Mysuru: Everyone is corrupt, not just babus or politicians, says Justice Hegde

Mysuru: Former Lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde contended here on Monday that it was a myth to say that only the country’s bureaucrats and politicians were corrupt.

“There’s corruption in every profession, may be to a lesser degree. Most of the professions have statutory apex bodies to control the activities of their members, but these bodies are active only during their elections,” he regretted.

Justice Hegde, who was addressing the 98th convocation of the University of Mysuru (UoM), said it was important to build a value-based society to overcome the evil of corruption. “ The reason why India has a dubious ranking in the list of honest countries is because all our development is drowned in our population and corruption in society. Present day society is passing through a turbulent period. We have no statesmen to guide and rule us. One would have expected after 70 years of freedom for this country to have marched towards an egalitarian society, but this has not happened. On the contrary fissiparous tendencies have arisen with the sole aim of dividing society. It is today divided on the basis of religion, caste, affluence and poverty,” he observed.

Advising the students to “learn to enjoy wealth piously and not sinfully,” he said they should rise above their environment, which could tempt them to deviate from the path of morality. “Society considers wealth a great sign of success. It treats people. who have become illegitimately wealthy on par with those, who have become wealthy through hard work. This lack of discrimination has prompted many to lean towards corruption, because no one seems to consider it an evil,” he lamented.