Recently I watched the telugu movie Broker, which is about a professional wheeler dealer who is capable of getting any type of work done in the Government. The case of a very strict official, who doesnt bend even under the influence of the highest offer of money, is referred to this fellow. He in turn gets into studying the mentality of the official and ultimately finds out that he has a weakness for a particular movie heroine. Though the story is interesting I will stop at that. I thought it interesting to classify the different species of public servants based on the degree of virtue the fellow holds in him. Any public servant works in pursuit of either of the three objects, money, honour, or principles. The extent to which these three objects exist in a person defines his degree of virtue. The value of our public servants is defined by the degree of virtue the person holds in him.
A close look at the spectrum of public servants running our Government today reveals that they belong to different classes, each one at a different stage of evolution in terms of virtue, but all of the classes coexisting at the same time. Based on the amount of virtue each class holds, we can classify the public servants into four broad categories, the honestly honest, the dishonestly honest, the honestly dishonest, and finally the dishonestly dishonest.
Man of Principles
The first class of honestly honest are the most virtuous of the spectrum, pure as unadulterated milk. For the people belonging to this class, honesty and integrity extend beyond their job into their lives. Sincerity in work, devotion to family, confining the life to his legitimate means of income, expenditure of excess time in noble pursuits of acquisition of true knowledge, faith in God, and above all, leading a life of simplicity and principles is his hallmark. Impossible is to tempt a person belonging to this class of people, with the known temptations of either money/women/wine/food, or by temptations of honour and goodwill. These people are willing to endure hardship because they are truly knowledgeable, and live by the universal principles of good. Very rarely do we come across such public servants, but there is an urgent need to identify and preserve such creatures as role models for the present and future. In the interest of governance they should be honoured ,and efforts made to replicate this fast dwindling species which is at the verge of extinction. A conscious effort to cultivate the values of this species among others, from the current and future generations, needs to be done. Principles are the fundamental good in their life.
Man of honour
Next class of servants are the dishonestly honest, similar to milk mixed with water. Modernised urban society values money making and pleasure seeking behaviour, when compared with a traditional rural society which values virtue. Dishonestly honest are the direct descendants of the milk class, some of whom mutate under the influence of modern pleasure seeking society. Honour and money are the two factors which exert some influence on these persons. A picture of perfect honesty is displayed to our eyes, which holds good as long as no opportunity for dishonesty presents itself. Desire for honour compels the person to subdue his desire for money lest it should be out in the open. We often listen to accusations of dishonesty against the corrupt persons from his mouth, partly motivated by pangs of jealousy that the corrupt person is enjoying a life of pleasure, and partly by his eagerness to prove his honesty in comparison with the corrupt fellow, thereby gaining some honour. Presentation of any opportunity satisfying his desire for money without affecting his honour will not be lost by him; honour is the chief good in their lives.
Man of money
The third class is the honestly dishonest ones, comparable to the pure, unadulterated toddy freshly tapped. Though inherently not good, it has a value derived out of its purity. A culture of bribe-taking, percentage-seeking behaviour has been well entrenched, in many of the offices of Government, over the last few decades. New comers into the department are immediately given shelter, groomed in the code of dishonesty by the senior staff, and taught to deliver perfectly on receipt of the money. Some years ago, when a friend went to a public office to request for the family pension and benefits of a dead acquaintance, he was confronted by a money-seeking clerk. Being a religious chap, my friend counseled him for a few minutes as to how inhuman it is to demand money for sanctioning pension to the family of the deceased. After a patient listening his answer was "all that I deal with are dead cases. If I am compassionate, where will I get my money from?". The result is, today we have a large number of government servants for whom taking money and delivering work is a way of life. Non-delivery of the promised work, or demand of excess/less money than that agreed under the rate list of bribes is frowned upon, and termed unscrupulous. We refer to these fellows as efficient but corrupt in common parlance. There exists no desire for honour for this class of people because they imagine their honour to be derived from the money that is earned illegally. These are the products of the modern pleasure seeking society, which has been successful in producing its own class of citizens. Money is the fundamental good in these fellows lives.
Man of Pleasure
Finally we come to the dishonestly dishonest, the ones comparable to illicit arrack. While they give an appearance of genuine dishonesty, they are in reality fake, whom we term as cheats. These are the ones totally unscrupulous, always trying to swindle government moneys through forgery, fooling innocent visitors into paying sums without need, escaping the work assigned to them, always trying to steal both honour and money without any effort on their part. Pleasures in life bought by money totally rule these chaps, and they are beyond correction. Even by the standards of a modern society which values money, these fellows are useless and good for nothing. Pleasure is the principal good in their lives.
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