Prelude : If you have the time, the patience and the ability to coerce and bribe people efficiently, you can save money by going directly to the passport office and interacting with the peon there. It seems that with good interaction skills, the passport can be had in a weeks time with a bribe of only 1000.
Preparation : If you lack the time, then, be prepared to spend around 4K. The list of documents required would be your
=> ID proof - pan card, Driving licence.
=> Residence proof - electricity bill, voter id card.
=> Age proof - school leaving certificate.
=> References - people who could vouch for you - someone who stays close by.
Step 1 : Look out for ads in newspapers for people who make passports. You can also ask people who hang around ATMs (offereing credit cards or policies). They generally work in association with the passport offices to "easily" get your form filled and application passed. When you are filling the application, remember to write your name and sign. Give all documents - they should not need the original documents (because they have some setup with the passport office). And pay them their "form submission fee" - which is passport fee + agent fee = around 2K. You can bargain. There are also agencies who specialize in making of passport and pan-card.
Step 2 : Followup with the "agent" to get the receipt of submission of application for passport. The actual process of creation of passport starts only after the application is submitted. If your agent has good connections and has greased the palms nicely with the money you have given, then you would get the receipt very fast.
Step 3 : Once the application receipt is in your hand - have another list of documents ready and wait -
=> ID proof
=> Residence proof - which shows residence at the location for more than a year.
=> Age proof
=> Residence proof of past addresses - at least two location where you have stayed earlier.
Step 4 : In 7-15 days time you would get an official from Intelligence department who would come to your house for verification. He would ask for all sorts of documents and keep you running around the house. The point he basically wants to make is that unless you grease his palms, he wont sign and forward the documents further. If you can show him all the documents he asks for, you will have an edge over him and may be able to bargain with him for the bribe money. Ofcourse he would start the bargain at 1K, but if your negotiation skills are good, you can bring him down to 500. Another point he will make is the police department (to whom he will be forwarding your app) can be bargained with - but do not trust him. The less you pay in the process of making him happy - the better.
Step 5 : Again wait for the police official who will come in a week's time. He will carry a file with him with maybe around 100 applications. He will start asking questions about where you have stayed earlier and the time of your stay. If you happen to carry residence proof of past addresses - you can have an edge over him. Else you have to just play along. If he threatens you that your past locations cannot be verified, dont worry - he is just trying to make you nervous - so he could extract more money in the bribe. Ask him gently about "how much would be needed to get the verification done ?" and he might ask for 1000 - again. If you try to bargain - he would say that he could make your application go around police stations for six months and your case will be lost. Dont worry - just bargain gently. If you tell him that the previous intelligence guy asked for the same amount - he would say that the guy had only a single sign to do - and he is supposed to get 3-4 signatures to do. Just play along and if possible, bring him down to 500. Pay him and wait.
Step 6 : Keep on checking the status of your passport online at http://passport.gov.in/. You will get a notification that your passport is on way. Keep a tab on the local post office and your snail-mail box.
Step 7 : A guy from the post may come to deliver the passport - within 15-20 days time. He would ask for "chai-pani". Dont offer him tea. Simply hand him 20-50 rs and get your passport.
The point to note here is that at every stage a hand has to be greased. Even if the details given by you are wrong, you would still get your passport if the hands are greased properly. Only the amount of grease will vary. With the 6th pay commission in force now - you might have hoped that the officials would be less greedy. But it has only lead to increase in the greed of the government officials and now they charge more for than before.
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Saturday, October 11, 2008
how law and order works in india...
It had been a week since we had got vegetables from the market. For the past 3-4 days we had been surviving only on varieties made out of potatoes and onions. So, on a fine monday evening, while we were driving back to home from office, we thought that we should get down at the roadside vegetable market and get some veggies. So, we stopped on the opposite side of the road from where the market was, got down and went to get the veggies. There were lots of cars parked over there and ofcourse it is a very busy road with cars and other vehicles moving up and down. Also tons of rickshaw-walas were waiting not 100 meters from where i had my car parked.
We are really quick shoppers, so in 15 minutes we had got supplies for almost a week and we decided that we should move back. When i came back, i saw that the window of the right hand back door was not there. Well, it was there, but it was in pieces and my precious laptop bag with all its contents was missing. It took some time for the fact to sink in that my bag was missing. I looked left and right for the f*** who had stolen my bag, but of-course, no one could be found. And then i looked at people nearby. I saw a man sitting on a chair 10 meters from my car. I ran to him and asked if he has seen anything. Ofcourse, he had seen nothing. The rickshaw-walas were totally ignorant and emphatetic with my situation. "ka jamana aa gaya hai, seesha tod kar bagwa le kar chala gaya". That is how they express their grief.
In india, when things are stolen from you, you have to give up all hope of getting it back. People generally turn blind and deaf when they feel that something wrong is happening in their surrounding. The reason behind this might be the fact that the probability of getting caught and facing a sentence is very low (maybe 0.1 %). People generally try to avoid reporting crimes, because the police are totally un-cooperative. The police try "NOT" to find lost things. I cant figure out if it is their laziness or lack of IQ. It might be both. In foreign countries, say U.S., you dial 911 and within 5-10 minutes, you have cops at your door - trying to help you out. I have not tried dialing 100 here, but i dont think that the police would be at the place in less than an hour.
Well, lets move ahead with the story. So, i called up one of my friends and told him what had happened. He told me that he would be home in an hour and then we can go and maybe report the crime - that is if it is required to claim the insurance. The main things I had lost were my official laptop, possession letter (I had specially taken it out on that day to get it photocopied), RC of my bike, bank and credit-card statements and an almost new cheque book. I went home and made a complete list of things i have lost and passwords that need changing. ( I had stored some passwords on my laptop).
An hour later, me and my friend wrote down an application in english and went to the nearby police "chowki" to get the report registered. The first reaction of the policeman sitting there was that "why was the application in english?", so we wrote it again in Hindi. Imagine the policemen unable to read english. What would happen if a foreign tourist gets robbed? Would he be able to even make these guys understand what has happened? When we handed over the freshly written application to him, he simply put it on the table and went out to get his superior officer. The superior officer read the application and asked us to take him to the place where the incident has happened. I had used my brain a little and had safely put away my car and taken my bike. Mainly because i was not sure if they would ask me to let the car be with them or they would ask more money looking at a long car and thinking that i am a "rich" man.
So, we rode after them on the motorcycle and went to the vegetable market. I showed him the place where i had parked the car from a distance - i dont know why he did not go to the place. And told him that there were rickshaws and a man sitting nearby, he was quick to ask whether i suspect the man to be the thief. How could i judge? Should he not question the person and check out whether he was right or wrong? Anyways, next he started blaming me for parking my car on the road where there was no parking. But, there is no parking space nearby - i thought. And we came back to his "chowki". He kept the application and told us to check on the status next morning. We asked him if he would give us an FIR. But the reply was "No" - "mai FIR nahi likhta".
I knew this would happen and it would be difficult to get an FIR our of these guys without giving them some "donation" in return. But i had expected them to ask upfront for a "donation". But no such thing happened, so we waited. We waited for almost 15 minutes, but nothing happened. Then the "daroga" got angry because we were waiting for his response and said "Ab laptop le kar hi jaogay kya? Dekh lo kahi yehi pada ho to le jana.". We did not know what to reply, so we simply went home.
Next day, i went to the police station with 2 of my friends and again repeated the complete story to atleast 2 police officers. One of them told us to get our car to show the damage. So, we went and got the car. He then sent some junior havaldar to check out whether the window was broken (that is whether we were telling the truth or not). Then we were asked to consult the SO (head in charge of the police station). Again we repeated the story to him. And showed him the car from a distance. So, he told his junior officers to accept the "application" [Still no FIR]. The junior officer simply accepted the application and stamped it and drew a vertical line (which i believe was his signature). He did not read the contents, neither did he check what language it was written in.
After accepting the application, when we asked for a complaint no, he stopped looking at us and started shifting papers from one box to the same box. I think, he was trying to ignore us - i dont know why? So, we again went to the SO and told him that we wanted some complaint no. And he redirected us to another officer, to whom we again repeated the whole story and showed him the application. He simply said "yeah to angreji mein hai. Isko received kisne kia?" (this is in english, how did this get accepted?) - how was i supposed to know the answer to this question? He took us back to the previous junior officer who had accepted and asked him why did he accept an application in english?. Well, the application was returned back to us and we were asked to rewrite it in hindi and submit it again.
So, we wrote it in hindi and submitted it again. This time the junior officer read it and then stamped it. It was during that time that we came to know that the junior officer was an 8th pass and did not know anything about english. If this is the type of education that a policeman has, then what can we expect out of them. We asked almost everyone about when can we get an FIR or a complaint no, and the response was "kal" (tomorrow). Someone even said that we might get in 2-3 hours, if we are ready to wait.
When i came to the office that day, lots of people came to me and shared their experiences when they had to get an FIR. Some of them had spent months to get an FIR. One very sad case had spent 200/- for the FIR and even after that, there was some mistake in the writing and so he had not yet been able to claim his insurance.
For the next 2 days, i just went and asked whether the FIR was ready and the general response was "kal" - mainly due to work pressure. Well, if the police are so busy writing FIR's who would do the investigation and catch the criminals. I think, they have a tough job to do - trying to write down so many FIR's instead of catching the criminals and reducing the crime rate. Everybody advised me to pay them to get the FIR. But when i offered them, they would say that it is unnecessary and still make me come the next day.
Finally on the 3rd day, dad was here, so he went with me and talked them into writing the FIR. We were again sent to the SO to whom we again repeated the complete story and reminded him about the talk we have had earlier. He again read the application that we had submitted and asked us to get a photocopy of the bill of the laptop. We rushed to the office and got a photocopy of the bill. This time the SO was generous and told us to get the FIR written. When we again went to the junior officer, he asked us to wait and then confirmed from the SO whether he should write the FIR. Again we were told to come after 2 hours. This time dad made an indication of the offer and i think the junior officer got it.
We were again asked to write a fresh application and change the dates accordingly. After some pestering the junior officer finally started writing the FIR. Finally after around 30 minutes the FIR was ready and we got a copy. After i came out, i asked dad whether he had given them the "donation" - because i did not see him giving it to them. Then dad told me that it was given to them when he shook hands with them for the final "thankyou".
The point here is that after being a victim to a crime, you have to be after the police to prove that you are a victim. Forget the option of getting back your stolen stuff. You have to give them some money to get the complaint registered. It is like "Please sir, (beg with folded hands - a 100/- rs note between the hands), i have suffered a great loss, please write my complaint". How can you expect justice to come out of these guys. I still remember the detective serials that I used to watch in my childhood. The actual scenario is worse than that. Policemen not only overlook valuable clues but dont want to find the criminal. If your car is picked up and left in the police station for a week, all you would get back would be the outer body and the seats. The steering, engine etc all would go missing. And if you enquire about it, all they would say is that it was brought here like that only.
The SO had his own style (tashan). He would keep on chewing paan, etc and keep on spitting out the reddish stuff. Specially for him there was a huge bucket to his left side, so that he could keep on spitting until the bucket is full and then it would be taken away.
Welcome to India...
We are really quick shoppers, so in 15 minutes we had got supplies for almost a week and we decided that we should move back. When i came back, i saw that the window of the right hand back door was not there. Well, it was there, but it was in pieces and my precious laptop bag with all its contents was missing. It took some time for the fact to sink in that my bag was missing. I looked left and right for the f*** who had stolen my bag, but of-course, no one could be found. And then i looked at people nearby. I saw a man sitting on a chair 10 meters from my car. I ran to him and asked if he has seen anything. Ofcourse, he had seen nothing. The rickshaw-walas were totally ignorant and emphatetic with my situation. "ka jamana aa gaya hai, seesha tod kar bagwa le kar chala gaya". That is how they express their grief.
In india, when things are stolen from you, you have to give up all hope of getting it back. People generally turn blind and deaf when they feel that something wrong is happening in their surrounding. The reason behind this might be the fact that the probability of getting caught and facing a sentence is very low (maybe 0.1 %). People generally try to avoid reporting crimes, because the police are totally un-cooperative. The police try "NOT" to find lost things. I cant figure out if it is their laziness or lack of IQ. It might be both. In foreign countries, say U.S., you dial 911 and within 5-10 minutes, you have cops at your door - trying to help you out. I have not tried dialing 100 here, but i dont think that the police would be at the place in less than an hour.
Well, lets move ahead with the story. So, i called up one of my friends and told him what had happened. He told me that he would be home in an hour and then we can go and maybe report the crime - that is if it is required to claim the insurance. The main things I had lost were my official laptop, possession letter (I had specially taken it out on that day to get it photocopied), RC of my bike, bank and credit-card statements and an almost new cheque book. I went home and made a complete list of things i have lost and passwords that need changing. ( I had stored some passwords on my laptop).
An hour later, me and my friend wrote down an application in english and went to the nearby police "chowki" to get the report registered. The first reaction of the policeman sitting there was that "why was the application in english?", so we wrote it again in Hindi. Imagine the policemen unable to read english. What would happen if a foreign tourist gets robbed? Would he be able to even make these guys understand what has happened? When we handed over the freshly written application to him, he simply put it on the table and went out to get his superior officer. The superior officer read the application and asked us to take him to the place where the incident has happened. I had used my brain a little and had safely put away my car and taken my bike. Mainly because i was not sure if they would ask me to let the car be with them or they would ask more money looking at a long car and thinking that i am a "rich" man.
So, we rode after them on the motorcycle and went to the vegetable market. I showed him the place where i had parked the car from a distance - i dont know why he did not go to the place. And told him that there were rickshaws and a man sitting nearby, he was quick to ask whether i suspect the man to be the thief. How could i judge? Should he not question the person and check out whether he was right or wrong? Anyways, next he started blaming me for parking my car on the road where there was no parking. But, there is no parking space nearby - i thought. And we came back to his "chowki". He kept the application and told us to check on the status next morning. We asked him if he would give us an FIR. But the reply was "No" - "mai FIR nahi likhta".
I knew this would happen and it would be difficult to get an FIR our of these guys without giving them some "donation" in return. But i had expected them to ask upfront for a "donation". But no such thing happened, so we waited. We waited for almost 15 minutes, but nothing happened. Then the "daroga" got angry because we were waiting for his response and said "Ab laptop le kar hi jaogay kya? Dekh lo kahi yehi pada ho to le jana.". We did not know what to reply, so we simply went home.
Next day, i went to the police station with 2 of my friends and again repeated the complete story to atleast 2 police officers. One of them told us to get our car to show the damage. So, we went and got the car. He then sent some junior havaldar to check out whether the window was broken (that is whether we were telling the truth or not). Then we were asked to consult the SO (head in charge of the police station). Again we repeated the story to him. And showed him the car from a distance. So, he told his junior officers to accept the "application" [Still no FIR]. The junior officer simply accepted the application and stamped it and drew a vertical line (which i believe was his signature). He did not read the contents, neither did he check what language it was written in.
After accepting the application, when we asked for a complaint no, he stopped looking at us and started shifting papers from one box to the same box. I think, he was trying to ignore us - i dont know why? So, we again went to the SO and told him that we wanted some complaint no. And he redirected us to another officer, to whom we again repeated the whole story and showed him the application. He simply said "yeah to angreji mein hai. Isko received kisne kia?" (this is in english, how did this get accepted?) - how was i supposed to know the answer to this question? He took us back to the previous junior officer who had accepted and asked him why did he accept an application in english?. Well, the application was returned back to us and we were asked to rewrite it in hindi and submit it again.
So, we wrote it in hindi and submitted it again. This time the junior officer read it and then stamped it. It was during that time that we came to know that the junior officer was an 8th pass and did not know anything about english. If this is the type of education that a policeman has, then what can we expect out of them. We asked almost everyone about when can we get an FIR or a complaint no, and the response was "kal" (tomorrow). Someone even said that we might get in 2-3 hours, if we are ready to wait.
When i came to the office that day, lots of people came to me and shared their experiences when they had to get an FIR. Some of them had spent months to get an FIR. One very sad case had spent 200/- for the FIR and even after that, there was some mistake in the writing and so he had not yet been able to claim his insurance.
For the next 2 days, i just went and asked whether the FIR was ready and the general response was "kal" - mainly due to work pressure. Well, if the police are so busy writing FIR's who would do the investigation and catch the criminals. I think, they have a tough job to do - trying to write down so many FIR's instead of catching the criminals and reducing the crime rate. Everybody advised me to pay them to get the FIR. But when i offered them, they would say that it is unnecessary and still make me come the next day.
Finally on the 3rd day, dad was here, so he went with me and talked them into writing the FIR. We were again sent to the SO to whom we again repeated the complete story and reminded him about the talk we have had earlier. He again read the application that we had submitted and asked us to get a photocopy of the bill of the laptop. We rushed to the office and got a photocopy of the bill. This time the SO was generous and told us to get the FIR written. When we again went to the junior officer, he asked us to wait and then confirmed from the SO whether he should write the FIR. Again we were told to come after 2 hours. This time dad made an indication of the offer and i think the junior officer got it.
We were again asked to write a fresh application and change the dates accordingly. After some pestering the junior officer finally started writing the FIR. Finally after around 30 minutes the FIR was ready and we got a copy. After i came out, i asked dad whether he had given them the "donation" - because i did not see him giving it to them. Then dad told me that it was given to them when he shook hands with them for the final "thankyou".
The point here is that after being a victim to a crime, you have to be after the police to prove that you are a victim. Forget the option of getting back your stolen stuff. You have to give them some money to get the complaint registered. It is like "Please sir, (beg with folded hands - a 100/- rs note between the hands), i have suffered a great loss, please write my complaint". How can you expect justice to come out of these guys. I still remember the detective serials that I used to watch in my childhood. The actual scenario is worse than that. Policemen not only overlook valuable clues but dont want to find the criminal. If your car is picked up and left in the police station for a week, all you would get back would be the outer body and the seats. The steering, engine etc all would go missing. And if you enquire about it, all they would say is that it was brought here like that only.
The SO had his own style (tashan). He would keep on chewing paan, etc and keep on spitting out the reddish stuff. Specially for him there was a huge bucket to his left side, so that he could keep on spitting until the bucket is full and then it would be taken away.
Welcome to India...
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
independence day
Today is 15th august, india's independence day. But are we really independent. Lets check our independence level.
1. Can you move about anywhere you want from 14th night till 15th night, and celebrate our independence day. That, i think, might not be possible. From 14th itself, the capital of the nation - Delhi is on high alert. People moving in and out from the city are closely monitored. That's the story given by any personnel. But i have been out once on the morning of independence day, and i have experienced the "independence". Well, it happened that i was on my bike and it was around 11 am. I thought i would catch the early morning show of some movie (i dont remember the name) and thought of watching it at some place inside delhi. So i took my bike and when i was crossing the border, the thulla was there and he flagged me down and asked for my papers. Ofcourse i did not have all the papers. But i told him that i am a working software professional and other stuff and showed him my DL (identity proof). But he was adamant and determined to proove that i was a terrorist and had stolen "the bike" to do some notorious activities. What the hell... Anyways, it was easy to figure out that he was terribly in need of money and a 100 rs note proved to him that i was a good citizen.
In the mean time, 3 to 4 cars crossed the border - i remember one with black glasses as well. And none were stopped. There might have been some "terrorists" in there too. Don't i make some sense. So actually, if anyone wants to do anything it is easy to do so. I mean if someone plans a bomb to be exploded on 15th - i dont think the corrupt police officials of the capital of india would be able to stop him. They are just here to curb the independence of the general public on the independence day.
2. And secondly, you receive numerous smses from your family and friends wishing you "Happy independence day" and another sms from the cell operators (IDEA, HUTCH, AIRTEL), that special rates of smses are NOT applicable today. Why? Cause it is independence day and they have got to make some money today. The message i got today was a palindrome in itself. "This is to notify that special call rates and sms rates for different schemes would not be applicable for today. Happy independence day". Isnt it a nice way to say "Happy independence day". You cant help it. After all there is no control over it.
3. India is a country where everybody looks after himself only. There is no control by the government. Recently there had been some reports of high levels of pesticides and harmful chemicals in agro products imported from india by singapore(i think). The government over there at least takes care of its citizens. This is not the case in india. All the government is interested in is taking its taxes and the politicians are interested in filling their pockets. What happened to the chole king - Ashok malhotra. Suddenly he has almost disappeared from all news channels and news papers. He has moved from the first page to some unknown page in a small invisible column which has to be searched to be read. Ofcourse he will get away. He has all the money that he has accumulated over such a small period of time. He could have been the richest man on this planet - if he was not caught. But now - who ever opens his mouth to speak against him would get a mouthful of money - so that he may never need to speak again.
4. And then there is reliance digital at the Shipra MALL - who were offering pamplets with a tricolored pen. Celebrating independence day and inviting more customers.
That's india...
1. Can you move about anywhere you want from 14th night till 15th night, and celebrate our independence day. That, i think, might not be possible. From 14th itself, the capital of the nation - Delhi is on high alert. People moving in and out from the city are closely monitored. That's the story given by any personnel. But i have been out once on the morning of independence day, and i have experienced the "independence". Well, it happened that i was on my bike and it was around 11 am. I thought i would catch the early morning show of some movie (i dont remember the name) and thought of watching it at some place inside delhi. So i took my bike and when i was crossing the border, the thulla was there and he flagged me down and asked for my papers. Ofcourse i did not have all the papers. But i told him that i am a working software professional and other stuff and showed him my DL (identity proof). But he was adamant and determined to proove that i was a terrorist and had stolen "the bike" to do some notorious activities. What the hell... Anyways, it was easy to figure out that he was terribly in need of money and a 100 rs note proved to him that i was a good citizen.
In the mean time, 3 to 4 cars crossed the border - i remember one with black glasses as well. And none were stopped. There might have been some "terrorists" in there too. Don't i make some sense. So actually, if anyone wants to do anything it is easy to do so. I mean if someone plans a bomb to be exploded on 15th - i dont think the corrupt police officials of the capital of india would be able to stop him. They are just here to curb the independence of the general public on the independence day.
2. And secondly, you receive numerous smses from your family and friends wishing you "Happy independence day" and another sms from the cell operators (IDEA, HUTCH, AIRTEL), that special rates of smses are NOT applicable today. Why? Cause it is independence day and they have got to make some money today. The message i got today was a palindrome in itself. "This is to notify that special call rates and sms rates for different schemes would not be applicable for today. Happy independence day". Isnt it a nice way to say "Happy independence day". You cant help it. After all there is no control over it.
3. India is a country where everybody looks after himself only. There is no control by the government. Recently there had been some reports of high levels of pesticides and harmful chemicals in agro products imported from india by singapore(i think). The government over there at least takes care of its citizens. This is not the case in india. All the government is interested in is taking its taxes and the politicians are interested in filling their pockets. What happened to the chole king - Ashok malhotra. Suddenly he has almost disappeared from all news channels and news papers. He has moved from the first page to some unknown page in a small invisible column which has to be searched to be read. Ofcourse he will get away. He has all the money that he has accumulated over such a small period of time. He could have been the richest man on this planet - if he was not caught. But now - who ever opens his mouth to speak against him would get a mouthful of money - so that he may never need to speak again.
4. And then there is reliance digital at the Shipra MALL - who were offering pamplets with a tricolored pen. Celebrating independence day and inviting more customers.
That's india...
Saturday, March 31, 2007
corruption - part dwitia
It has been a long time since i have written anything - either technical or on any other topic. Hmm... Well, i was busy getting married....
I have just joined my office - a week back and am getting in the flow of going to work.
Had been on honeymoon and have been travelling. Have seen the different ways corruption works in india. Each and every incident involving corruption by government officials is worth noting. But right now i will list down some incidents that happened with me.
Incident #1
I am coming from sector 18 towards sector 16 in noida. I am on a red light and i dont see a "thulla" (in india all police officials are called thulla. They are always ready to take money from you and fill their own pockets) around. Well anyways, i still decide to wait till the light turns green. There is an auto coming from the left and he is also waiting for his signal to turn green. Still, every minute the auto moves 1 meter ahead. My red-light turns green and by that time, the auto is almost in the middle of the road - and there is still no thulla around. No one paying attention to him. So i start moving and am almost half way to the across when the auto decides to move still ahead and comes right in front of me. I stop and before i can turn and head across the crossing, my signal turns red.
The autowala gives me a frown and blows his horn. And from no-where a thulla jumps out and signals me to stop. Well, i shud have sped off. But, my mistake, i decide to stop and make him understand the situation. I am in hurry. I dont keep more than 400 in my pocket. The thulla asks me for my papers. I tell him that i dont have any. And that i live nearby - just across the road (I told him the truth). He tells me that red light jumping is 1000 Rs fine. And then sits behind me and asks me to ride to the nearby police station. And one most important point - he is not a traffic police. So i tell him that i am not driving to the police station. I dont have 1000 Rs fine and try to make him understand the situation. But he refuses to listen and tells me that he can let me go with around 400/- cash to him. I shut off my bike. Took the keys out. Hand it over to him and tell him to take my bike to the police station and i will collect it from there after paying the fine. The thulla just looks at me and lowers his offer to let me go to 300 Rs.
I argue with him - give him all the lies i can make up. Make him understand that i am a poor student and that i dont have enough money in my pocket. Eat his head for around 1 hour. The thulla is fed up and starts calling a crand to take by bike. I asked him "why dont you take it yourself?" And he tells me that he does not know how to drive a bullet. Shame on him. Finally people start gathering and looking at us. He starts shouting at them. I argue with him openly and tell him that 50 Rs is enough. He is still adamant and we finally settle for 100 Rs. I hand him my hard earned 100 Rs for something i have not done and he goes away happy.
Incident #2
This is a really nice one. We (me and my roomie deepak) used to live in noida sector 12 and we used to go to vasundra enclave for our diner. There is a small resturant over there which serves good food at low prices. And the best part of the resturant was that they did not levy sales tax of 12.whatever percent.
So one night after having a lavish diner, we were riding back on deepak's scooty. Both of us wearing helmet - cause there are thullas always ready at the border to extort money from you. Still, when we were crossing the border, a junior thulla stopped us. And asked us for the papers. Hmm and my romie depak had forgotten his wallet home. So he checked everywhere and finally told that he has forgotten his wallet home and he would need to go back home which was nearby - around 5 minutes from there to get his wallet and papers. This was reported to the senior thulla and he came and told us that if we dont have the papers, then we should pay the fine.
I thought that i would ask the question - fine for what. Well, but i didnt. It is better not to provoke a thulla. I told deepak - you wait here and i will get your papers from home. So i took a rickshaw and moved off towards home to get the papers. I had just reached home, when i got a call from deepak that the thulla has let him go and he is riding back home. And then he told me what happened.
The senior thulla told the junior thulla "dekh kar roko. Jinke pas paisa nahi hai unko rok kar kya faida". [look at the person before you ask him to stop. There is no point in stopping someone if he does not have any money]. Deepak was simply shood away - since he did not have any money on him.
Incident #3
This one is a very recent one - happened in gurgao while I had been to gurgaon to pick up my wife.
I started early from my office so i could reach her office on time. And when i reached there - there was a huge traffic jam outside her office. Inspite of that there were cars parked outside her office on one side of the road and there was a thulla looking around. It didnt seem wrong to me to stop on the side of the road and wait for her to come down. Stopping for 5-10 minutes should not be an issue. If the thulla thinks it is an issue, he can tell me and I can simply drive off.
So i have parked and put on my blinkers and am waiting when this thulla comes and knocks on the window. My mistake, i should have simply drove off. I open up the window and the thulla asks me for the papers. I tell him that i will move on if there is a problem. But he is adamant on getting the papers and wants to pose a fine of 400. Finally after some argument, he takes off my car keys.
I go to him with my papers and explain him that if he takes the papers then i will have to drive back from noida to here to collect my papers. So take the money now and let me off. And the thulla simply says that if you give the money now, it will go into my pocket. I tell him - then i could be led off at a much lower amount. He asks 300. I empty my pockets and give him all 10s and 20s - totalling around 100. The thulla says that there is an ATM in the nearby building, get the money from there. So i go and get 300 for him and hand it over to him and get my papers and drive off.
There are so many incidents with me - all almost similar. Maybe i get trapped cause i stop when the thullas ask me to stop.
I have heard incidents from my friends where one guy said that he told that he wont give the money now and would go to court. And he was disappointed cause there is no one to listen in court. All they assume is that we are murderers or maybe somewhat similar and we should pay double or tripple the amount fined on us. So it is better to not to go to court.
One really nice incident happened with one of my friend. He was caught jumping a red light and he paid the fine. He says that he emptied his heart out. Gave all the bad words he had ever came across to all the thullas there. Called them the worst things he could call. And then paid his fine and drove off. And he was happy. He says that it was worth paying the fine. Letting go of this frustration and driving off.
The best thing about corruption is that the corrupt officials wont be paying any tax on their "under-table" income. Maybe government should put tax on all such incomes. Or maybe make money paid as corruption - exempt from tax. If i would have earned 100 Rs, i would have paid 30 Rs as tax and would have got to keep only 70 Rs with me. The under priviledged common man.
Now the government is increasing the fines for all the penalties that tend to happen. Indirectly raising the cut for all the thullas. I could now-a-days see the thullas drooling at the sight of people driving. And their drool increases with increase in the number of vehicles and the raise in penalties.
The problem is not with the corrupt police officials, but with the management/the government. They have created situations so that corruption prevails. There is no proper management of traffic signal timings. The thullas are underpaid - i think so. And the thulla will always catch you if you start crossing the traffic signal at green and arrive at the other end when the signal is red. And this usually happens cause the time for yellow light is so low that there is almost no yellow light. And the red light does not work for cycle or rickshaw. So cycle or rickshaw can jump as many red lights as possible and create as much confusion as possible on the road.
After all, this is INDIA...
I have just joined my office - a week back and am getting in the flow of going to work.
Had been on honeymoon and have been travelling. Have seen the different ways corruption works in india. Each and every incident involving corruption by government officials is worth noting. But right now i will list down some incidents that happened with me.
Incident #1
I am coming from sector 18 towards sector 16 in noida. I am on a red light and i dont see a "thulla" (in india all police officials are called thulla. They are always ready to take money from you and fill their own pockets) around. Well anyways, i still decide to wait till the light turns green. There is an auto coming from the left and he is also waiting for his signal to turn green. Still, every minute the auto moves 1 meter ahead. My red-light turns green and by that time, the auto is almost in the middle of the road - and there is still no thulla around. No one paying attention to him. So i start moving and am almost half way to the across when the auto decides to move still ahead and comes right in front of me. I stop and before i can turn and head across the crossing, my signal turns red.
The autowala gives me a frown and blows his horn. And from no-where a thulla jumps out and signals me to stop. Well, i shud have sped off. But, my mistake, i decide to stop and make him understand the situation. I am in hurry. I dont keep more than 400 in my pocket. The thulla asks me for my papers. I tell him that i dont have any. And that i live nearby - just across the road (I told him the truth). He tells me that red light jumping is 1000 Rs fine. And then sits behind me and asks me to ride to the nearby police station. And one most important point - he is not a traffic police. So i tell him that i am not driving to the police station. I dont have 1000 Rs fine and try to make him understand the situation. But he refuses to listen and tells me that he can let me go with around 400/- cash to him. I shut off my bike. Took the keys out. Hand it over to him and tell him to take my bike to the police station and i will collect it from there after paying the fine. The thulla just looks at me and lowers his offer to let me go to 300 Rs.
I argue with him - give him all the lies i can make up. Make him understand that i am a poor student and that i dont have enough money in my pocket. Eat his head for around 1 hour. The thulla is fed up and starts calling a crand to take by bike. I asked him "why dont you take it yourself?" And he tells me that he does not know how to drive a bullet. Shame on him. Finally people start gathering and looking at us. He starts shouting at them. I argue with him openly and tell him that 50 Rs is enough. He is still adamant and we finally settle for 100 Rs. I hand him my hard earned 100 Rs for something i have not done and he goes away happy.
Incident #2
This is a really nice one. We (me and my roomie deepak) used to live in noida sector 12 and we used to go to vasundra enclave for our diner. There is a small resturant over there which serves good food at low prices. And the best part of the resturant was that they did not levy sales tax of 12.whatever percent.
So one night after having a lavish diner, we were riding back on deepak's scooty. Both of us wearing helmet - cause there are thullas always ready at the border to extort money from you. Still, when we were crossing the border, a junior thulla stopped us. And asked us for the papers. Hmm and my romie depak had forgotten his wallet home. So he checked everywhere and finally told that he has forgotten his wallet home and he would need to go back home which was nearby - around 5 minutes from there to get his wallet and papers. This was reported to the senior thulla and he came and told us that if we dont have the papers, then we should pay the fine.
I thought that i would ask the question - fine for what. Well, but i didnt. It is better not to provoke a thulla. I told deepak - you wait here and i will get your papers from home. So i took a rickshaw and moved off towards home to get the papers. I had just reached home, when i got a call from deepak that the thulla has let him go and he is riding back home. And then he told me what happened.
The senior thulla told the junior thulla "dekh kar roko. Jinke pas paisa nahi hai unko rok kar kya faida". [look at the person before you ask him to stop. There is no point in stopping someone if he does not have any money]. Deepak was simply shood away - since he did not have any money on him.
Incident #3
This one is a very recent one - happened in gurgao while I had been to gurgaon to pick up my wife.
I started early from my office so i could reach her office on time. And when i reached there - there was a huge traffic jam outside her office. Inspite of that there were cars parked outside her office on one side of the road and there was a thulla looking around. It didnt seem wrong to me to stop on the side of the road and wait for her to come down. Stopping for 5-10 minutes should not be an issue. If the thulla thinks it is an issue, he can tell me and I can simply drive off.
So i have parked and put on my blinkers and am waiting when this thulla comes and knocks on the window. My mistake, i should have simply drove off. I open up the window and the thulla asks me for the papers. I tell him that i will move on if there is a problem. But he is adamant on getting the papers and wants to pose a fine of 400. Finally after some argument, he takes off my car keys.
I go to him with my papers and explain him that if he takes the papers then i will have to drive back from noida to here to collect my papers. So take the money now and let me off. And the thulla simply says that if you give the money now, it will go into my pocket. I tell him - then i could be led off at a much lower amount. He asks 300. I empty my pockets and give him all 10s and 20s - totalling around 100. The thulla says that there is an ATM in the nearby building, get the money from there. So i go and get 300 for him and hand it over to him and get my papers and drive off.
There are so many incidents with me - all almost similar. Maybe i get trapped cause i stop when the thullas ask me to stop.
I have heard incidents from my friends where one guy said that he told that he wont give the money now and would go to court. And he was disappointed cause there is no one to listen in court. All they assume is that we are murderers or maybe somewhat similar and we should pay double or tripple the amount fined on us. So it is better to not to go to court.
One really nice incident happened with one of my friend. He was caught jumping a red light and he paid the fine. He says that he emptied his heart out. Gave all the bad words he had ever came across to all the thullas there. Called them the worst things he could call. And then paid his fine and drove off. And he was happy. He says that it was worth paying the fine. Letting go of this frustration and driving off.
The best thing about corruption is that the corrupt officials wont be paying any tax on their "under-table" income. Maybe government should put tax on all such incomes. Or maybe make money paid as corruption - exempt from tax. If i would have earned 100 Rs, i would have paid 30 Rs as tax and would have got to keep only 70 Rs with me. The under priviledged common man.
Now the government is increasing the fines for all the penalties that tend to happen. Indirectly raising the cut for all the thullas. I could now-a-days see the thullas drooling at the sight of people driving. And their drool increases with increase in the number of vehicles and the raise in penalties.
The problem is not with the corrupt police officials, but with the management/the government. They have created situations so that corruption prevails. There is no proper management of traffic signal timings. The thullas are underpaid - i think so. And the thulla will always catch you if you start crossing the traffic signal at green and arrive at the other end when the signal is red. And this usually happens cause the time for yellow light is so low that there is almost no yellow light. And the red light does not work for cycle or rickshaw. So cycle or rickshaw can jump as many red lights as possible and create as much confusion as possible on the road.
After all, this is INDIA...
Sunday, March 05, 2006
India and corrupion
I have been thinking for some time now about writing this blog. A view into the corruption in india. Everybody knows that there is corruption in india and to a major extent. It is something like built into the system. Where-ever you have to interact with government employees to get your work done you have to fill up some unwanted pockets, if you ever want your work done. Forget service, you dont even get anything near that from these people.
Where do i start from is what i am not clear about. Lets start from the top. It is seen in news papers, well to be clear... keeps on coming on and off. Some MP or people in high position in the government caught taking bribes. It is general knowledge that these things come out because certain people in media have not been bribed to keep it down. These news generally disappear from the papers once all connection people have been bribed properly.... thats india darling. Here people dont joing government organizations to serve the country, they join to launder money into their own pockets. God only knows how this country runs and develops with such high levels of corruption.
Well my introduction with corruption happened when i was in college and my folks tried to get me a passport. For verification i had to go to the local police station and present myself. My dad who accompanied me to the police station, gave me a 20 and a 50 telling me to show the 20 first and then give the 50, if the policeman is not convinced by the 20. Well the inspector asked me lots of stupid questions and finally told me directly "Do you think you can get your passport without paying anything over here". I showed him a 20. And he said "u will be going out of india, earning lots of money. Give us some more." Well anyways, he was satisfied by a 50.
Since i have been in delhi and driving, i have got a few surprises over here as well. Firstly the "system" states that you cannot purchase a vehicle unless you have a residence proof. Who gives residence/rent proofs to tenants in delhi. If these proofs are given, corresponding taxes will have to be given. So well, i never had a residence proof. Still i managed to purchase 2 bikes. "Thanks to the system".
Another thing that i came across in delhi is the fact that it is really easy to bribe a traffic cop. They stand at red lights and catch u for almost anything small. Or you may not be carrying all the papers. All you have to do is plead a little and then offer him 50 rs. Only once i had to offer 100 rs. The mentality seems like -> I am down on money today, lets stand on a red light and get some money... Well they also balance their earnings nicely, so you may find 3-5 out of the 50 they have caught being given a ticket and then these people might have to go to the nearby police station to get their licence back which the policemen took.
The common man generally interacts with this type of corruption.
Corruption at high levels was brought into view in "Rang de basanti" in a very nice way. The point is that we will have to change the system, somehow. Where and how to start is the biggest question. We will have to think about this country. Lots of educated and sophesticated people are moving out of this country due to this only.
Lets see what happens. Where we go from here...
Where do i start from is what i am not clear about. Lets start from the top. It is seen in news papers, well to be clear... keeps on coming on and off. Some MP or people in high position in the government caught taking bribes. It is general knowledge that these things come out because certain people in media have not been bribed to keep it down. These news generally disappear from the papers once all connection people have been bribed properly.... thats india darling. Here people dont joing government organizations to serve the country, they join to launder money into their own pockets. God only knows how this country runs and develops with such high levels of corruption.
Well my introduction with corruption happened when i was in college and my folks tried to get me a passport. For verification i had to go to the local police station and present myself. My dad who accompanied me to the police station, gave me a 20 and a 50 telling me to show the 20 first and then give the 50, if the policeman is not convinced by the 20. Well the inspector asked me lots of stupid questions and finally told me directly "Do you think you can get your passport without paying anything over here". I showed him a 20. And he said "u will be going out of india, earning lots of money. Give us some more." Well anyways, he was satisfied by a 50.
Since i have been in delhi and driving, i have got a few surprises over here as well. Firstly the "system" states that you cannot purchase a vehicle unless you have a residence proof. Who gives residence/rent proofs to tenants in delhi. If these proofs are given, corresponding taxes will have to be given. So well, i never had a residence proof. Still i managed to purchase 2 bikes. "Thanks to the system".
Another thing that i came across in delhi is the fact that it is really easy to bribe a traffic cop. They stand at red lights and catch u for almost anything small. Or you may not be carrying all the papers. All you have to do is plead a little and then offer him 50 rs. Only once i had to offer 100 rs. The mentality seems like -> I am down on money today, lets stand on a red light and get some money... Well they also balance their earnings nicely, so you may find 3-5 out of the 50 they have caught being given a ticket and then these people might have to go to the nearby police station to get their licence back which the policemen took.
The common man generally interacts with this type of corruption.
Corruption at high levels was brought into view in "Rang de basanti" in a very nice way. The point is that we will have to change the system, somehow. Where and how to start is the biggest question. We will have to think about this country. Lots of educated and sophesticated people are moving out of this country due to this only.
Lets see what happens. Where we go from here...
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