Dictionaries as Diwali present for our civil servants?

A highly literate civil servant, who regularly writes articles on economics, has sought to define what constitutes corruption in India. There is the misuse of public assets for personal gain, for instance official cars with flashing red lights. But a much larger misappropriation of public funds takes place when politicians distribute largesse with our money to win elections. There are bribes for services that should be provided automatically. Here he seeks to make excuses when he writes,"...a distinction needs to be made between petty bureaucratic corruption, at the level of the humble traffic cop, patwari, tax official, and high corruption, involving a nexus between politicians and bureaucrats. This nexus is unequal, with most of the gains accruing to the former. Also, the latter's participation maybe active or passive." Not true. Civil servants control access to ministers and also the movements of files, which are still the only fuel for the functioning of our government machinery. Mr Modi has restricted this form of corruption, causing great distress. It is amazing that such a literate person is so ignorant of the crime of being an accessory, when he so breezily excuses his colleagues as junior partners to politicians. As to whether corruption is increasing his excuse is that Rs 100 today maybe less than Rs 10 in 1990 because of high inflation in India. True, inflation is responsible, but not in that way. When a civil servant earned Rs 5,000 per month he would not dare to ask for more than Rs 50,000 as bribe but now that salaries have soared to Rs 50,000 per month their demands have risen to tens of millions, to reflect their status, or 'bribe price'. 15% of IAS officers say that they have no immovable assets, which means properties. Maybe because it is in other names, which is why they are so desperate to keep their family wealth hidden from public scrutiny, with risible excuses. A huge form of corruption is shirking work for which they are drawing salary every month. Modi has taken steps to root out deadwood from the system by forcing the useless to retire on time. Indian bureaucracy has been consistently ranked the worst in Asia, below China, Indonesia and Vietnam. To spend a lifetime doing nothing and then drawing a comfortable pension for life seems to be a most corrosive form of corruption. On an index of corruption it is ranked a proud 94. A rough estimate of the total black money can be made by adding values of all the real estate in India, excluding farms, and then comparing it to the US, based on total salary earned. A final excuse is," Howsoever morally repugnant, it is entirely possible that, if streamlines and predictable, some forms of corruption - speed money - may act like efficient taxes." Shocking and absolutely wrong. Taxes add to public assets while black money causes uncontrolled rise in prices. Which is why we are so poor.