Corruption
and abuse of power is deep rooted in our nation. Way back in 4th
century BC itself Kautilya’s Arthashastra
had given detailed description of the duties of the heads of states, various
forms of corruption and the punishments for the crime. This is clear evidence that corruption was
prevalent even in those ages. Kautilya points out how these practices were
rampant amongst the administrative officers and the law enforcers. The only
major difference that prevails between now and then is that at those ages we
had strong laws which were strictly enforced by the kings and well abided by
the citizens due to fear of harsh punishments for embezzlement which even
included murder. Presently there are laws but are limited to the books. In
practice it hardly punishes the corrupt. And even if it does, it is either too
less a punishment for the committed crime or is much delayed. Corruption has an
enormous impact on the social, economic and political fabric of a nation,
eventually disempowering the state. It
provides a free run for the rich who can afford to pay bribes and get their
things done speedily, whereas hits hard at the people who cannot afford to pay
the bribes. Corruption often leads to criminalization of politics and
politicization of crime thereby affecting the political structure of the
nation. Transparency International’s survey ranked India at the 95th
position in the list of nations in overall extent of graft. On corruption perception index, India
scored 3.1 on a scale from zero to 10, where anything below five is bad news.
Indians, in the past couple of years have been
witnessing a galore of scams like the 2G, CWG, Adarsh, revelations on black
money, etc. The CWG scam came at a time when the people in the nation were
elated seeing the expansion of the Delhi metro, construction of new fly overs,
widening of existing roads and beautification of the city. We were proud that we
were the hosts to the games. Newspapers were filled with articles and
advertisements sensitizing people on basics of civic sense, how to treat
foreign nationals, etc. The means of corruption and figures truly let down the
people and made them feel ashamed. A treadmill was rented at Rs. 9.75 lakh for
45 days when one could be bought for half the price. Liquid soap was quoted at
Rs. 3397 per unit when the same was available in the market at Rs. 460. The way
in which the parties involved fudged contracts and manipulated the prices
further distressed the people. This showed how the Organizing Committee was not
answerable to any one and carried out the malpractices easily. The 2G scam
which succeeded the CWG came as another shock to all. The scale of money involved
fetched it the tag of India’s biggest scam ever. The DMK’s interest in the
issuing of telecom licenses to companies they favoured was clear here. This was
carried out right under the nose of the head of our government. It did not take
much time for the Adarsh scam to be revealed. It involved the top brass of
bureaucracy and military alongside the top politicians including the Chief
Minister of Maharashtra. The expose regarding the black money of many Indians
stashed abroad in the Swiss banks brought much more shame. Estimates revealed
that India has $1,456 bn in these banks. The amount if bought back to our
nation can liquidate the entire debt of the nation, provide tax free budgets
for the next 30 years and also can give Rs. 2.5 lakh per family. The government
has not even revealed the names of those persons who have such accounts abroad.
Kautilya had an interesting take on the money stashed in another kingdom. He
says “Whoever is niggardly in spite of his immense property , hordes in his own
house, deposits with citizens or people of his country, or sends out to foreign
countries – a spy shall find out more about his income and expenditure as well
as who the advisers, friends, servants, relations, partisans of such a
niggardly person are. Whoever in a foreign country carries out the work the
work of such a niggardly person shall be prevailed upon to give out the secret.
When the secret is known, the niggardly person shall be murdered apparently
under the orders of his avowed enemy”.
Why is it that India still lags behind in
fighting corruption? Political will to curb corruption is most needed. We need
a good mechanism too. The mechanism that prevails is limited to the Central
Vigilance Commission at the centre. It handles cases against senior officials
and has substantial independence. But the problem is that the CVC acts just
like an advisory body. All government departments also have a Chief Vigilance
Officer. Here the appointments are often delayed and the officer appointed to
this post often handles vigilance part time which reduces his efficiency in
both works. The Right to Information (RTI) has been a blessing in terms of
exposing various crimes but this again can only bring out the data and put
pressure on the government. Once the data is known by filing an RTI, what does
an individual do?
For curbing corruption we need the right laws and
we will also need to educate the people to have the right attitude and
understand how the cancer of corruption is affecting the nation. Corporate
donations to political parties were banned and this made corporates to make
payments covertly for economic favours. Though the ban was lifted in 2003, the
corporate and the political parties found it better to make and receive
payments covertly. This has rotten our democracy too.
People should understand that bribing is not an
investment which gives one a moral right to expect a return through more
corruption. The Lokpal Bill if passed will be a tuff law which will, to a great
extent stem corruption. The CBI should be made free and independent so that the
ruling governments do not use it to silent the opposition. The Lokayuktas
should be installed in all states so that the common man in any part of the
nation can get speedy justice. The judiciary also needs a revamp. There are
around 2.5crore cases pending in the lower courts, 37lakhs in the High Courts
and 4600 in the Supreme Court. India has just 12,000 judges for a population of
1.2 billion, which means one judge should look after 8572 people’s cases. This
is the reason for the delayed justice which is equivalent to justice being
denied. Once all this starts happening, the new entrants into the powerful
sectors will be aware of the dire consequences they will have to face.
