“Greed” is the main cause for “Corruption” – Justice Santosh Hegde

Ankola : “Greed” is the main cause for “Corruption”, said former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde.
He was addressing a meeing organised by ‘Jana Shakti Vedike’ at Satyagraha Smaraka Bhavan here on Wednesday.
“This is really a meaningful programme. He greeted ‘Jana Shakti Vedike’ for organising such a wonderful programme.
”We have to change the society.The present day society is worshiping ‘richness’ and ‘power’. There is respect only for the ‘rich’ and having ‘power’. There is no respect for honest person. If we do not transform this society, we cannot eradicate corruption, dishonesty and immorality. Such efforts should be made”.

Ankola : “There is no medicine for ‘greed’. But, we can eradicate ‘greed’ by ‘self contentment’. We may think whether it is possible. Yes, it is possible, there is only way for the society to change. ‘Greed’ is the root cause for Corruption. Corruption cannot be eradicated completely, but it can be controlled”, said Justice Santosh Hegde.

He was addressing a meeting organised by Jana Shakti Vedike here on Wednesday.
He further said “let, us have some changes in ourselves. Let us also practice ‘humanity’. If there is humanity in the society, there will be peace and fraternity. In this direction I am trying to inculcate these values in our younger generation thereby we can change the society in long run and therefore, I give lectures in schools”.
Hegde spoke about scandals in India in the name of development. “There is lot of development in our country. But, in this process, lot of development has taken place over “Greed”. For example in 50s ‘Jeep scandal’. The Jeep scandal case took place in 1948 when V.K. Krishna Menon, the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, ignored protocols and signed a Rs 80 lakh contract for the purchase of army jeeps with a foreign firm. In this purchase contract our country has lost Rs.52 lakhs. In 80s ‘Bofors scandal’ has came in front. In 2008 , the 2G spectrum case came to light. In this scandal the loss to our country was Rs.1,76,000 Crore. In 2010, Commonwealth Games. In this scandal loss to our country was Rs.70,000 crore. These figures are as per the CAG. The Report said a few people have looted the money in Commonwealth Games scandal. Thereafter ‘Coalgate’ scandal , Rs.1,90,000 crore. In 2016 ‘Rafale scandal’ came to light in which the loss to our country was Rs.2,00,000 crore. There are many other cases which are under investigation. If this much of amount drains from the government’s exchequer, how development of the country can occur”.
“In such an economic condition of our country, how peace and amity can develop”.
“During my legal profession I was not much aware about the problems in the society. But, after coming to Lokayukta I have seen lot of ‘Injustice’ in the society. When I made introspection on this issue, I came to a conclusion that it is not the mistake of a person, but it is the mistake of the society. When I was small boy, in our village if anybody is jailed, my parents used to tell that you should not go nearer to their house. In those days who ever makes a social wrong, the society used to give a punishment of social boycott to such persons. Not only for that person, but for his whole family. Therefore, in those days people were afraid to do wrong things”.
“My message is “One can not born ‘human’, but, in the process of journey of life, practice humanity and while dying show to the society that you have changed into a ‘human being”.
Up till now we have been fighting ‘corruption’ in courts. But, it is not possible, because to get a final verdict in court it takes minimum ten years.
Due to ‘greed’ we are losing faith of all the pillars of the constitution. When we got independence the original text of the Constitution contained ‘Of the people, for the people and by the people’.
But, now the political system has completely changed. IAS-IPS officers, retired judges are entering politics resigning their jobs. I cannot understand as to what is there in politics. There is corruption in every pillar of democracy. We will make honest efforts to practice the value of ‘contentment’ and eradicate ‘greed’, Hegde appealed.