Common man expects a politician to be corrupt and he doesn’t care as they are eating some one else’s money, They do not understand that money belongs to them and they would have better roads, house, jobs, education, toilets etc if that money is swindled and instead used for its intended purposes.

The solution to this problem will come only when people think about goverment money as tax payers money indended to change their life.

corrupt politician is stealing money that would have made your life better (Ie;better housing,schools,jobs,roads,hospitals,Fresh air to breath)

For a counter-example, which easily meets all your criteria but illustrates ‘innovation’ in corruption, look at the UK at the moment. The UK has gone beyond cash in brown envelopes to ask questions on behalf of Al-Fayed, for which a minister served a jail sentence under Tories. Now with the working people’s party, New Labour, has a party fund-raiser, who is handing out peerages in return for money and a peer who is also an Attorney General wants to have a say before the fund-raiser is tried. Now stealing funds from charity campaigns, like Jeffrey Archer did, is considered such a minor offence that he served jail but was not stripped of his peerage! In other words, in a rule-based, completely transparent, open market based economy with relatively little inequality (compared to India), you do not see absence of corruption but new avenues and innovation in corruption. So India is not alone in this misfortune, and whenever this comes up, I regale stories about corruption in the Western politics to my father to tell him that the difference is only dhoti versus Saville Row suit.

It’s time educated, middle class India pushed the bumkins out of politics.

The optimist in me says that at some point over the next 10-15 years, things will change (assuming that the socio-economic growth continues – and the benefits are distributed relatively evenly)…what gives me real hope though is the transformation in traditional media because of technology…

As someone has commented above, once this happens, the cost of reaching out to voters (which is where most of campaign financing goes – and which is the BIGGEST barrier for any reasonably honest person to even consider standing for elections) will hopefully drop to a point where it no longer is an impediment…

Second, it is only when enough of the populace have their stomachs full and a comfortable shelter for their families that true political reform can come about…until then most of us would be too busy worrying (or working) for their next meal…Again, that probably means a wait of 10 years or so for fundamental reform to emerge…

Unfortunately, the new political groupings do not give much reason to cheer. See e.g. http://hindudharma.wordpress.com/2007/03/24/dark-clouds-just-got-darker/

Over the longer term though, all is not lost…