Epidemic of Corruption

 

 

 

Epidemic of Corruption

India has emerged as the most corrupt country in Asia. According to a survey report 2020, released by the Transparency International, nearly 50% Indians pay bribes and 1/3 use personal connections to receive the public services relating to six core services -police, courts, public hospitals, procurement of identity documents and utilities. A shocking finding is that 63% of the people do not report corruption fearing retaliation.

Corruption exists in various forms which, inter alia, include bribes, extortion,cronyism,favoritism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influence peddling graft, and siphoning off public funds. Corruption facilitates criminal enterprises such as drug trafficking, human trafficking and money laundering.  It is a dishonesty and criminal offence undertaken by a person or organization entrusted with a position of authority, to acquire illicit benefit. Corruption doesn't mean giving and accepting bribe alone. To me intellectual dishonesty and mortgaging personal integrity to derive some private benefit are also the modes of corruption. 

Corruption is most commonplace in kleptocracies, oligarchies, narco-states, mafia states and totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. Even in a democracy like India, where independent judiciary and free press are expected to provide a system of checks and balances and ensure just and fair public administration, the epidemic of corruption is wide spread, practically in every segment of society.

The main causes of corruption are: cumbersome rules and procedures, abuse of power and authority, commercialization and failure to punish the corrupt.  Corruption is inherent in a capitalist society that makes people greedy, acquisitive and possessive, leading to concentration of wealth. In India, which is supposed to be a socialist state, seeking to ensure equitable distribution of means of production and distribution, the top 10% of the population holds 77% of the total national wealth; 73% of the wealth generated in 2017 went to the richest 1%, while 67 million Indians who comprise the poorest half of the population saw only a 1% increase in their wealth.

Corruption in India falls broadly into three categories:

Societal: Frankly speaking, corruption begins and ends with society. People generally prefer to use unethical and illegal means to get their work done-be it getting admissions to their wards, securing jobs and any other public service. They do not exercise the right to get the benefits of public policies and programmes, partly due to ignorance, and mainly due to unwillingness to confront the authorities.  That in an open democratic society the government employees, the elected representatives and the ministers are the public servants, expected to serve the people impartially, without any discrimination, in a fair and transparent manner, hardly crosses their mind, instead looking for short cut methods of bribing or using middlemen or connections to get their work done. This is the bane of Indian society. It is this attitude that makes the bureaucrats corrupt.

Political: Democracy is a people’s government.  But elections are a costly affair. Money and muscle power often influence the electoral outcomes. In a conversation on NDTV (18/11), Christophe Jafferlot said that the ruling party in India had spent $3.5 billion in the last election and with that sort of money it is difficult for the rival parties to fight the elections. The good and honest citizens cannot think of contesting elections, the party system making it difficult to hold on to one’s ethical values. The elections are not a level playing field, not because of money power, but also because of misuse of the state machinery, and the involvement of big business houses and corporate oligarchs. In the recent Bihar elections, the State Bank of India sold electoral bonds worth Rs.282 crore to political parties, and the total donations to political parties through the electoral bonds touching Rs.6500 core, with more than 90% of donations going to the ruling party. There is a mystery about the donors- who are they!

The elected representatives are induced with money and positions to cross over to the rival parties and topple their own elected governments. And unless the power of money bags is eliminated, political corruption cannot be combated.  The political corruption is rampant due to gross abuse of power and authority by the persons occupying the official positions. According to Professor Morris, “political corruption is the illegitimate use of public power to benefit a private interest.” Public funding is no solution to the flow of money bags and misuse of the State machinery during the elections.

Bureaucratic:  The Bureaucracy is governed by the principle of political neutrality. The All-India Service personnel- like the IAS, IPS, IFS etc. - are expected to be politically neutral, remain non-partisan and serve the people without fear or favor. Today, the Civil Services are highly politicized, with civil servants offering no resistance. Sardar Patel advised the IAS officers to give their opinions without fear. However, the tendency to appease the political masters, to derive some pecuniary benefit, rather than give free opinions, based on hard facts, is deeply entrenched in the bureaucracy. This is evident from the central investigating agencies–ED, IT, CBI, NIA and the Police- allowing them to be misused, to intimidate the people the State considers inconvenient. We need the bureaucrats with impeccable integrity.  After all they are more secure and protected than the politicians whose fortunes depend on elections. That we do not get people of integrity in the civil services shows the inadequacy of our recruitment system and the failure of the UPSC and the SPSCs to filter out the honest and upright young people to enter the services.

Most of the public funds are siphoned off by the corrupt babus. In a shocking revelation, The Indian Express has recently exposed the Pre-Matric Scholarship scam in Jharkhand. More than Rs. 60 core scholarship money, meant for minority students, studying in government schools, is misappropriated in connivance with District Officials, schools authorities, bank officials and middlemen, by creating fake accounts to upload the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) and disburse the money through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

Combating corruption through-

Anti-corruption machinery: The citizens look to the anti-corruption agencies of the State to combat corruption. The Central Vigilance Commission, the Lokayukta, the State Vigilance Commissions and the Departmental Vigilance Wings have not succeeded in enforcing the Prevention of Corruption Act. The anti-corruption campaign of Anna Hazare of 2011-12 made a vociferous demanded for the creation of an Ombudsman-the Lokpal- as a penance to corruption.  His campaign ended with dislodging of the UPA government in 2014. No one talks of the Lokpal any longer.  Prashant Bhushan confessed having failed to see  the Anna campaign being  hijacked by the Sangh Parivar: “I do regret not having closely seen how the BJP and the RSS were, in a very organized manner, propping up the anti-corruption campaign in order to discredit the UPA and come to power...BJP-RSS taking a conscious decision to prop up the movement to bring down the UPA government” This explains the silence of the so-called votaries of anti- corruption  under the present political dispensation.

The transparency law- the RTI Act- was a great social revolution that promised to ensure transparency and accountability in the functioning of public authorities. The RTI Act did create a fear among the corrupt public servants. But today with the amendment, the RTI Act has become a toothless tiger, and the champions of the right to information virtually going into oblivion without much protest.

It is important to remember that the State’s anti-corruption agencies can be effective only if the officials heading them are persons of impeccable personal integrity. The manner, in which the CVC, the CAG, the CBI Director and other officials are appointed, does not instill confidence in the efficacy of their functioning. And unless the anti-corruption agencies are made independent of political authority and their heads selected, though a consensus, by a high-power committee of five members- consisting of PM, LOP (or the leader of the largest opposition party), CJI and two eminent persons of impeccable integrity-it would be difficult to combat the political and the bureaucratic corruption 

Agencies of socialization: During the Victorian age, Britain emphasized on a new process of socialization to arrest corruption in the British society.  Socialization is a process of acquiring values, beliefs and attitudes- the process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society. The agencies of socialization are: The Family, The School and Education Institutions and The Media. They can play a very crucial role in promoting the right value system. If the parents adopt non-corrupt pattern of behavior, the children tend to grow as honest individuals. What is learnt in the formative years of childhood influences the adult behavior. The way the children are brought up in the family makes all the difference.  Similarly, the schools and educational institutions should reinforce the right values. If the environment in educational institutions is corrupt and unhealthy the children’s growth as responsible citizens is hampered.  So also the Media has the responsibility to create strong public opinion against illegal and immoral practices by emphasizing on integrity-honesty, sincerity   and incorruptibility-  as the most desirable virtue of human beings.

We are abdicating our responsibility of observing ethical code of conduct. We cannot expect others to be honest and incorrupt, unless we are above the board. After all, the corrupt politicians, the leaders, the civil servants and all those engaged in unethical and illegal activities are the product of the Society, reflecting the rot in the system.  They have not descended from the outer space. People are not loyal to the State. The multiple identities, based on caste, religion, language and province, explain the multifarious corruption and why the people compromise with integrity.