In a recent international survey, India ranked a lowly 87 in the corruption index of countries, three stages worse than the previous year. In the World Prosperity Index, the country has regressed 10 places to 88th position, much below its biggest rival China, ranked 58th.
The corruption ranking has certainly been aggravated by the Commonwealth Games scandal, while the latter is attributed to the still abysmal health care system which does not reach the marginalised, the lack of adequate infrastructural facilities and the limited reach of our education system.
This comes at a time when the country is viewed globally as a stable, forward-thinking economy and a prime mover in the Asian region, with the makings of a world leader.
This also comes at a time when global leaders such as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama are queuing up to lobby for major-league business deals with India.
There is talk everywhere about India's competitive edge in various areas, its youth, its huge 300 million-plus middle class with their mind-boggling purchasing power, its accelerating growth rate and its working democracy.
Yet India has a lot to be ashamed of, even without the endless series of scams that are dug up with unfailing regularity by an aggressive media. Every nation has its share of scandals, but for the most part the incidents of graft and corruption are confined to a plain where the common man is not affected.
In India however, these evils so pervade the common man's day-to-day life that he has to tread a long and costly path to get what he wants, be it a passport, a cooking gas connection, a building permit or admission into school or college for children, even recovery of money due from the government.
Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia are thriving nations, much of their prosperity contributed by the Indian diaspora and expatriates. If Indians can stand in a queue for their turn, pay their taxes correctly and on time, keep the roads and parks litter-free and follow driving rules, why then do they forget it all when they return to their native land?
Build on experience
Why should India not try to get people back home to emulate what they have seen abroad? Indians bring back fresh ideas for their new homes that they are going to build, how their children should be educated, how they can beautify their immediate environment, yet the laid-back, chalta hai (let it be) attitude keeps them from exerting themselves for the common good.
That is why a small humanitarian gesture or an act of civic consciousness by an individual arouses so much admiration, so seldom is it seen among the general citizenry.
That is also why an anguished letter from the former president of India, Dr Abdul Kalam, a scathing comment on the double standards of the Indian persona, should strike Indians with guilt and shame, and spur them to positive action before things get out of hand.
India has the youngest population in the world, with 65 per cent under the age of 30. What is the older generation to teach them? Do they have any values to impart anymore? Are Indians correctly equipping their youngsters to be world class leaders and human beings?
Can they take a positive lesson from what they see going on around them or will they turn into venal cynics, taking what they can get out of the system but giving nothing back?
Indians have a lot going for them. They have the largest-ever talent pool in the world, that excels in the latest developments in technology and every branch of science. If more and more Indian expatriates are returning to their native land, let it be not just for the earning opportunities back home against the growing recession and job losses in their adopted countries.
Let it be because India has become in its turn a land of opportunity and hope, let it also be because these new Indians feel that they could make a difference to the quality of life back home. The geography and the homogeneity of diverse regional cultures which keep blending and merging with each other while at the same time retaining their uniqueness allow Indians to adjust to new influences and this is their special gift.
It is unacceptable to me that Indians fall flat on their faces when it comes to corruption and moral character. To my mind, taking a beating under any other parameter is bearable, but in ethical standards and integrity, how can any self-respecting Indian allow it?
To paraphrase Shakespeare, Indians would do well to remember that the good is often interred with our bones whereas the evil that we do lives on after us.
So it might be with India.
Vimala Madon is a freelance journalist based in Secunderabad, India.
