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The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam

266 points by oska 11y ago

pyvek 11y ago
This sort of corruption is still running strong here in India. A few days ago an acquaintance of my father told him that he knows a guy who can get her daughter a government job for a fee of 8 lakhs (~$12,000). And that he would go for it, given he had this much money. The sentiment was that he treats this bribe as an investment, which can be recovered from the job salary in a couple years and is worth it.
- anovikov 11y ago
  this blocks a lot of economic growth because many people consider buying into a government job an investment...
  - pyvek 11y ago
    Also that most of the people who buy their way into a government job are most probably incompetent. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy because the ones who themselves bought in their way using corruption are very much likely to repeat the same with others once they are in the government.
- jzwinck 11y ago
  Fun cultural note for those reading this who may not know: a "lakh" is just 100,000 of anything, in India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. People do not speak or think in terms of "millions" regardless of the magnitude, it would be "20 lakh" not "2 million" even when spoken in an English sentence. You might sometimes hear "half a lakh" but less often "a quarter lakh" than you would "a quarter million."
  - eitally 11y ago
    Fun addendum to this cultural note: the fact that things are based in hundred thousands leads to weird comma structural in written numerals. http://www.fullstopindia.com/indian-number-system-made-easy/ http://www.fullstopindia.com/indian-number-system-made-easy/ For example: 1,00,000 = 1 lakh 1,05,000 = 1 lakh + 5,000 rupees = 105,000 rupees
    - djrogers 11y ago
      According to your link, your first example should be 10 lakh
      - devdas 11y ago
        1 => one 10 => ten 100 => one hundred 1,000 => one thousand 10,000 => ten thousand 1,00,000 => one lakh 10,00,000 => ten lakh (one million)
darkhorn 11y ago
There was similar scam in Turkey http://mobile.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_30-released-in-case-of-alleged-centralized-exam-scam_376427.html http://mobile.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_30-released-in-case-o... The investigation still continues even today.
- afsina 11y ago
  Oh, Today's Zaman is trying to cover up the real perpetrators.. The irony.
sremani 11y ago
This one reads like a Mystery novel, if not for the deaths of many people, it is utterly fascinating insight into Indian politics, power brokers and moneyed interests. The trail of death is unheard of, even though the trail of corruption is more or less accepted. There is no trust in the Police force there would be a thorough investigation and any high-profile case involves CBI, which is nominally independent and it self entangled in all kinds of Political games. India is a Democracy to an extent that there are elections and the change of guard is peaceful, outside of it, the many institutions are incompetent and are utterly undemocratic. 65 Years after Independence, people do not believe Police for a good reason. Police in India are thugs for the ruling party. The do not enforce law, but the wishes of people in power and that format goes up to the higher level, including CBI, Intelligence Wing, Enforcement Directorate etc. In this scenario, if nothing happened in 2013 when INC was in Power at the Center, nothing is going to happen with BJP in Power, the party of Shavraj(sic) the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. I am not short on India, but I am not long on it either. Its a country with potential to be great, but many of us know, will not be great in our lifetimes.
- dangerpowpow 11y ago
  eh you are too pessimistic, like many comments in the thread. There are still many people in the system who work daily for the betterment of the country. There are concrete steps being taken to battle corruption. It is not black and white
  - sremani 11y ago
    Your comment is any thing but concrete. Please enlighten me, with what those concrete steps are that have made dent in the monumental corruption of India's Political and Bureaucratic classes.
- hausa11 11y ago
  Man you are presenting the problem in a quite hyped manner. If every state department is manipulated by ruling party then why not the Election Commission. The problem is in the system that has settled in the root of administration.The problem of bribing has become a custom as if it was a basic part in the functioning of various departments.
rdtsc 11y ago
It is hard for those in Western countries to imagine what it is like to live in a corrupt state like that. Eastern Europe is like that as well. Corruption is a way of life. It starts from bribing the doctor who will deliver the baby, to bribing kindergarten teachers, to high school teachers, paying to cheat on a state exam, buying a driver's license etc, until bribing the cemetery to take make an extra spot for the deceased when the person dies. Pretty much any interaction with a state could involve bribery and corruption. From the most mundane things, like a traffic stop, to paying a bribe to get away with murder. In school I remember people who did very badly during the year often ended up miraculously get good grades on finals. Cases of judges being paid off to exonerate criminals were common. One of the lowest of the low scam artist was an acquintance of a neighbor living next door. That person worked for a DNA testing lab. They did criminal testing as well as paternity testing. You can imagine the kind of things they were dealing with and the pain they were causing. They drove a fancy car and had a big house on the outskirts of the city -- all on a lab technician's salary. Corruption is the reason I cannot tollerate visiting that part of the world anymore. It really angers and gets to me. It is not the poverty, crime, bad infrastructure, I can handle those things, but I can't handle corruption.
- aianus 11y ago
  Having lived in Romania and Vietnam, you learn to appreciate the efficiency of just paying the bribe and getting on with your life. For example, if I get caught speeding I can bribe a cop for like $20 in Eastern Europe or Asia versus losing $1000s in Canada between fines and insurance premium increases. I personally find it a lot less stressful than living in Canada where every time I see a cop I get a little adrenaline rush of fear. Anyways, most of the other things on your list exist in Canada too, we just don't call it bribery, we call it "private clinics", "private school", "private motorcycle training academy where your instructor, who's the same person you're paying and reviewing, is the one who gives you your license".
  - nl 11y ago
    Have you considered not speeding? It also helps avoid the fines.
swehner 11y ago
Wondering whether it is becoming easier to publish long articles as opposed to shorter and concise
- a_bonobo 11y ago
  This is part of the "The Long Read" series, The Guardian publishes one every weekday: http://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read http://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read It's certainly much easier to publish long, detailed reads online than in newspapers, but I haven't seen any real increase in the numbers.
- n0us 11y ago
  certainly is a way to set yourself apart from non-professional blogs. I would have no difficulty reading this story in a print newspaper but on my laptop screen I find it hard on the eyes for some reason. I'm wondering if print media will find a niche and continue to exist as a medium for long form journalism since I know I'm not the only one who suffers from this type of eye fatigue.
- tequila_shot 11y ago
  Good observation. However like my comment now, doesn't add value to discussion.
0x99 11y ago
Rather surprising, I did hear about the scams in Indian education, but this beats it all. People dying because of a scam? That's pathetic.
- tequila_shot 11y ago
  People in India are killed for scams of far lesser magnitude. Being an Indian I sometimes feel really bad about what my country has become.
  - placeybordeaux 11y ago
    Do you feel like it is getting better or worse?
    - tequila_shot 11y ago
      This is my belief. It was worse when Congress was in power. Now that Modi is in power, I'm hopeful India's state would improve. But this goes without saying, I don't really know. No one really knows. Modi has committed a lot of atrocities during his term as a CM for Gujarath. The only feeling that sticks with me is, fear/uncertainty of future. Still not sure why I'm being down voted. I did provide some reasoning as to 'why' I'm being uncertain.
      - Manishearth 11y ago
        (To non-Indians reading the above comment: Congress is the name of a[1] political party in India, not a house of legislature. Seen lots of folks get tripped up by this.) [1]: Well, many. There used to be one, now it has fragmented. But the one being talked about is the Indian National Congress.
      - littletimmy 11y ago
        As someone who doesn't know a lot about Indian politics, could you please tell me why there seems to be a large liberal crowd in India that's very anti-Modi? I heard recently Arundhati Roy returned her government honors, for example.
guard-of-terra 11y ago
When the selection process is too competitive, it begins to select wrong people. The right way is probably a test one should merely pass and then lottery. Guarantees that you bring some genuinely worthy people onboard and not just really well connected or spearheaded.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- tsycho 11y ago
  A lottery would make it even easier to game/cheat. Corruption needs to be rooted out from the top with a transparent vigilance process, just changing the system would just shuffle who gets the bribe money.
  - guard-of-terra 11y ago
    How do you think real lotteries work? Everybody has incentive to pocket the money but that is prevented.
    - marcosdumay 11y ago
      > How do you think real lotteries work? In India or in the US?
    - saint_fiasco 11y ago
      Maybe real lotteries don't work in India. How could you tell?
random_coder 11y ago
As an Indian I often wonder, the real question is not why India is so corrupt(esp. at the lower levels of bureaucracy), rather how come certain countries have zero corruption at those levels? Perhaps I'm too pessimistic about human nature.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  Because corruption is a thing that enters from the top down. If the cadre is corrupt then corruption will be seen as 'ok'. If the cadre is incorruptible then they can make a demand of those below them to act in a similar way or be booted out. The change from a corrupt state to one that isn't takes multiple decades, it is not something you can do overnight and at any point in time the arrow can reverse. The same goes for states that have low corruption today, that is not a guarantee for low corruption in the future. China is interesting in this respect, on the one hand corruption is rife, on the other it is nominally totally out of bounds and the punishments are severe. I don't understand how those can both be true at the same time without a huge amount of selective enforcement. My experience with India to date has one of utter amazement at the brashness and the degree to which corruption has infused society there. I suspect that for India a part of it is that it has social classes that are very disjoint. This creates a very fertile growth medium for corruption because it puts a lot of small people in positions of relatively large amounts of power over the lives of others.
  - netcan 11y ago
    I don't think this is universally true. I think corruption or some version of it tends to be more common nearer the top, but does not always filter down. When it filters down, that's when the whole system becomes corrupt and there are many degrees of corruption a system might have.
  - pjc50 11y ago
    I think it's the other way round: corruption, or at least nepotism, is the natural state of man just as dictatorship is the natural state of government. It takes considerable effort and ideological groundwork to build anything else. Just as you can't airdrop democracy onto countries. For example in the UK, if one were to write a history of corruption-fighting there would be three big strands since the 1500s. Religion: the replacement of a church that sold salvation with (sometimes extreme) Protestant moralism. Military: at one point commissions in the army were bought and sold. This practice was replaced with more meritocratic promotion in order to win wars. And financial: English law seems to be considered one of the world's fairest regimes for contract law, and is often used for contracts between non-English big companies.
touchofevil 11y ago
I've come to the conclusion over the last several years and specifically after spending a bit of time in India, that corruption is the #1 challenge facing humanity. In the past I believed that poverty was largely due to a lack of resources (food, housing, etc) but I've come to believe that corruption is actually the source of this "lack of resources" -- the resources are most likely not lacking at all, they are probably just being distributed in a massively improper way due to corruption. When you see the amount of poverty on the streets of Mumbai in person and realize that the government is involved in just ONE scam with a value of up to 22 billion pounds, it really brings things into focus. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/16/india-corruption-government http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/16/india-corruptio... And parts of the developed world, like the US, are just as corrupt (or more corrupt) than India, only in different and potentially even more damaging ways, like having an election system captured by corporations. Until corruption is tackled, I don't think we're going to solve issues like poverty, hunger, and climate change. But corruption can only thrive in the dark and my hope is that the internet will allow a light to be shined in the dark corners of both developed and developing nations. Maybe the ultimate question we should ask is why individual people feel the need to accumulate enormous sums of wealth, at all. My opinion is that it is the result of deep-seated fears about "losing everything" and ending up impoverished. Until societies can guarantee EVERY citizen a right to food and shelter, regardless of the ability of the person to create income, the citizens of that society will manifest their fear in the form of hording and, sometimes, corruption. I have no problem with people like Bill Gates earning vast amounts of money by adding value to the world, but we can allow individuals to accumulate that sort of wealth while still proving a safety net for every individual in society. Perhaps this safety net will assuage the fear that, I believe, ultimately inspires at least a good portion of corruption. Despite all of humanity's achievements, we are still living like animals, ruled by fear, where the law of the jungle still reigns.
- saiya-jin 11y ago
  very nicely written, thank you for that. I tend to agree that insane drive to accumulate wealth just-to-be-covered ain't the most healthy drive for stable, equal society. It has positive effect of people trying really hard to succeed, giving their best, just to get a juicy slice of wealth, for whatever reasons. It has all kinds of negative effects too, which seem to accumulate as we see these days. which is more beneficial for mankind in long term I have no clue - stable steady but probably slower development of mankind vs push for wealth which brings many innovations to society, with great inequalities arising (leading maybe to new cast system, which is a truly horrible thing)
stefantalpalaru 11y ago
> Nothing else matters – not your grades over 12 years of school, nor any hobbies, interests or transformative life experiences. Good. The US habit of putting bullshit criteria in the admission score is just a way to subjectively select the desired candidates regardless of their merit. And there's no objective way to grade essays, extracurricular activities, obligatory volunteering, interviews, teacher recommendations, being liked by the admission officers, being in a hip minority, etc.
- balazsdavid987 11y ago
  You sound a bit harsh, but as someone not from the US, I was surprised that these things count when it comes to getting an admission. Does any particular hobby makes someone a better person? Or a 20-year old without a transformative life experience isn't capable of achiveing the same things? These factors are way to subjective.
  - saint_fiasco 11y ago
    My guess is that the US used to have objective criteria but because University admissions are so competitive everyone studied just for the test and Universities filled with people who were very good at "book-learning" at the expense of everything else. They wanted students to be more varied, more well-rounded individuals instead of robots who memorize books. So naturally, they started testing for holistic well-roundedness and Goodhart's law did the rest.
    - mikeash 11y ago
      I always thought it was so they could reject undesirables (wrong ancestry and such) without having to give the real reason.
      - saint_fiasco 11y ago
        I heard something similar too, that Harvard felt they were admitting too many Jews so they started using other criteria instead of just the written tests for admission. Now they are probably using the subjective tests to attract disadvantaged minorities.
maindrive 11y ago
grg
maindrive 11y ago
Can't expect much from a British newspaper. No country is best its just the media gimmick that creates the perception. Till yesterday people were hating Russia and Putin, now all know who created ISIS. I just won’t go into numbers of rapes, kidnaps, murders, racism that happens in Britain (proportion wise for dummies).
- ameen 11y ago
  Deflection isn't really a solution. Never be dismissive, there's always some truth (the death tally in this case) we can get better.
ameen 11y ago
Reform in India is the hardest thing ever. Corruption is soaked in our veins. In some states a birth certificate itself is modified (to start school early). Almost every aspect of any government is scam ridden, at any given time there can be a multitude of scams in progress and eye-wash investigations as well. The common man foots the bill, and pays blood money to survive. The recent floods in Chennai (a metropolitan city) was because of corruption and encroachment of lake beds, marshland, improper management of reservoirs, blocked canals, etc and lead to the death of an unknown number (~350) of individuals. There was a huge anti-corruption drive a couple years back which culminated in a new political party (AAP) which won Delhi elections, and now they've been blocked from working because of ludicrous reasons. The right-wing is alive and well, and any criticism/investigations of parties that are part of it is met with huge protests and name calling. It gets really silly and petty, and one has to wonder if most of us are really educated (morally, ethically and in things that matter) other than being able to string together sentences in a foreign language or copy-pasting from elsewhere.
- known 11y ago
  If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15... http://goo.gl/bdvGlL http://goo.gl/bdvGlL
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
- victorhooi 11y ago
  What country is this?
zinghaboi 11y ago
Americans need to be much more worried about corruption than India. At least it is illegal in India.
- wavefunction 11y ago
  Corruption is illegal in America as well. Not all versions of corruption but the majority is not legal nor is it tolerated, in general. There is still old-boy corruption but I'm not sure that doesn't happen anywhere.
  - zinghaboi 11y ago
    Things like lobbying are illegal in India.
nish1500 11y ago
I grew up and spent most of my life in Madhya Pradesh. I know some of the people mentioned in the article. I never thought things would get out in the open, and arrests will be made. That was a good sign. There is more to it. I doubt the practices will stop. The cases will be dismissed, and the accused will walk free soon. Chief Minister's role in the scandal is downplayed. Corruption in India is worse than what this article wants you to believe.
thallukrish 11y ago
Most of the corruption done by people in India are driven ultimately by politicians (via bureaucrats). These politicians need the money to fund their election which is about giving it to the voters (yes, money is transferred to the illiterate folks during elections). Without money it is impossible to get elected to even a small position. So it indirectly hinges on the illiteracy levels. If people are educated enough to earn their own living without going for freebies and money which again is a Government budget and policy matter which is controlled by politicians. It is a vicious cycle.
- eitally 11y ago
  The same happens in Brazil (and Venezuela). It's exactly how Lula, Rousseff and Chavez were elected.
khrist 11y ago
I think this sums it up "Vyapam appears to be a vast societal swindle – one that reveals the hollowness at the heart of practically every Indian state institution: inadequate schools, a crushing shortage of meaningful jobs, a corrupt government, a cynical middle class happy to cheat the system to aid their own children, a compromised and inept police force and a judiciary incapable of enforcing its laws."
sunnyps 11y ago
I think it's incorrect to label it an "exam" scam. It's really a scam about recruitment to government jobs. India has this weird system where almost every good government job has an exam that you're supposed to take to get that job. These exams are held once a year or so and all that matters is your performance in that exam and maybe an interview. This makes it impossible for anyone from private industry to take such a job. So what you get instead is a bunch of lifers who continue the cycle of corruption.
known 11y ago
Everybody is naked in nudist camp; http://images.outlookindia.com/Uploads/outlookindia/2013/20130211/page_32_20130211.jpg http://images.outlookindia.com/Uploads/outlookindia/2013/201...
tahoeskibum 11y ago
I wish Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg would start sometjhing like an X-prize to reduce corruption. Lack of drinking water and malaria are just the symptoms. I grew up in India and am too familiar with this cancerous corruption that keeps third world countries firmly in the third world... :-(
- xixi77 11y ago
  Would have been nice, not gonna happen though. Just imagine the headlines about the American billionaires funding efforts to influence those poor countries political systems :)
jsudhams 11y ago
A true good at heart multi-billionaire CAN change India/ Indians and drive 1/5th of the humans to be good example of future world. Which will bring lot of stability to the world and make Africa and other poor countries to have belief in "good system". Indians are are very good at idolizing and following a person. Like Gandhi or today's Sachin or whoever. There is lot of people praying if god will send a person to change India. While corrupt to the core... A majority, i would say may be 70% (based on my village and relations) are willing to put up efforts to be completely not corrupt as long as justice and police system work, but now justice system is very questionable..so any multi billionaire or to be billionaire's via start-up , please consider donating money to this... with number of people in India and willingness to study... if you invest in changing this country you pretty much can change the world....otherwise we will continue to do BPO work and Rem Infra Mgmt work and support your business irrespective of what happens to us and our country....
- therealdrag0 11y ago
  What would they invest in?
SteveWatson 11y ago
Who designs websites like that? Page devotes about 5% of its area to the story; the rest is banners, and scrolling pgup/pgdn don't work.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
naveen99 11y ago
a milder example in the west: Atlanta cheating scandal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Public_Schools_cheating_scandal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Public_Schools_cheat... Maybe the nsa can help... This is at least a little terror.

266 points by oska 11y ago

pyvek 11y ago

This sort of corruption is still running strong here in India. A few days ago an acquaintance of my father told him that he knows a guy who can get her daughter a government job for a fee of 8 lakhs (~$12,000). And that he would go for it, given he had this much money. The sentiment was that he treats this bribe as an investment, which can be recovered from the job salary in a couple years and is worth it.

anovikov 11y ago
this blocks a lot of economic growth because many people consider buying into a government job an investment...
- pyvek 11y ago
  Also that most of the people who buy their way into a government job are most probably incompetent. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy because the ones who themselves bought in their way using corruption are very much likely to repeat the same with others once they are in the government.
jzwinck 11y ago
Fun cultural note for those reading this who may not know: a "lakh" is just 100,000 of anything, in India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. People do not speak or think in terms of "millions" regardless of the magnitude, it would be "20 lakh" not "2 million" even when spoken in an English sentence. You might sometimes hear "half a lakh" but less often "a quarter lakh" than you would "a quarter million."
- eitally 11y ago
  Fun addendum to this cultural note: the fact that things are based in hundred thousands leads to weird comma structural in written numerals. http://www.fullstopindia.com/indian-number-system-made-easy/ http://www.fullstopindia.com/indian-number-system-made-easy/ For example: 1,00,000 = 1 lakh 1,05,000 = 1 lakh + 5,000 rupees = 105,000 rupees
  - djrogers 11y ago
    According to your link, your first example should be 10 lakh
    - devdas 11y ago
      1 => one 10 => ten 100 => one hundred 1,000 => one thousand 10,000 => ten thousand 1,00,000 => one lakh 10,00,000 => ten lakh (one million)

darkhorn 11y ago

There was similar scam in Turkey http://mobile.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_30-released-in-case-of-alleged-centralized-exam-scam_376427.html http://mobile.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_30-released-in-case-o... The investigation still continues even today.

afsina 11y ago
Oh, Today's Zaman is trying to cover up the real perpetrators.. The irony.

sremani 11y ago

This one reads like a Mystery novel, if not for the deaths of many people, it is utterly fascinating insight into Indian politics, power brokers and moneyed interests. The trail of death is unheard of, even though the trail of corruption is more or less accepted. There is no trust in the Police force there would be a thorough investigation and any high-profile case involves CBI, which is nominally independent and it self entangled in all kinds of Political games. India is a Democracy to an extent that there are elections and the change of guard is peaceful, outside of it, the many institutions are incompetent and are utterly undemocratic. 65 Years after Independence, people do not believe Police for a good reason. Police in India are thugs for the ruling party. The do not enforce law, but the wishes of people in power and that format goes up to the higher level, including CBI, Intelligence Wing, Enforcement Directorate etc. In this scenario, if nothing happened in 2013 when INC was in Power at the Center, nothing is going to happen with BJP in Power, the party of Shavraj(sic) the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. I am not short on India, but I am not long on it either. Its a country with potential to be great, but many of us know, will not be great in our lifetimes.

dangerpowpow 11y ago
eh you are too pessimistic, like many comments in the thread. There are still many people in the system who work daily for the betterment of the country. There are concrete steps being taken to battle corruption. It is not black and white
- sremani 11y ago
  Your comment is any thing but concrete. Please enlighten me, with what those concrete steps are that have made dent in the monumental corruption of India's Political and Bureaucratic classes.
hausa11 11y ago
Man you are presenting the problem in a quite hyped manner. If every state department is manipulated by ruling party then why not the Election Commission. The problem is in the system that has settled in the root of administration.The problem of bribing has become a custom as if it was a basic part in the functioning of various departments.

rdtsc 11y ago

It is hard for those in Western countries to imagine what it is like to live in a corrupt state like that. Eastern Europe is like that as well. Corruption is a way of life. It starts from bribing the doctor who will deliver the baby, to bribing kindergarten teachers, to high school teachers, paying to cheat on a state exam, buying a driver's license etc, until bribing the cemetery to take make an extra spot for the deceased when the person dies. Pretty much any interaction with a state could involve bribery and corruption. From the most mundane things, like a traffic stop, to paying a bribe to get away with murder. In school I remember people who did very badly during the year often ended up miraculously get good grades on finals. Cases of judges being paid off to exonerate criminals were common. One of the lowest of the low scam artist was an acquintance of a neighbor living next door. That person worked for a DNA testing lab. They did criminal testing as well as paternity testing. You can imagine the kind of things they were dealing with and the pain they were causing. They drove a fancy car and had a big house on the outskirts of the city -- all on a lab technician's salary. Corruption is the reason I cannot tollerate visiting that part of the world anymore. It really angers and gets to me. It is not the poverty, crime, bad infrastructure, I can handle those things, but I can't handle corruption.

aianus 11y ago
Having lived in Romania and Vietnam, you learn to appreciate the efficiency of just paying the bribe and getting on with your life. For example, if I get caught speeding I can bribe a cop for like $20 in Eastern Europe or Asia versus losing $1000s in Canada between fines and insurance premium increases. I personally find it a lot less stressful than living in Canada where every time I see a cop I get a little adrenaline rush of fear. Anyways, most of the other things on your list exist in Canada too, we just don't call it bribery, we call it "private clinics", "private school", "private motorcycle training academy where your instructor, who's the same person you're paying and reviewing, is the one who gives you your license".
- nl 11y ago
  Have you considered not speeding? It also helps avoid the fines.

swehner 11y ago

Wondering whether it is becoming easier to publish long articles as opposed to shorter and concise

a_bonobo 11y ago
This is part of the "The Long Read" series, The Guardian publishes one every weekday: http://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read http://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-long-read It's certainly much easier to publish long, detailed reads online than in newspapers, but I haven't seen any real increase in the numbers.
n0us 11y ago
certainly is a way to set yourself apart from non-professional blogs. I would have no difficulty reading this story in a print newspaper but on my laptop screen I find it hard on the eyes for some reason. I'm wondering if print media will find a niche and continue to exist as a medium for long form journalism since I know I'm not the only one who suffers from this type of eye fatigue.
tequila_shot 11y ago
Good observation. However like my comment now, doesn't add value to discussion.

0x99 11y ago

Rather surprising, I did hear about the scams in Indian education, but this beats it all. People dying because of a scam? That's pathetic.

tequila_shot 11y ago
People in India are killed for scams of far lesser magnitude. Being an Indian I sometimes feel really bad about what my country has become.
- placeybordeaux 11y ago
  Do you feel like it is getting better or worse?
  - tequila_shot 11y ago
    This is my belief. It was worse when Congress was in power. Now that Modi is in power, I'm hopeful India's state would improve. But this goes without saying, I don't really know. No one really knows. Modi has committed a lot of atrocities during his term as a CM for Gujarath. The only feeling that sticks with me is, fear/uncertainty of future. Still not sure why I'm being down voted. I did provide some reasoning as to 'why' I'm being uncertain.
    - Manishearth 11y ago
      (To non-Indians reading the above comment: Congress is the name of a[1] political party in India, not a house of legislature. Seen lots of folks get tripped up by this.) [1]: Well, many. There used to be one, now it has fragmented. But the one being talked about is the Indian National Congress.
    - littletimmy 11y ago
      As someone who doesn't know a lot about Indian politics, could you please tell me why there seems to be a large liberal crowd in India that's very anti-Modi? I heard recently Arundhati Roy returned her government honors, for example.

guard-of-terra 11y ago

When the selection process is too competitive, it begins to select wrong people. The right way is probably a test one should merely pass and then lottery. Guarantees that you bring some genuinely worthy people onboard and not just really well connected or spearheaded.

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tsycho 11y ago
A lottery would make it even easier to game/cheat. Corruption needs to be rooted out from the top with a transparent vigilance process, just changing the system would just shuffle who gets the bribe money.
- guard-of-terra 11y ago
  How do you think real lotteries work? Everybody has incentive to pocket the money but that is prevented.
  - marcosdumay 11y ago
    > How do you think real lotteries work? In India or in the US?
  - saint_fiasco 11y ago
    Maybe real lotteries don't work in India. How could you tell?

random_coder 11y ago

As an Indian I often wonder, the real question is not why India is so corrupt(esp. at the lower levels of bureaucracy), rather how come certain countries have zero corruption at those levels? Perhaps I'm too pessimistic about human nature.

jacquesm 11y ago
Because corruption is a thing that enters from the top down. If the cadre is corrupt then corruption will be seen as 'ok'. If the cadre is incorruptible then they can make a demand of those below them to act in a similar way or be booted out. The change from a corrupt state to one that isn't takes multiple decades, it is not something you can do overnight and at any point in time the arrow can reverse. The same goes for states that have low corruption today, that is not a guarantee for low corruption in the future. China is interesting in this respect, on the one hand corruption is rife, on the other it is nominally totally out of bounds and the punishments are severe. I don't understand how those can both be true at the same time without a huge amount of selective enforcement. My experience with India to date has one of utter amazement at the brashness and the degree to which corruption has infused society there. I suspect that for India a part of it is that it has social classes that are very disjoint. This creates a very fertile growth medium for corruption because it puts a lot of small people in positions of relatively large amounts of power over the lives of others.
- netcan 11y ago
  I don't think this is universally true. I think corruption or some version of it tends to be more common nearer the top, but does not always filter down. When it filters down, that's when the whole system becomes corrupt and there are many degrees of corruption a system might have.
- pjc50 11y ago
  I think it's the other way round: corruption, or at least nepotism, is the natural state of man just as dictatorship is the natural state of government. It takes considerable effort and ideological groundwork to build anything else. Just as you can't airdrop democracy onto countries. For example in the UK, if one were to write a history of corruption-fighting there would be three big strands since the 1500s. Religion: the replacement of a church that sold salvation with (sometimes extreme) Protestant moralism. Military: at one point commissions in the army were bought and sold. This practice was replaced with more meritocratic promotion in order to win wars. And financial: English law seems to be considered one of the world's fairest regimes for contract law, and is often used for contracts between non-English big companies.

touchofevil 11y ago

I've come to the conclusion over the last several years and specifically after spending a bit of time in India, that corruption is the #1 challenge facing humanity. In the past I believed that poverty was largely due to a lack of resources (food, housing, etc) but I've come to believe that corruption is actually the source of this "lack of resources" -- the resources are most likely not lacking at all, they are probably just being distributed in a massively improper way due to corruption. When you see the amount of poverty on the streets of Mumbai in person and realize that the government is involved in just ONE scam with a value of up to 22 billion pounds, it really brings things into focus. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/16/india-corruption-government http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/16/india-corruptio... And parts of the developed world, like the US, are just as corrupt (or more corrupt) than India, only in different and potentially even more damaging ways, like having an election system captured by corporations. Until corruption is tackled, I don't think we're going to solve issues like poverty, hunger, and climate change. But corruption can only thrive in the dark and my hope is that the internet will allow a light to be shined in the dark corners of both developed and developing nations. Maybe the ultimate question we should ask is why individual people feel the need to accumulate enormous sums of wealth, at all. My opinion is that it is the result of deep-seated fears about "losing everything" and ending up impoverished. Until societies can guarantee EVERY citizen a right to food and shelter, regardless of the ability of the person to create income, the citizens of that society will manifest their fear in the form of hording and, sometimes, corruption. I have no problem with people like Bill Gates earning vast amounts of money by adding value to the world, but we can allow individuals to accumulate that sort of wealth while still proving a safety net for every individual in society. Perhaps this safety net will assuage the fear that, I believe, ultimately inspires at least a good portion of corruption. Despite all of humanity's achievements, we are still living like animals, ruled by fear, where the law of the jungle still reigns.

saiya-jin 11y ago
very nicely written, thank you for that. I tend to agree that insane drive to accumulate wealth just-to-be-covered ain't the most healthy drive for stable, equal society. It has positive effect of people trying really hard to succeed, giving their best, just to get a juicy slice of wealth, for whatever reasons. It has all kinds of negative effects too, which seem to accumulate as we see these days. which is more beneficial for mankind in long term I have no clue - stable steady but probably slower development of mankind vs push for wealth which brings many innovations to society, with great inequalities arising (leading maybe to new cast system, which is a truly horrible thing)

stefantalpalaru 11y ago

> Nothing else matters – not your grades over 12 years of school, nor any hobbies, interests or transformative life experiences. Good. The US habit of putting bullshit criteria in the admission score is just a way to subjectively select the desired candidates regardless of their merit. And there's no objective way to grade essays, extracurricular activities, obligatory volunteering, interviews, teacher recommendations, being liked by the admission officers, being in a hip minority, etc.

balazsdavid987 11y ago
You sound a bit harsh, but as someone not from the US, I was surprised that these things count when it comes to getting an admission. Does any particular hobby makes someone a better person? Or a 20-year old without a transformative life experience isn't capable of achiveing the same things? These factors are way to subjective.
- saint_fiasco 11y ago
  My guess is that the US used to have objective criteria but because University admissions are so competitive everyone studied just for the test and Universities filled with people who were very good at "book-learning" at the expense of everything else. They wanted students to be more varied, more well-rounded individuals instead of robots who memorize books. So naturally, they started testing for holistic well-roundedness and Goodhart's law did the rest.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    I always thought it was so they could reject undesirables (wrong ancestry and such) without having to give the real reason.
    - saint_fiasco 11y ago
      I heard something similar too, that Harvard felt they were admitting too many Jews so they started using other criteria instead of just the written tests for admission. Now they are probably using the subjective tests to attract disadvantaged minorities.

maindrive 11y ago

grg

maindrive 11y ago

Can't expect much from a British newspaper. No country is best its just the media gimmick that creates the perception. Till yesterday people were hating Russia and Putin, now all know who created ISIS. I just won’t go into numbers of rapes, kidnaps, murders, racism that happens in Britain (proportion wise for dummies).

ameen 11y ago
Deflection isn't really a solution. Never be dismissive, there's always some truth (the death tally in this case) we can get better.

ameen 11y ago

Reform in India is the hardest thing ever. Corruption is soaked in our veins. In some states a birth certificate itself is modified (to start school early). Almost every aspect of any government is scam ridden, at any given time there can be a multitude of scams in progress and eye-wash investigations as well. The common man foots the bill, and pays blood money to survive. The recent floods in Chennai (a metropolitan city) was because of corruption and encroachment of lake beds, marshland, improper management of reservoirs, blocked canals, etc and lead to the death of an unknown number (~350) of individuals. There was a huge anti-corruption drive a couple years back which culminated in a new political party (AAP) which won Delhi elections, and now they've been blocked from working because of ludicrous reasons. The right-wing is alive and well, and any criticism/investigations of parties that are part of it is met with huge protests and name calling. It gets really silly and petty, and one has to wonder if most of us are really educated (morally, ethically and in things that matter) other than being able to string together sentences in a foreign language or copy-pasting from elsewhere.

known 11y ago
If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15... http://goo.gl/bdvGlL http://goo.gl/bdvGlL

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victorhooi 11y ago
What country is this?

zinghaboi 11y ago

Americans need to be much more worried about corruption than India. At least it is illegal in India.

wavefunction 11y ago
Corruption is illegal in America as well. Not all versions of corruption but the majority is not legal nor is it tolerated, in general. There is still old-boy corruption but I'm not sure that doesn't happen anywhere.
- zinghaboi 11y ago
  Things like lobbying are illegal in India.

nish1500 11y ago

I grew up and spent most of my life in Madhya Pradesh. I know some of the people mentioned in the article. I never thought things would get out in the open, and arrests will be made. That was a good sign. There is more to it. I doubt the practices will stop. The cases will be dismissed, and the accused will walk free soon. Chief Minister's role in the scandal is downplayed. Corruption in India is worse than what this article wants you to believe.

thallukrish 11y ago

Most of the corruption done by people in India are driven ultimately by politicians (via bureaucrats). These politicians need the money to fund their election which is about giving it to the voters (yes, money is transferred to the illiterate folks during elections). Without money it is impossible to get elected to even a small position. So it indirectly hinges on the illiteracy levels. If people are educated enough to earn their own living without going for freebies and money which again is a Government budget and policy matter which is controlled by politicians. It is a vicious cycle.

eitally 11y ago
The same happens in Brazil (and Venezuela). It's exactly how Lula, Rousseff and Chavez were elected.

khrist 11y ago

I think this sums it up "Vyapam appears to be a vast societal swindle – one that reveals the hollowness at the heart of practically every Indian state institution: inadequate schools, a crushing shortage of meaningful jobs, a corrupt government, a cynical middle class happy to cheat the system to aid their own children, a compromised and inept police force and a judiciary incapable of enforcing its laws."

sunnyps 11y ago

I think it's incorrect to label it an "exam" scam. It's really a scam about recruitment to government jobs. India has this weird system where almost every good government job has an exam that you're supposed to take to get that job. These exams are held once a year or so and all that matters is your performance in that exam and maybe an interview. This makes it impossible for anyone from private industry to take such a job. So what you get instead is a bunch of lifers who continue the cycle of corruption.

known 11y ago

Everybody is naked in nudist camp; http://images.outlookindia.com/Uploads/outlookindia/2013/20130211/page_32_20130211.jpg http://images.outlookindia.com/Uploads/outlookindia/2013/201...

tahoeskibum 11y ago

I wish Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg would start sometjhing like an X-prize to reduce corruption. Lack of drinking water and malaria are just the symptoms. I grew up in India and am too familiar with this cancerous corruption that keeps third world countries firmly in the third world... :-(

xixi77 11y ago
Would have been nice, not gonna happen though. Just imagine the headlines about the American billionaires funding efforts to influence those poor countries political systems :)

jsudhams 11y ago

A true good at heart multi-billionaire CAN change India/ Indians and drive 1/5th of the humans to be good example of future world. Which will bring lot of stability to the world and make Africa and other poor countries to have belief in "good system". Indians are are very good at idolizing and following a person. Like Gandhi or today's Sachin or whoever. There is lot of people praying if god will send a person to change India. While corrupt to the core... A majority, i would say may be 70% (based on my village and relations) are willing to put up efforts to be completely not corrupt as long as justice and police system work, but now justice system is very questionable..so any multi billionaire or to be billionaire's via start-up , please consider donating money to this... with number of people in India and willingness to study... if you invest in changing this country you pretty much can change the world....otherwise we will continue to do BPO work and Rem Infra Mgmt work and support your business irrespective of what happens to us and our country....

therealdrag0 11y ago
What would they invest in?

SteveWatson 11y ago

Who designs websites like that? Page devotes about 5% of its area to the story; the rest is banners, and scrolling pgup/pgdn don't work.

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naveen99 11y ago

a milder example in the west: Atlanta cheating scandal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Public_Schools_cheating_scandal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Public_Schools_cheat... Maybe the nsa can help... This is at least a little terror.