The biggest problem is the fact that it is almost impossible to approach the bureaucrat. He does not talk on the telephone, and he is usually not available in his office. When I do manage to see him in the office, it is impossible to get his ears. Almost invariably while I talk to him – hurriedly to make use of the precious moments – he keep his eyes off on something else in an attempt to show how busy he is. And then I am not the only one he talks to. There are usually a handful of people sitting in his office, and several telephones ringing in front of him. The bureaucrat moves to the next person or the telephone the moment time comes to say something substantial. By the time he is back with me, ages later, he seems to have forgotten everything I ever told him – if he does not fail to recognise me by then, that is.

          Non-financial corruption is worse because it dehumanizes and demeans people.

          A friend of mine had a serious accident a few years back outside the huge RR Hospital of the armed forces in New Delhi. Her scooter had been hit by a military vehicle. She was refused even the first aid. She ended up going to a private hospital, and without a question they provided her first aid. Later, I went to the RR Hospital to collect her scooter and talked to the too pleasant staff ("servile," to use another expression!) at the emergency reception. They told me, most kindly and sympathetically, that they are prepared to die for the country, and for its rules. But they said that their rules prohibit them to treat civilians.

          The law insists that the first aid has to be provided. And the private hospital did exactly that.

          Another case is of a person from the armed services I once met. He said, quite proudly, how he was involved in some human rights violations. I firmly protested to him. He changed his stance and said that he was just doing a good job of what he was asked to do – his job, being in the armed forces, was to follow the orders, unquestioned. If he had respect for his profession, he would have refused to accept orders that were unethical.

          While all this was going on, several NGO workers sitting in their ivory towers and university students in the West were campaigning single-mindedly against "exploitation of the poor by the businesses and multinational corporations." They were, quite hilariously, campaigning for more government control over business; businesses with vested interests contributed to those NGOs, disguising such help as corporate social responsability. And the bureaucracy was more than happy to accept these arguments, for obvious reasons.

          Those fighting for the poor have lost track of rationality, and using dishonest and lazy means are giving their support to what is the very fountainhead of exploitation, the State.