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Achiah's avatar

Very thought provoking.

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Ashvini Ranjan's avatar

Dear Pras,

You sure have waded through the greyness that exists between incentive, inducement and bribe very intelligently. You have also avoided the possible pitfalls to give scope for interpretations to score a point. Could not help recall my own childhood. I offered to light lamps in the temple if I was successful in my exams and a classmate of mine offered to perform one hundred sit ups if he got more marks than me in the test. I sought divine help to resolve whether what we did was an incentive or a bribe. But the issue still remains unresolved since the good lord has chosen to remain silent ! In some well known temples the offerings to Gods run into crores of rupees. I asked a learned friend whether the offerings was an incentive or a bribe. He said that it depended upon whether the offering was before the grant of favor or after.

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M R Prasanna's avatar

That was a great narrative. Thank you. As for lighting lamps it was an exercise in self motivation. And the sit ups were aimed at inducing oneself to excel.

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Nagesh's avatar

The closing comments on corruption in India , though disappointing it was truly reflecting the current state of affairs in India.

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Rama Iyer's avatar

"Ointment money" is something new I learnt. Maybe that is the origin of greasing the palms?

Well written as always. Bribery, corruption, inducement, incentive. Difficult to differentiate at times.

I had watched "suits" which had these many "IOU" and "you owe me" and "now we are even" which was followed almost strictly. That amused me a little.

Regarding India's position in the world wrt corruption, I recollect one cover story I think in the Illustrated Weekly in the late 70s when I was in primary school about bribery and corruption. The cover had this image of a mirror and it said "Do you want to see the most corrupt person in the world, look into the mirror". That was very impactful. I only hope we have climbed down the positions through the years.

Thank you and looking forward to the next edition of filter coffee.

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M R Prasanna's avatar

Wow! What a lovely review!! Thank you Rama. Much appreciated.

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MRK's avatar

Very interesting topic and a nice explanation to differentiate between incentive, inducement, bribery and corruption.

Becomes a very important aspect especially in the banking circles where there could be fine lines between these and overlooking even one of them could be detrimental for the organization.

In accordance with the UK bribery act we as banking employees are expected to go through mandatory elearnings at frequent intervals. A stark reminder of what one needs to do in the hustle and bustle of the day to day business!

"Ointment Money" was an interesting term from today's edition!

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M R Prasanna's avatar

Thanks very much Buddu. Much appreciated.

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Shahji Jacob's avatar

Thank you for clarifying that there was a difference between the requirement under listing laws and the silence under section 149 of Indian Companies Act. I didn’t know of that.

The link providing the country wise risk and compliance report was indeed very informative. Lack of time prevented me from going through the whole thing, but at a glance I must say we are certainly miles ahead of Pakistan, which considering that both countries started out on the journey as an independent country almost at the same time, says a lot. I agree that Pakistan is not a fair country for comparison to India. But we do seem to have fared better than some of our other smaller neighbors like, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (which despite being small and therefore administratively easier to control) still does not fare any better.

Trust you Pras, to come up with humor even on a subject as deadly as corruption. Looking forward to your detailed discussion these topic in your subsequent issues.

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M R Prasanna's avatar

Thank you Shahji. Much appreciated.

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A.s.nataraj's avatar

Very interesting and well depicted a nice analysis of bribery and corruption but what I feel is the distinction is very thin

Keep it guru👍

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M R Prasanna's avatar

You are right Nutts. There's no brightline test to differentiate.

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Zarir Parvaez Battivaala's avatar

Well written......

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M R Prasanna's avatar

Thanks ZeeBee.

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Rajinder Sharma's avatar

Dear MRP, bribery and corruption is not just money changing hands, but also emotional corruption and there is no law, except a small chapter of “conflict of interest” which deals with such aspect. But that in my mind and view is the largest corrupt practice. A food for thought to make a detailed topic of such aspect. A well written piece buddy!!!!

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M R Prasanna's avatar

Thanks a lot Raj

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