Diagnosis: Decay and Parasitism

Management of Federal Migration Service (FMS) of the Russian Federation pleased Russians with news that shortly it would take measures for sharp acceleration of registration of foreign passports and other documents. For this purpose FMS plans to organize paid services to citizens for accelerated registration of passports. Thus the heads of FMS prove their initiative by desire to liquidate semilegal corrupted market of companies-intermediaries which turnover is being estimated in the amount of not less than 1 billion dollars a year (some experts suppose that the volume is 5 billion). Thus FMS covers its activity by references to the fact that such practice exists in many civilized states.

At first sight intention of management of FMS looks almost a noble impulse and many citizens, probably, will treat this news with satisfaction. However, if to speak about the essence of this process, it hardly can be estimated positively. Most likely this phenomenon has parasitic character, it is observed not only in activity of officials of FMS but also in many other spheres of socioeconomic life of the society and state.

The matter is that the Russian officials already habitually attentively supervises those spheres where citizens in the course of their practical activities have bottlenecks in the decision of these or that questions. It is clear that in such spheres other commercial or informal, often semicriminal shadow structures already exist. It's absolutely clear as, for example, in case with FMS, that these structures are somehow connected with official state bodies - it's simply impossible to do anything without it. As it is evident, causes indignation of citizens by superhigh prices at actually trifling paper work and minimum of expenses, such outwardly good undertaking is being born: ostensibly to put things in order, eliminate all parasitic intermediaries and to get engaged in this business workers of FMS or its affiliated structures, say, everything will be quicker, turnover scheme will become transparent and prices will approach reasonable level.

We are sure that FMS will get success, however we don't want to applaud this project. The matter is that if the heads of FMS really proceed from the problem of satisfaction of requirements of citizens, they should set as their purpose organization of registration of all documents of all citizens in necessarily short terms and without any additional payment. Eventually, it is simply call of duty of the state officials getting for their work not bad salaries and finally privileges at the expense of the same tax bearers.

In our case officials of FMS in this or that kind organize parasitism of their new structures at the expense of own defects. Very few people doubt that in these new divisions which will be engaged in official registration of documents for additional payment, the warmest places will be occupied by the relatives, acquaintance, fellow countrymen and other "own" people of the present management. Similar phenomena are observed also in other spheres of the state activity.

Thus, it looks as if power struggle with parasitic gaming, closes casino and gambling institutions, supersedes this activity into special zones, however parasitic structures are not going to capitulate so easily. They have such flexible ability to mimicry, acquire semblance of other legal forms of activity, in particular, of various totes and lotteries. Thus, at the height of imitation of this severe struggle there appears in the field of fight a new player - almost state company "Russian Railways" which management declares beginning of the program "Railway Stations of Russia", consisting in organizing of railway instant lotteries. Initial investments in the new project make about 30 million dollars and one of already confirmed names of one of the lotteries sounds predictably enough - "Railway Stations of Russia". It is planned thus to use all broadest branching of railways all over the country with involving into this business of approximately 800 stations and organization of several hundreds of trading pavilions to begin with - centralized structure "Russian Railway Lotto" will be engaged in it all.

There is no doubt that for the present management of the Russian Railway, as well as for FMS all what's forethought is quite realizable. However one may ask: what real advantage will be got by simple citizens-passengers from this undertaking? Why Russian Railway management doesn't wish to get engaged in improvement of quality of service of passengers, increase of safety of transport exploitation, or even - in a question of reduction in price of passenger tickets and tariffs for transportation of cargoes?

The matter is again in that new offered type of activity promises fast parasitic incomes without essential expenses, at that these incomes are connected with reception of cash from citizens and, hence, assuming this or that degree of corruption of new structure. It's essential that personnel filling of created division as a matter of fact will turn into self-increase and self-reproduction of already huge official-bureaucratic brotherhood.

These processes in this or that modification proceed practically in all spheres of vital activity of the Russian society: education, public health services, housing-and-municipal services, registration of property rights and transactions, etc. Officials, business and criminal circle in this robbing of citizens make practically common cause, it is possible to say - even with original division of labour and own cooperation.

Criminal circle more often are the first to grope "flashpoints" and begin their working out, then business into which all criminals basically flows works out schemes of effective legal "field exploitation", only after that officials, using administrative resource, take all this activity under official "roof". Cooperation consists in that bureaucracy initially creates conditions for general parasitism and start of "a cycle of production of services" again and again. Therefore, observing today symptoms of socially useful activity in one of the state bodies - FMS - on acceleration of official registration of the documents we can diagnose all state system of modern Russia: parasitism and decay. Treatment of sick bodies separately is obviously ineffective as it's known for a long that fish stinks from the head.

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