Institutionalized bribery

We all know the extent of corruption in India. I was recently told about two such glowing examples:

1. When a friend of mine booked a flat in Mumbai, he was asked to pay a certain "booking" amount by the builder. The booking amount contained legitimate government fee and a set fee for bribing the corporation officials so that the deal goes through. The bribe was quoted as part of the booking amount!

2. Apparently one can get a passport in India without any verification. Agents quote a fee that is roughly double that of the normal amount. Half of it goes towards bribing the passport officer and the police so that there are no hassles. In a truly perverse reversal of roles, the applicant is supposed to visit the police station to verify that he is indeed who he says he is. The original intent of the police enquiry was that the police would be able to verify the permanent address claimed by the applicant.

The first instance is almost a case of social evolution. The main cause of bribery in India is inadequate pay. The first instance effectively increases the pay packet of these officials. A set bribe for a particular operation almost makes it detailed and deterministic enough for tax purposes! The second one is purely dangerous: think of who can get an Indian passport this way!

Where morals have failed, technology has succeeded. The only way to weed out these parasites is to make them obsolete. One can imagine how many bribes stopped changing their resident pockets when the Government of India allowed one laptop per international traveler entering India! The illegal railway touting business went out of business with the ability to book tickets online.

My limited experience with passports leads me to believe that the state of the passport authority is roughly what railways was about 2 decades ago before computerization. How else can one explain a renewal application finding its way to the office that issued the expiring passport? I simply fail to understand how the government of a country that is the object of envy of the world as an insane IT producer cannot embrace IT in all its branches. Maybe the politicians have long realized what I am realizing now: technology will strip the grease right off their palms!