This refers to the article “Hard indeed is the life of corrupt!” (May 22). The author has rightly defined corruption and how it has entered every walk of life. Things run smoothly in any government office only because of corruption. If a corrupt person succeeds, others are emboldened to follow him or her. The author may mean well by saying that parents and teachers should impart values to children but the same children change when they walk into the vast world.
Vasumathi Venkatadri,
Bangalore
My mother lives alone in Kerala and has managed to procure a voter id card, a PAN card, a ration card (the most difficult of all) and re-register a 1994 model Fiat without any help. The best thing is she did not pay even a rupee as bribe. But she did have to drag her aching knees to the third or fourth floor offices of various departments a number of times. Perseverance paid. A possible way to reduce corruption is to put up notice boards that list out the procedures for common tasks, listing all documents to be submitted and how to go about them.
Sukum Sekhar,
Thiruvananthapuram
Curbing corruption in one stroke is not possible as there has to be a change in people's mindset. Our curriculum — from school to university — should include ethics and moral education. Parents should teach children how to deal with government departments and refuse to pay bribes. Utilisation of websites, automated bank transactions and following the procedures listed on websites and newspapers can eliminate agents and middlemen. Also, people should turn whistleblowers by exposing corruption and learn to stand by one another.
Vedula Krishna,
Visakhapatnam
