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Sumanta Sen writes an excellent article in the Telegraph, about bribery and corruption. And no, its not the same old rant..he is in favour of bribery, and makes a good case for it.

An excerpt from the article...

Thus Bofors made an issue without, as has now transpired, an iota of evidence against Rajiv Gandhi. In fact, no proper inquiry was allowed to be conducted into whether arms can be purchased without some cut money changing hands. It is the same about the oil purchase from Iraq. If the Iraqis had demanded, and received, extra payment they were just playing the game by its rules. Other countries obviously understand this and so the report has evoked little interest in Britain, France and elsewhere. But in India a holier-than-thou attitude must be adopted. For, aren’t we a society untouched by corruption and other such evils? Incidentally, neither in the case of the Bofors cannon nor that of the oil coupons was national interest jeopardized — the guns are good and the oil never posed any threat to the country’s security.

And in lieu of the latest "money-for-questions" scam, here is another interesting paragraph...

Some of the ‘exposed’ MPs have reportedly claimed that they accepted money for their party. Here the Indian political establishment can perhaps follow the Brits. Their political parties accept money from the rich and ambitious and in return, make them lords and knights. Why cannot the same practice be introduced in the country which has adopted the Westminster model?

Some of the Padma awards can be kept aside for the highest bidders. This will certainly bring greater transparency in the conferring of such awards and also explain how some of the funds that parties always have at their disposal make their way into their coffers. But try and suggest this to our leaders and immediately the collective hypocrisy will raise its head, screaming that this will be against Indian culture. Just as every crime is against our culture.

Also, as a friend of mine asked after the Volcker report and the Natwar Singh issue...

How does it really affect Indians and India if someone made some money off of the Iraqi dictator and his oil scam? They were enterprising folks and saw the opportunity for making a quick buck. Let them be.