The world seems to be very interesting but mysterious. Curious are the ways of the world and its peoples. How else could one explain the way people seem to think that making money is the be all and end all of life? Today money has become our God and making money our religion. It seems to be the western ethos of "outcomes" that runs the world. The western culture of enjoyment has taken strong roots in our ancient land of great heritage of selfless service. Gone are the days when people used to think that it is in giving that you get. Gradually society started to respect money, irrespective of its origin. Consequently there was this mad rush for making money by hook or crook. Scientific studies have shown clearly that mankind inherited most of the ills, including physical and mental illnesses, after the advent of monetary economy. The classic study in this direction is the study of the Innu community in a small island off the coast of Saskatchewan in Canada.

The two pandemics that plague the West these days are suicide and divorce, and not heart attacks and cancer, unlike what we are made to believe. Studies have shown that there has been no real increase in the latter two conditions in the last one hundred years. The quantum jump in the gun trade in America is another example. We seem to be aping the Americans in a big way, at least in this respect. One of the Nobel Laureates classified two kinds of people viz.: the right brain type and the left brain type. The first are people with a holistic approach to life, full of compassion for the whole humanity, and trying to do good when possible. The second are self centred egocentric people, who do not bother about others in this world at all. It is thought that the present day reductionist science seems to get its adherents in the second group in large numbers. Left brain dominance comes with narrow outlook and is associated with sympathetic activity in the human system. This is related to performance and achievement in the wrong sense of the words. The right brain dominance goes with compassion, altruism, and other good qualities enshrined in the eastern wisdom of yore. This kind of classification is seen in the Chinese system as well- the yen and the yang.

Our ancient Yoga advocates a type of breathing, called the Sukha Praanaayaama, which aids in man attaining co-dominence of the brain, where he could both be an astute thinker and be compassionate at the same time. Unfortunately even our Yoga has been commercialised and equated with Aasanaas, sold daily even in the electronic media. Asanaas are only meant to give constant ease, for practising the various steps of the Ashtangayoga of Pathanjali. The essence of yoga is prathyaahaara, the real detachment. If one could attain that it is real bliss.

With this background one will be able to understand why corruption has taken strong roots in our society today. Corruption is the easiest way of making big money within a short span of time. It also is the cause of all human ills, since it indirectly propagates poverty in all its ramifications. When the politician takes money from the industrialists he has to give them undue concessions in the taxes, resulting in the fall in governmental revenues for developmental work. Since there is no free lunch, the poor become poorer and the rich richer. The poor suffer and pay for their poverty with their lives, while the rich pay for their lives because of the deviant behaviour of the less fortunate, like drug abuse, alcoholism and crime. In western societies it is the gulf between the rich and the poor that causes many ills in the community. At the end of the day it is monetary corruption which results in all cause mortality and morbidity!

I had an interesting letter from a reader who wanted to know why people, who are reasonably intelligent to occupy very high positions in society, can not make out the difference between good and bad, when it comes to money? He wanted me to write an article about the scientific rationale of corruption, and hence this attempt to look at the latter scientifically. Since it comes under the purview of human behaviour it is still under medical science.

In my opinion there are varieties of people in this world and they differ so much from one another, that all corrupt people are not alike.Their physiology, nay the pathologic physiology, should consequently be different.

Megalomaniacs:

These are the happy go lucky type who want to show off. They want money to show to the world that they are rich and powerful. They are the ones who exhibit a vulgar display of their wealth. I feel it is basically due to an inbuilt inferiority complex in childhood. It may also be due to bad experience in childhood. They have a sense of insecurity and would want to make it big pretty fast lest they should lose control of the situation. They do not stop at anything to achieve their goals when once they get power, political or otherwise.

Obsessive-Compulsive Neurotics:

Although conventional text books do not list corruption as a feature of this syndrome, I have a strong feeling that many of our incorrigible corrupt people suffer from this malady. Even though they know that corruption is bad , they can not help accepting bribes. They are like kleptomaniacs, who have to steal things even when they do not need them or when they could easily afford to buy the same stuff.

Depressives:

Mild depression, not manifesting with suicidal tendencies, is at the root of excessive eating seen in some obese individuals. Similar situation might exist with regard to corruption, where the person amasses wealth to get satisfaction in the face of subclinical depression.

Genetically corrupt:

Could there be this group? How I wish I knew! Recently there was a Ciba symposium on genes and criminality. The debate about Nature versus Nurture goes on. But there are enough indicators in this direction. Michael Lyon from Boston reported from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry that " antisocial behaviour in childhood is basically environmental, but the adult antisocial behaviour is strongly influenced by genetic make up with only a small contribution from the environment." Dr. S.A. Mednick from Los Angeles reported from the Danish Adoptees Cohort Study between 1924 and 1947 that environmental influences in adult criminality are minimal. I think there is a definite genetic trait for corruption in a small cohort of corrupt people and it may be very difficult to correct them, except by genetic engineering. The latter does not look like a distant dream.

The rogue gene has definitely been reported in animals in a famous case of the Howlett’s zoo tiger, Balkis, who killed its keeper. In the defense case, evidence was produced to show the presence of a rogue gene in the tiger.

Corruption has many other avathaaraas, all of which can not be discussed in this short article. They are all basically the same, although the modalities may be different. Corruption could be in cash or in kind, the latter sometimes could be more devastating and dangerous.

What is the remedy? Could one or two well meaning people set this whole thing right? Impossible! But a beginning must be made and that could only be done in our elementary schools to teach our children the real values in life for at least the next generation to imbibe. The present day teaching is only information load for the kids. Real teachers are those from whom we learn. Children must have their role models in their teachers and elders. Mother is the first and the most effective teacher and so is the father. The real change must start from there. It could even start earlier when the child is still in the mother’s womb.

An awareness of the enormity of this problem should start a debate on a National scale for the thinkers to put their heads together for the sake of the next generation. Patchwork repair will not work. Daily we read in the newspapers about individuals trying to show themselves as moral reformers of society. Most of them do have a questionable past where they used the same corrupt ladders to get to the top. We can not expect much from the existing deadwood. We must train a new generation in correct social behaviour. Genetic engineering may be needed when once we are able to get the human genome mapped completely. Till such time environmental changes must be our main thrust.

Let us not depend on the politicians. We must depend on a few statesmen that we have in the country at the moment. " Politics is a ruthless game, where the unbalanced and the personality disordered people seem to have an advantage in the struggle for power, " said a famous British psychiatrist in a recent article in the British Medical Journal. Few of the examples that he gives are frightening. Politicians all over are the same. Said George Orwell " Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure air." How else can one explain crores of rupees being kept in gunny bags in the closed houses?

In the world where the greatest apostle of peace and non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi, did not get the Nobel peace prize, while some of the advocates of war got the same, what can we expect with the present standards of morality. Of course, morality does not remain the same for all times. Our greatest dilemma would be to convince the hard core to change. Multipronged attacks are needed to demystify the atmosphere. May God help mankind to see reason.