Writings of Kerala Geek

India recently figured as one of the most corrupt nations of the world. Corruption is the one single reason why India is still a poor country. This is one area where Kerala can also boast substantial contribution. Almost all government departments in Kerala are neck deep in corruption.

My first experience with corruption was when I needed nativity certificate for engineering entrance exam. I had heard from my friends that Rs.100 is the standard bribe rate at the village office. So when i met village officer I gave my application with Rs.100 inside it. He opened the application,looked at 100 rupee note and then he put it in his shirt pocket. There was not even a trace of guilt in him. He told me to collect the certificate after 7 days.

After 7 days I met him again. He gave the application back saying that I live outside his jurisdiction. Yes, I had applied at the wrong village office! I waited for a few seconds thinking he will probably return the money. I was young and stupid

My father said - let us go and see Tahsildar. He has a bigger jurisdiction and can easily issue the certificate. He turned out be a bigger shark as well! I ended up cursing him at his office, and the entire staff came to manhandle us!

Finally I went to the correct village office and got the certificate after paying Rs 50.

Worst Kerala departments in terms of corruption

RTO (Regional Transport Office) - Corrupt officials with a set of agents out to collect money. Probably the most greedy!

Drugs Controller Office - They think collecting bribe is their birth right! If you go there you can see bribe collection happening openly!

PWD (Public Works Department) - They specialize in corruption and mainly target contractors. They are so powerful that they even kicked out big contracting companies(Pati Bel)!

Village office/Registration office - Another den of corrupt officials. They have started forming alliance with land mafia and have started generating fake sale deeds etc.

Health inspectors - Another set of corrupt officials who target mainly small establishments. If you don’t bribe them, they look for ways to make your life a hell (increase license fees etc).

Now the latest trend in Kerala corruption is to outsource bribe. You pay the agent and he will in turn pay the officials. For example you give money to plumber who in turn will bribe the water department. This is predominant in RTOs and corporation offices.

What I have mentioned above is from my personal experience. There could be other departments worse than the above. Also in some places there is no bribe because the official leading that department is honest and strict.

The goonda menace in Kerala has reached such epic proportions that even current ruling party (which was against any such law before) is now implementing Kerala Anti-social Activities (Prevention) Ordinance! But unless there is genuine interest to curb the menace, this ordinance will be of no use.

What powers does the ordinance provide? First of all police can take the goonda on preventive custody upto 21 days without judicial review. It can be further extended with judicial review upto 6 months. Frankly looking at the current serious situation, I think even 6 months is not enough. Also Kerala has a unique problem of human rights activists who are ready to go to any extend to free even the hard core criminal (there was even a long running dharna to free Afzal, one of the prime accused in parliment attack). 

Every day all Kerala newspapers carry fresh news about Goonda attacks. Today is no exception. Only this time I know the place where it happened since I take the route daily. It happened on the aakulam NH 47 bypass which goes to Kovalam (Trivandrum). There is a toll bridge on the way and most of the time there is a queue on both directions. Even if you have a monthly pass you will have to be in the queue. It is all up to the whims of the people at the toll booth.

I think most of them at the toll are rowdies and goondas. I myself had seen a few instances of abuse and goondagiri at the toll. One day a fellow on auto (a gulf malayali I guess) who was going to airport was stopped and verbally abused. Last line I heard from the goondas was - “gulf modayanu kettaa..”! Poor fellow.

So it was waiting to happen. Today Malayala Manorama carries the news - “Toll pirivukar  kudumbathe aakramichu. car thakarthu” (Toll goondas attacked a family and destroyed their car). Is there going to be any action? I doubt it since goondas invariably enjoy political protection…

First thing government should do is to remove that damn toll there. They have been collecting money for too long!

Check out the news clipping below (click on picture to read).

What I cherish most about my childhood is my early school days. It was fun time and there was no pressure to perform. I don’t remember carrying a heavy school bag at any time! There was competition between children but it was at a healthy level.

But things have changed drastically over the years. Now the work load at school is unbelievably high. My daughter is too young to go to school, but I do feel sympathy thinking how hard it is going to be for her.

I see only one group to blame for all these nonsense - parents. It is written infinite times, but I can’t help it. Everyone wants their child to be an engineer or doctor because of the social status it gives to the family. But maybe because she is too young, I don’t have any such expectations for my daughter. I want her to do what she wants (but not sure how I will react if she says she wants to be a model!).

What prompted me to write this was the photo I took last week. I was going to office and at a signal (Pattoor junction) I noticed an auto rickshaw on my left side. I felt really sad for the child sitting behind (look closely - there are 3 children one on top of other!).

It was more than 2000 years back that an intelligent fellow named Jesus said “those who live by the sword die by the sword”. I remember this almost daily when I read Kerala news papers.

Today (2nd Dec) all newspapers had this news on the front page – “30 year old political activist hacked to death in Trivandrum”. It is a disturbing news. This violence had been going on for some time in this area, started as a minor quarrel between two groups of people some time ago. Now it has got political & communal colors. The fight between the groups worsened to such an extent that a young man is now murdered. This fellow is survived by a wife and a son. The murdered man himself was accused of various crimes including attempted murder and other kinds of violence.

Another problem in the above incident is that no one is coming forward to broker peace (Police did some attempt but was unsuccessful). If this fight was resolved during its early stages, much bloodshed could have been avoided. The Goonda Raj in Kerala is on the increase. Unless something drastic is not done to curb the menace, it is going to be a big headache for everyone.

Some criminals think that if a crime is committed as a group chances of conviction is less. It is in some respects true also. We need to change the criminal system to increase penalty for gang violence including death penalty. Also rules regarding evidence must be relaxed in such cases since people are afraid to testify against gangs. India doesn’t have a witness protection scheme.

Kannur district was notorious for similar deaths & violence for a long time. People got tired and finally some peace is now restored between groups. I do hope that some common sense will prevail in Trivandrum also. Do we really need to prove Jesus again and again?

On December 1st, 2006 Kerala high court in its judgment said that all kinds of watch fee (“nokkku kooli”) are illegal. It also directed administration to take action against political & muscle power backed tyranny of head load workers. One can only hope that the rule of law prevails in the state.

What is watch fee (nokkui kooli)? Consider that you have some stuff to unload from a lorry. If you decide to do it yourself you need to pay the head load workers free money. They will just watch the proceedings and then collect money. Sounds unbelievable? Well, it has been like this in Kerala for some time.

I remember an incident that happened recently. It was about a week ago that I went to Trivandrum central station to receive a relative. He was coming by the Venadu Express train which reaches around 10PM. As I waited on platform 4, I noticed that it was nearly empty except for a few guys who were in red uniform. They are the official porters at the station. I had come pretty early and noticed that they were waiting for more than an hour.

They like me were waiting for the Venad. When the train came some of them started running from one end to the other of the platform. They were looking for work. But no one was calling them. People were struggling with luggage but still looked terrified when the porters offered help!

Interestingly that day they didn’t get even a single customer. I felt very sorry for them. I was waiting with these guys and I knew this is their livelihood. These guys are probably the sole support behind their families. I also felt sorry for the old woman who got down from the train. She was carrying two heavy bags which clearly was too heavy for her. She looked financially well off but still was not taking the help of porters!

This situation is unique in Kerala. The reason is simple. Head load workers and porters have a very bad reputation in Kerala. There are many among them who bully and fleece money from people. This group of workers have the made the life of others a living hell.

The previous Kerala government had passed a “head load workers act” to protect people from the tyranny of the workers. But so far the implementation of this had been poor. Rates for all kinds of loading and unloading work are fixed and are known to all. The willpower of the administration to implement these rates is lacking. So suffering for the people of Kerala is bound to continue…