
The mystery of India’s deadly exam scam - oska
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/17/the-mystery-of-indias-deadly-exam-scam
======
rdtsc
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
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
Have you considered not speeding? It also helps avoid the fines.

~~~
Cthulhu_
I was going to say that too, but in corrupt countries, you'll get fined for
speeding whether you were speeding or not - and expected to bribe the
'officer' regardless. It's not paying a policeman something then and there
that's the problem - for you it'd become the fine for speeding - but it's
having to pay without having done anything wrong. It's the power abuse
associated with it that's wrong.

~~~
roddux
This happened to me in Vietnam. A police officer pulled over me and a friend
as we rode past, then came up with a story about us having 'incorrect papers'.
Later found out from the owner of the hostel that the same thing had happened
to most of his guests for the entire season!

~~~
aianus
While I can't say for sure, you probably did have incorrect papers. I drove
the whole time there without proper registration or a valid license because it
was basically impossible to obtain them as a foreigner. I tried my best and it
just wasn't happening and the advice I got was to act dumb and pay off anyone
who tried to stop me.

------
touchofevil
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-
corruptio...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/16/india-corruption-
government)

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.

~~~
marcosdumay
> 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.

I'll just have to disagree. The one thing every single Brazilian comments
after traveling to the US or Western Europe is how honest and rule-based
everything is.

You do have a corruption problem in the US, and it seems to be growing. Just
don't think it's as big as in the developing countries.

~~~
jeremyjh
All of our politicians in the U.S. are for sale through perfectly legal means.
What we don't tolerate is corruption in the bureaucracies that actually run
the state day to day. This is the crucial difference.

~~~
coldcode
Corruption also doesn't have to be about money. Access to power can also have
a big payoff for a US politician. Someone with money wants something to be
done; help a politician raise huge money to ensure they get elected, in return
they get the office and the someone gets a friend in high places. With
Citizens United its now easy to do.

------
sremani
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
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
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.

------
ameen
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
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...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-
map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/)
[http://goo.gl/bdvGlL](http://goo.gl/bdvGlL)

------
pyvek
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.

~~~
jzwinck
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
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
According to your link, your first example should be 10 lakh

~~~
devdas
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)

------
nish1500
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.

------
random_coder
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.

~~~
WaylonKenning
As a New Zealander, any form of corruption is unacceptable. It's just not in
the DNA of being a good New Zealander to be corrupt. Therefore, there's great
social pressure to not be corrupt. Being corrupt is not celebrated, and I
wouldn't show off or discuss it here.

~~~
distances
Everywhere in Northern Europe getting labelled as corrupt would be a huge
stigma, too. Just not something that can be done.

This applies to direct corruption. There are different, structural kinds of
corruption though, like "old boy networks" where business may get handled via
personal relations. While still damaging for the society, it probably isn't
even illegal in most cases.

------
jsudhams
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
What would they invest in?

------
tahoeskibum
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
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 :)

------
darkhorn
There was similar scam in Turkey
[http://mobile.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_30-released-in-
case-o...](http://mobile.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_30-released-in-case-of-
alleged-centralized-exam-scam_376427.html)

The investigation still continues even today.

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

------
0x99
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
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
Do you feel like it is getting better or worse?

~~~
tequila_shot
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.

~~~
littletimmy
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.

~~~
hbharadwaj
BJP is a right wing "Hindu" party with close ties to nationalist organizations
like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Shiv Sena. They
have had a rather sordid history in the last couple of decades wrt religious
violence - Gujarat Riots, Babri Masjid demolition etc.,

Recently, there have been some incidents which have resulted in
communal/religious tensions flaring up

1\. [http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/india-divided-after-hindu-mob-
lynch...](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/india-divided-after-hindu-mob-lynched-
muslim-man-over-rumours-he-killed-cow-ate-beef-1522743)

2\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._M._Kalburgi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._M._Kalburgi)

India's intellectuals have started criticizing the Government for not speaking
out against this violence. In fact, some BJP affiliated people have made some
really controversial statements with regards to Muslims in India. Arundhati
Roy is among a host of people who are returning their awards in protest of the
Government's stance.

------
guard-of-terra
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.

~~~
tsycho
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
How do you think real lotteries work? Everybody has incentive to pocket the
money but that is prevented.

~~~
saint_fiasco
Maybe real lotteries don't work in India. How could you tell?

------
thallukrish
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
The same happens in Brazil (and Venezuela). It's exactly how Lula, Rousseff
and Chavez were elected.

------
sunnyps
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.

------
khrist
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."

------
known
Everybody is naked in nudist camp;

[http://images.outlookindia.com/Uploads/outlookindia/2013/201...](http://images.outlookindia.com/Uploads/outlookindia/2013/20130211/page_32_20130211.jpg)

------
naveen99
a milder example in the west: Atlanta cheating scandal
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Public_Schools_cheat...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Public_Schools_cheating_scandal)

Maybe the nsa can help... This is at least a little terror.

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

~~~
wavefunction
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
Things like lobbying are illegal in India.

------
SteveWatson
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.

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

~~~
a_bonobo
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.

------
stefantalpalaru
> 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
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
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
I always thought it was so they could reject undesirables (wrong ancestry and
such) without having to give the real reason.

~~~
saint_fiasco
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.

~~~
mikeash
I also thought it was the Jews, I was just a little too timid to say so
directly!

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

