Corruption and sexual violence against women are regarded as different issues, which they obviously are. But two factors are common to these issues. First, both have received a lot of attention in recent decades, many solutions have been tried but things have become worse in respect of both. The second common factor is that the root cause of both is the steep erosion of ethical values in society. Without addressing this, other solutions prove to be a false hope or at best provide only temporary relief. This in fact is true of most other problems.

When new laws and rules are enacted to address for some time there is a sense of achievement, particularly among those who have worked with good intention and dedication. But after a few years, honest introspection reveals that the problem has remained and may even have worsened as the forces that cause erosion values are much more powerful. What is more the erosion of values can even lead to misuse of well-intentioned laws in surprising ways and this results in new problems and distortions in society.

One example is the increase in sexual violence against women after and despite the enactment of some strong laws and rules accompanied by administrative actions. Clearly some other forces have been more powerful. Another example is the extent to which the dowry system has worsened in India after the enactment of strong legislation to curb it.  In recent years and even in remote villages people and particularly women say that the dowry problem has worsened. They feel that the burden of a daughter’s marriage is now greater than ever before in the face of increasing marriage expenses. At the same time misuse of dowry law has been reported, resulting in new problems including the tragic and wrongful imprisonment of some men and even elderly women.

Clearly the expected positives of legislation were outweighed by the much higher impact of escalating greed. In fact, the rapid growth of greed fuelled by an overwhelming sense of consumerism and instant gratification has been a dominant aspect of changing values in recent times. While this is manifested in the endless desire to acquire more and more consumer goods and accumulation of money and high value assets, the latter is also seen as the means of accessing more and more sensual pleasures in more and more expensive forms and with a strong feeling of instant gratification. With this rapid increase in greed with all its associated attributes, the ethical value system based on honesty is steadily eroded.

Of course the forces of greed and honesty have always existed in society, the question is one of which force becomes more powerful in a particular phase and due to what causes. What has happened in our country and a large part of the world is that the forces of greed have become much more powerful and this is being facilitated in several ways by an unjust and unequal economic system that actually encourages the attributes of excess ambition, cut-throat competition and pursuit of selfish ends without bothering about the fairness of the means. Hence the ethical base of society in which honesty and simplicity were respected gets replaced by new role models of luxury, glamour and acquisitiveness.

In such a situation when honesty and integrity are emphasised only in the narrow sense of improving governance and even narrower sense of increasing tax collections, this by itself cannot go very far as at the same time values opposed to honesty are being promoted by the unjust system which promotes consumerism and greed in various ways. The political system functions in tune with the economic system despite occasional calls for morality which sound increasingly hollow.

The drift away from honesty is also reflected in social relationships and these come under increasing stress. The durability of relationships based on trust is replaced by increasing uncertainty, distrust, suspicion, jealousy and revenge. Hence the change is conducive for the spread of crimes ranging from corruption to robbery to various kinds of violent assaults. What ought to be understood is that in some contexts spread of violence is inherent in unjust and unequal societies and is in fact encouraged by powerful forces. It is well known what kind of powerful forces are involved in perpetuation of various rackets relating to liquor, trafficking and worse.

At another level violence based on hatred and discrimination based on narrow considerations of caste, colour, race, religion etc. is also promoted in direct and indirect ways by powerful forces to prevent the kind of unity among people that can change unjust and unequal systems. If a firm belief in peace and non-violence are essential precepts of an ethical value system, respect for all human life is the basis for this. The threat of such a value-based system is met by promoting many kinds of discrimination for narrow ends.

When values like honesty, integrity, cooperation and trust are emphasized in daily discussion most people are willing to express their commitment to these values. But unjust systems function in ways that create increasing pressures as well as temptations to make increasing compromises with the system. These difficulties need to be recognised by sincere efforts to check the rot and try to make credible interventions for protecting the basics of an ethical value system. Without taking up this basic task we cannot find sustainable and satisfactory solutions to major problems which are a  cause of enormous distress as well as ecological ruin.

First we need to create awareness of the great need for this basic task, then we have to plan its basics and take it forward at various levels including formal and non-formal educational institutions, media including social media and various movements including sincere spiritual movements as well as movements for social justice. In fact, convergence and cooperation of sincere spiritual and social justice movements will be extremely useful for strengthening the base of ethical value systems.

The essentials of an ethical value system include truth and transparency, honesty and integrity, cooperation and compassion, respect for all human beings and indeed all forms of life which manifests in deep commitment to peace and non-violence in both action and thought. These basics can be worked out in greater detail, but it is also important to relate these to practical aspects of everyday life. The wider social results may take some time to fructify but if people feel relief in personal life and relations by following ethical value systems, it will bring more people to this fold.

(The writers are freelance journalists with a special interest in social and development issues)