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| Corruption as way of life | | | Joginder Singh
The way a country’s administration is run has vital bearing on its citizens. It is a test of good or bad governance. Revealing how the common man is plagued by corruption, right under the nose of the Central government, in October 2008, 15 officials of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) were arrested on charges of bribery and extortion. These arrests were made after a month-long sting operation. It appears that the accused had been forcibly collecting sums up to Rs 30,000 as "protection money" on a monthly basis from shopkeepers.
In a positive new trend, common people are now playing a more active role in conducting sting operations. One such operation was conducted by a property dealer last year. More than 100 traffic personnel (in 30 different areas in the Capital) were caught on camera accepting bribes from Blueline bus operators. A vigilance branch probe into the sting operation established their identities and led to the suspension of 98 policemen: 11 sub-inspectors, 11 assistant sub-inspectors, 10 head-constables and 66 constables.
The reason behind the rise in "petty" corruption is the wide range of powers given to petty enforcement functionaries. At least in the national capital and other big towns there is a pro-active media that raises issues of petty corruption. The farther a place is from the seat of power, the more difficult it is to tackle this problem. In fact, corruption has become a happy compromise over compliance of outdated regulations.
Every government talks of ending the "inspector raj". But every new law enacted has added one or two more inspectors to the already existing plethora of inspectors. At a recent function, after counting the number of functionaries concerned with the running of any industry, I arrived at the conclusion that at least 35 different inspectors visit an industrial unit. I was immediately corrected by an industrialist who said that the number has gone up to 65 with visits from inspectors from health, electricity, labour, municipal, water, environment, sanitary, weights and measures and many other departments.
Corruption is a preferred choice for the simple reason that pointing out what is wrong is not only time consuming, but also one is not sure if the complaint will ever be redressed. Some time ago, I met a friend who edits and publishes a specialised magazine. He had been working out of his home that happens to be in an area which is both a bazaar and a residential area. He told me his home-office was sealed as the official who came for the sealing drive did not consider his magazine a part of the media though the magazine is registered with the Registrar of Newspapers. My friend is now paying Rs 1,000 a month for working from his own home. When I asked him why he didn’t complain, he said it may take months, if not years, for the court to give its final verdict. He had a choice of going to court and running around for months, or buying peace of mind for Rs 1,000 a month.
This year, Transparency International (TI) has placed India two points lower on the Corruption Perception Index compared to its position in 2007. The only saving grace is that compared to its neighbours, India seems to be doing well. Pakistan, for instance, is at the 140th position compared to India’s 74th. Nepal and Sri Lanka are ranked 135 and 96 respectively. China is ranked one place above India.
A study by TI and the Centre for Media Studies found that three-fourth of citizens think that the level of corruption in public services has been going up. They believe that there is no active and sustained civil society movement. And that most efforts are sporadic, localised and short-lived and never quite acquire the character of a larger movement.
The main causes of corruption are lack of transparency and accountability in the system, absence of an effective corruption reporting mechanism and lack of honesty in government officials. People feel that acceptance of corruption has become a way of life, custom and culture. Even if a person is caught taking bribe, it takes years to punish him judicially.
To end corruption, the government should outsource services wherever possible. Public service departments cannot cope with all the demands of India’s large population, especially in the field of education and health. In this scenario, departments should purchase outputs instead of insisting on giving inputs. Also, each department should have realistic and measurable action standards (not just statement of intent) for checking corruption and malpractices within.
Corruption can go down only when we ourselves become honest and by following Gandhiji who said: "Be the change you want in others."
Public servants and politicians are corrupt because we are willing to pay them for getting things done. Let each one of us do some thing to fight this evil. |
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