You go to any government office with a hidden camera and you can easily 'catch' such bribery in action. After all they caught 82 officers in 'Sales Tax' while they could get only 15 in Service Tax. The real hero in these sting operations is not the reporter but the sophisticated cameras that are now available.

The cameras in bags used by Tehelka in the 'defence deal' sting operation is antique compared to what you have today. Now they have tiny, minuscule cameras that can be fitted in cigarette cases, watches, files and even buttons. While the reporter carries the camera, the receiver can be in the pocket or even in the car. While size does matter, the real USP of these cameras is their low cost compared to the open cameras used by news channels. While the public camera used by a channel can cost around Rs. 3.5 Lakhs, the spy cam is available for as less as Rs. 50,000/- And the quality is unbelievable with a lens the size of a ball point pen. Incidentally many of these cameras are smuggled into the country and most of the sting reporters are carrying smuggled goods, which can be seized by Customs.

While Aaj Tak went to town about the corruption in the Service Tax department, amidst the cacophony, there was a sane voice from the former CBI director Joginder Singh. He told the Aaj Tak, "power flows from the top". Did he mean corruption also flows from the top? He also said that where there is personal contact, there is a chance for corruption. Obviously the government can stop corruption if it seriously wants to. But if the seat of government at the highest levels is corrupt, what is their interest in stopping corruption, more so if they have a share in and are directly responsible for the loot. While ending the programme on bribes in Service Tax, Aaj Tak announced that it was not the end of the programme - the programme will end only if corruption ends. That means it will go on and on.

Corruption and bribery is as old as perhaps mankind itself.

• Lord Krishna is said to have tried to bribe Karna to switch sides and on offer was apart from the throne, the common wife! Karna did not fall for the bribe, but a modern bureaucrat is no Karna.

• Harischandra's son Satyawrat is said to have tried to bribe Vashista's son Shakti and he was cursed into Trishanku.

• Helen was merely the bribe granted by Aphrodite to Paris for cheating in her favour.

• Jesus Christ was sold for twenty pounds - not by a Service Tax Inspector but by one of his disciples.

• Lord Clive, the founder of British India was accused and tried for corruption and his successor Hastings was no better.

• Bofors would look like small change compared to what Clive plundered from India.

"Just as it is impossible not to taste the honey or the poison that finds itself at the tip of the tongue, so it is impossible for a government servant not to eat up, at least a bit of the king's revenue. Just as fish moving under water can not possibly be found out either as drinking or not drinking water, so the government servants employed in the government cannot be found out while taking money." - Koutilya

You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and subverts the cause of the righteous - The Holy Bible

Do not use your property as bait for the judges - The Holy Quran