An influential friend of mine once said that bribing someone with a briefcase full of cash is something that happens only in old movies: it was a thing of the past. But now cash is being taken in suitcases and gunny bags in vans to be paid as bribe. The new wealth and prosperity are, in fact, feeding a frenzy of corruption that is quickly causing the decay of societal morals and ethics. Even the national honour is up for auction in hosting the Commonwealth Games. A nation that aspires to be a superpower cannot take pride in its abysmal 84th place in the corruption perception index as measured by Transparency International.
Bribing is now considered an investment by many who seek government jobs. This investment, they assume, gives them a moral right to expect a return through more corruption. The public “servants” who dole it out seek greater investment. The honest and the financially weak often exit the government sector, only to reinforce this belief. The bureaucratic hierarchy itself is established based on the extent to which one can engage in corrupt practices, rather than on merit and honesty. The honest few with the determination to fight the system are either transferred to inconsequential roles or remain dejected and angry. The unabated corruption strengthens the power of public servants — which is truly a slippery slope.
For citizens and businesses, it is faster and more efficient to engage in immoral and illegal activities in their interactions with government. Those who can, or are willing to, engage in such activities are likely to have fewer headaches and greater rewards. There is academic literature that argues that bribing as a means to achieve ends in an environment of pervasive corruption and archaic policies actually helps growth. But the system penalises honest and weak citizens by means of bureaucratic delaying tactics.
A recent visit to certain industrial units in Bangalore was illuminating. Factory owners, it was found, resort to an annual ritual of bribing numerous government inspectors — those who handle factories and boilers, pollution, labour, excise levies and so on. It is a rational decision since this makes things cheaper and faster. The choice is between spending countless days providing every minute detail to the inspectors, some of whom expect fair “compensation” for being there, or focussing on one's core business. One business owner told me that the inspectors themselves were expected to share their bounty along the hierarchy; else they would be pursued negatively by others. The irony here is that government “servants” who are supposed to facilitate economic activity act as “masters” of businesses.
It is unfair to blame all the problems on the government. A not-too-trivial fraction of private citizens and business owners are equally responsible for the situation, and private sector corruption could be dwarfing government-led corruption — we will never know. Private entities transact on an all-cash basis in order to avoid paying taxes. Some business owners exploit labour without paying fair wages or subjecting them to pollutants and harsh working conditions. They inflate invoices for government subsidies or contracts. Some businesses receive thousands of acres of prime land at a fraction of the market value. A few businesses illegally tap into the electricity grid or tamper with electrical meters. A significant fraction of residential buildings do not conform to planning regulations. Businesses are set up without permits. Innocent farmers are exploited and stripped of their land at rates that are much below the market value — often with the help of the heavy-handedness by the government. The private sector flouts rules and regulations, feeding more corruption.
To prevent the exploitation of the system, the law-makers — who are part of the corrupt system — introduce greater regulations, inspections, and restrictions, without recognising that adding so-called “oversight” leads to even greater potential for corruption. Hernando de Soto, the Peruvian economist, famously said in his seminal book Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Thrives in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, that in most countries “it is very nearly as difficult to stay legal as it is to become legal.” He stated this in the context of private property rights and bureaucratic hurdles, but it applies to every aspect of government transactions.
Therefore, regulations are a double-edge sword. On the contrary, pursuing the perpetrators of corruption has been a comical exercise. In Karnataka, for example, less than 10 per cent of the government officials who were caught red-handed accepting bribes has been prosecuted. Even the laws are changed to make it harder to prosecute the culprits.
Maybe there is a need to think differently to put a lid on corruption and hopefully push it down incrementally.
Broken Window Syndrome
There is hope for improvement, and some clues can be found in my experience at the new Bengaluru International Airport. The once congested and dingy old airport, where clearing immigration and customs, collecting baggage, and using the toilet were severe challenges, has been replaced by a clean and spacious airport. Immigration and customs clearance are fast (except for those confusing forms), respectful, and organised. There is little corruption or bureaucratic nuisance. Why have attitudes changed?
Some argue that the numerous security cameras installed there prevent officials from engaging in corruption. Some suspect that training, higher salaries, and better governance including complaint services have lowered corruption. Maybe it is the new environment: clean and nice cubicles with computers bring forth a new attitude. It could be that people standing in queues treat government officials with respect and decency. It is possible that there is pride in projecting a positive image of the country. A significant fraction of the workforce being younger and probably untainted by corruption, may have contributed to the changing attitude.
There are many variables. But, the behaviour in the old, dingy airport supports the Broken Window Syndrome first studied by James Wilson and George Kelling in housing projects (government housing for economically poor families) in New York. They argued that when a window is broken in a building and it is not fixed, then over time the rest of the windows will be broken and soon that building will be infested with plunderers, leading to social breakdown. This can be applied to a building or a community at large. When a neighbour throws garbage in a street corner, everyone else will pursue it as fair game and quickly dump more garbage as there is no perceived cost. The same applies in the matter of observing traffic signals. Socially imposed regulations cease and disorder becomes the norm — to the great dissatisfaction of law-abiding citizens.
The new airport implodes those norms of broken windows and creates a modern vision for employees to respect. Let us hope we can replicate some of that in thousands of government buildings, hospitals, and railway and bus stations.
If security cameras can contribute to lowering corruption, then why not record all government-citizen interactions? There are costs, but it is worth the effort to put a lid on this moral decay. Maybe, honest neutral observers can be witness to government-citizen interactions. There are possibilities for corruption to occur by other means, but at least the honest ones are troubled less.
There is another point of view to reduce corruption. Stringent rules create corruption. When Customs duties on small electronic items were exorbitant and exemptions were available only to the extent of a few hundred rupees, both travellers and Customs officials found a common ground to bypass the rules through corruption. With higher exemptions in place and free import of gadgets such as laptops now, the opportunity for corruption has radically decreased. Maybe, rules must be designed to prevent incentives to cheat.
If corruption has to be controlled, there needs to be greater transparency, accountability, enforcement, and self-governance. All these are difficult to achieve, and require experimentation and different thinking. The slippery slope of corruption has a powerful downdraft where the weak and the honest suffer the most. Let us hope that the political, business, and bureaucratic establishments, with the help of pressure from the media and the citizenry, will wake up to fix the broken window of corruption.
(Prabhudev Konana is William H. Seay Centennial Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin: pkonana@mail.utexas.edu.)
Keywords: corruption
Comments:
The erudite professor has said things which we common folks already know . The question is how to get rid of corruption is something more simple.
A fair election funded from public funds will will bring in fair regulators-members of Parliament, Assemblies and local bodies .Besides there should be right of recall which 5% of the voters can trigger.
Third we need to increase the spend on legal delivery system besides having a judicial commission as well as ombudsmen . All members of the commission should be non judges and non lawyers, so should all ombudsman.
Corruption thrives as it pays . It is business . If the cost becomes heavy it would taper off.
A balanced and well drafted article. We,the young generation in india have to take a stand and obliterate the black shadow of corruption from the heart of shining India. It is very true, transparency, accountability, easy access may helps us to some extends to tackle the uncontrolled corruption, however root is lies in the attitude. We have base line our attitude from "CHALTA HAI" to "Respect yourself" kind of thinking. I hope our young generation is capable enough to achieve this good habit very soon. JAY HIND
And this news is new?
Excellent article, almost brilliantly pinpoints the problems and gives some insight into how to tackle it. But the biggest hurdle for change is that the two arms of change in a democracy - the judiciary and the legislature are both corrupt to a great degree. I don't see light at the end of the tunnel!!!!
For well intending individuals, it is perplexing situation. We have to pay for being or trying to be upright. In this rut, we get disgruntled and choose the path of least corruption. The corruption starts from top or bottom is inconsequential . The bottom is less powerful to resist and suffer. The top ( read political masters)is mostly irreversibly corrupt . More VO's and NGO's are needed to create a strong platform to reverse the abysmal decay.
Brilliant article but does it really have a conclusion? Neither the article nor the problem of corruption do really have a conclusion. The author refers corruption as a moral decay but in a country like India this has become more of a standard or a moral itself. The corruption starts from birth for getting birth certificate and goes on till death for getting a death certificate. Law makers tend to make more sringent laws not for the demolishing corruption but to encourage more corruption and get maximum results. a vote for 100rupees,a birth certificate for 1000rupees,a caste certificate for 10000rupees, an engineering college slot for 100000rupees, a medical college slot for 10lakh to 20lakh rupees and an MP seat for few crore rupees and we have witnessing all of them almost everywhere and even in our parliament. In a county like India, I doubt if god is omnipotent but I'm very much sure that money and corruption are omnipotent.
Very well written. In the conclusion however, the writer is expecting the media and the citizenry to pressurize other vested domains to wake up and "fix the broken window of corruption". Lets hope it works but how are the civil society and media any different from others.After all the above mentioned sections of the society are from the same stock.
Very timely article and an interesting read....
Let me share a few of my thoughts on what each one of us could do...
If the industry owners have to bribe the inspectors so that they can focus on their core work...it is tough to break the issue. But the same industrialist will jump the signal and grease the palms of the police, go to the RTO and bribe to get driving license, does not pay the housing tax on time.
Are these not areas where one can take control, since these are personal tasks in nature and make a start to curb corruption?
It is horrifying to see how literate and so called creame population voialte traffic rules?
What is the individual's responsibility towards the society? What am I doing right? Do I exhibit proper civic sense? These are questions which every individual has to answer to himself....
Until the change comes from within....I am not talking about the supressed, lower income bracket people who are challenged. I am talking about the educated youth of the country with decent income levels who flaunt rules and are cynical about everything about the system.
If each one of us can contribute by behaving the right way in areas which are in the area of our influence it can be a good start to stop slipping on this slope.
"There is academic literature that argues that bribing as a means to achieve ends in an environment of pervasive corruption and archaic policies actually helps growth.": I think it is time to reclaim the word Growth from economists and other sundry academics.
There is a need to go to root of corruption. People fear public humiliation. Those caught and proved should be subjected to public humiliation. May be that would help.
corruption is the main problem of our country,we all know immoral act are spread in our society like plague in previous time.we have to need doctors(moral men)to eradicate immoral act.for this we have to introduce moral study as a subject and a teacher at every school and college so that moral values are intact in men from childhood. our leader pass act like 'right to education' so this act is nothing for them,if it is proposed it's cost nothing for moral values.
The article titled 'the slippery slope of corruption ' is worth reading and the Broken window syndrome is really interesting. hope more will be published on this topic.
The media and the civil society groups should work together to build up a campaign against corruption.Any one perceived to be corrupt should be boycotted in whatever way possible.Honest persons should be suitably rewarded.Moral values should be inculcated in schools. If the children of corrupt persons face some kind of hostility in schools they will perhaps be forced to behave honestly in their adult life.
Civil society should also build up a campaign against ostentacious living and boycott those living beyond their known honest means.
I like this article. Transparency should start from the very bottom level and rural people who are exploited often by big hands should start questioning the bureaucracy. I guess the main problem is the hierarchical bureaucracy which goes hand in hand with politicians who are corrupt. Why not change the bureaucractic structure altered to be more responsible and introduce new eligibility criteria for any poitician to come into power which would eventually stops him in interfering the law system.
Very well written article. The irony of the governance system has been aptly described.
Very good article. But the problem which is implicitly stated by the author is who is to tie the bell? The Govt. Servants bribe by selling their properties and they are, at least in their perspective, to make a return on the investment. The officials who oversee their subordinates get a share of loot and turn blind-eye. THe "servants" not only pay the officials to get into the job but also the political parties in power at the region. So the political parties get a share and subsequently, the minister (even he/she is honest) is benefitted and influenced by his party men. So in short, we can only expect the law makers to make only plausible laws with no benefits to the citizens of India. Why would anyone who is benefitted by corruption and is the only one who can act against it act against it?
For the past few years, in Hindu, IDSA, South Asia Analysis Group, etc, I have been trying to propound my idea on not using paper currency to stem funding to terrorism, corruption, etc. But it is only rejected every time. Since, the officials can use their bribe money without getting caught and it is easy to pay the money as bribes, corruption continues. But what if, one cannot pay to anyone without a valid reason and one cannot accept any money from other than accepted sources. When there is no paper currency but cards, all the transaction will be through the banks. A declaration of sources of income can be requested by everyone and fed into the databases. Any money from outside these sources will be in the radar and invite investigations. It is also important to make it easy to add new sources of income and delete old sources of income. Similarly, payment by anyone outside the sphere of payments would also be noticed. The technology for notifications already exist, the banks use them to provide security for their customers. Credit and debit cards are also widely used. So it may not be a problem, technically speaking. Wages are to be paid to the bank. Every citizen whether he is poor or prosperous would have an bank account and every transaction of his or hers would only be through this account. Corruption is possible here to, but the number of people who can do that will become less and can be monitored. I'm not giving the complete design of whole system here as it requires more deliberation and to include more parameters, however this would serve multiple purposes. The main advantages of this system are:
1. Funding to terrorism and other illegal activities will naturally be stopped as it cannot go anymore unnoticed.
2. Begging, pick-pocketting and other such activities will come to an end
3. Corruption will dwindle.
4. Tax evation will dwindle.
5. Better monitoring of the economy will lead to better plans for its management for the benefit of all.
The major disadvantages would be:
1.The illiterate population may have problems and may be gullible to give their card number and pin to some one who can misuse them, which require extensive educational program or more security. Instead of pin, biometric security could be used.
2. The cost associated with the transformation
3. Difficulty for the political parties and their men to gain money which may influence the law makers to open new loop holes in the system.
After all India is a nation of everyone and our responsibility doesn't end with voting. We should demand right to recall the representatives, make the right to information more powerful and try to wake the masses from the 700 years old slavish slumber by education.
The slippery slope of corruption-is to the time because a woman police officer was dragged on the road by her subordinates in a vehicle When she rushed to to the place where some traffic constables were demanding bribes from truckers near the Jat regimental centre.
The curse of curroption can be wiped only with help of govt as well as a public.
Corruption today like cancer has eaten into not just Commonwealths, Revenues, Railways, Airports, Navy, Administration, Universities to list a few, but also every department that exists in the society. What not has it entered into? It has been omnipresent and omnipotent too. Astonishment must be for if there still exists any sphere of life untainted with corruption. It has crept into the very human relations on which the society has been built up. Corruption breeds corruption. Honesty, broadmindedness, self-discipline, self-restraint, selflessness must be taught as a mandatory norm, right from one’s schooling apart from transparency, accountability, enforcement, and self-governance in the institutions, as the author has selectively put in the article “ The Slippery Slope of Corruption “(The Hindu, 03-09-2010) to control the malaise. Moreover, sincerity in political leaders has telling impact over its citizens to get away with this psychological infectious tendency.
A nice article. Off-late many insights into the way corruption is prevalent and what way the same can be contained is heard through various form of media. But as described in the article, as long as the public participation is meager and government doesn't enforce proper framework for the same, aspirations originate and die with in the bounds of media. I couldn't agree more with some of the author's views. As said, before compelling people to be honest government should provide convenient if not luxurious ways to get things done by government in a fair fashion.
On this note i would like to add a warm thanks to all those government officials, public, NGOs, who are miraculously expressing hope in spite of the little progress we made till date in fighting corruption. Hope more people share similar vision in the future. Please visit this portal, an initiative to measure corruption: http://ipaidabribe.com/
The author has provided clear picture on how our adminstration system works. I struggled to find an officer who is honest to save my property from illegal occupation recently. Corruption is a social evil which affects the disadvantage more. Total quality management principle is dont find on individuals rather on sytem which allows the person commit mistake. It is high time to revisit on our administrative system.
I like this article. I appreciate the author for writing an article about corruption. I also like the comment given by Mr.Sivasathivel KANDASAMY which coincides with my idea. I'm a NRI working in London, UK. 2 months back when I was in India, I bought few jewelleries, I was surprised that I cannot use card for more than Rs.40,000. This is really annoying. One has to withdraw cash in Lakhs to buy anything like this. In India, we should stop buying things by cash if the value is more than say Rs.20,000. Shop owners / business should only accept / bank transaction for any thing above say Rs.20,000. This would drastically prevent bribe by cash.
1. Card authorisation should use signature from palmtop as it is in practice in Singapore in many shops (or) we could use bio-metric validation (oR) combined if necessary.
2. Government (or) private banks should open basic banking facilities in villages(at least in big villages) & towns.
3. All bills / any payment should happen either through Direct debit transaction / through online transfer as happening in United Kingdom.
4. No one should handle the cash. This would force everyone to keep their savings in the bank rather at home. This would prevent theft, robbery & killings.
5. If anyone tries to put huge money by cash into a Bank. Bank should ask for their source of income. If they fail to provide, this means money is illegal (or) bribed. This money should go into Agricultural projects account.
6. If anyone having huge money in Swizz bank / having illegal money, they have option to disclose that money voluteerly, if they do so they would get atleast 10% of it depends on the case. Otherwise, if they are caught, they would be penalised. This way we can attract illegal money.
Above all, we need dedicated, educated, professional people having good Moral should come for Politics. MLA / MP should stand without giving single Rupee. I'm ready for this.
Very well written article. Corruption, the thread that looms thro' every strata of the society is more a menace and has now become difficult to be removed. Intentions of people should change. Without corruption if goal will take longer time, one should be prepared to wait for it. Lincoln's philosophy that one dollar earned is is worth more than five found should get imbibed in every government official, if we have to stem the rot.
well written. Includes many things that youth have been thinking why aren't these done the way in which they should be done?
I enjoyed reading Prabudev Konana's article on corruption. However, I fear that corruption begins at the highest levels spreads downward. To cite the example of Bangalore airport, it is worth remembering that significant changes were made in the terms after the contract was awarded: that no other airport would come up within a radius 500 kms. This effectively gave a monopoly to the consortium that won the contract, which promptly demanded a high user charge from all passengers. It would be naive to think that such advantages were conferred without quid pro quo.
The government has oftentimes conferred unfair advantages to corporates at the expense of the common man; for example, by agreeing to uproot tribals from their ancestral land to facilitate mining, while keeping the royalty payable to the state low.
Government is trying to understand the reason of this corruption in our country. Huge increment in the pay commisions is one of the proofs. But still we the common people have to understand that responsibility is not only for the government employees because they are one of us. So we have to stop taking the wrong path to get success. Or else we have to suffer from this Broken Window Syndrome.
Corruption is misuse of position of public authority for monetary gains or other favours.It persists because the guilty are seldom punished due to flexible nature of laws.Stringent punishment to guilty could set an example which would deter others.It is not only that those who ask are guilty but those who give in to their demands are as well guilty of propogating corruption.
The article is indeed thought provoking specially the bit about the broken window. As they say it takes two to tango. There is the bribe taker and the bribe giver. Unfortunately today many of us do not want to follow rules and hence take the easy way out by paying a bribe. How many of us like to stand in a "Q"? I agree with Professor Konana that if rules are simplified, it will be more easy for the common citizen to comply. In turn it will also need a sort of a social revolution for our citizens to change their mindset to comply with rules and develop National pride. If we have a fixed window, as the good professor says, this change of mindset will be a natural corollary. But this brings us to the question - which came first? Chicken or egg? Where do we, as law abiding citizens start? Change ourselves or change our governance structure? Hmmmm....very difficult to answer that! There are no easy answers but all of us must pitch in and make a start somewhere. Perhaps the next time we visit a Government office, we follow the rules and refuse to pay bribe, no matter how long it takes? Or perhaps name and shame the graft taker?
A beautiful article very painstakingly written. Corruption in all walks of life has become a rule and honesty is an exception. The phenominon is more conspicuous in the post-undependent india. In the days of colonial rule there was fear for corruption and the discipline among the citizens was better.Every one feels demanding bribe is his birth right if he or she has to do a public funtion. Every aspect of public life coexisting with corruption is very aptly dealt with by the author. To stem the rot character building among the citizens, specially in the youth, is necessary.
The best tribute for the people of India to show sickness with corruption would be to wear tea shirts printed with 1000 Re notes all over and written in the middle CWG
I really got tired of people just providing lip service. And the suggestion he provides is dumbest to tell the least. I guess he has stayed in texas far too long and has lost touch of reality back home.
Media is one of the most corrupted in india after politicians and bureaucrats. How can the author expects media to help clean the system. Erastus news papars these days, you find less news and more opinions. No one cares about the fact, only their opinion.
It is a good article and congrats for the courage to publish one. But is it heartfelt from the publisher? We suppose that media should play the role in identifying and exposing this malaise every day but does it happen? Please see your paper's record of the last one month and check how many such corrupt incident had been exposed. Your reporters are working among people to gather news and they know how many judges, collectors, RDO, engineers and clerical staff are corrupt but may be not possible to publish without having concrete proof (in the eyes of law)but Hindu must find a way to protect their sources and reporters and we expect this paper to expose higher ups every day so that once top officials are in fear of shame and expose, lower level people will follow their toe and we can see reduction in the corruption cases. But it may be an impossible proposition to Hindu? After all, as a publisher you may have to stand and get approvals (may be thousanads of them) to run your paper in front of these higher ups.
Could you say honestly that Hindu never ever bribed (in kind, cash, articles, etc)? We expect a categprical answer from you.
The rampant corruption at every level was one of the principal reason which motivated me to quit the country. I used to work in a govt owned public sector company and strongly practised honesty and always hated those who were corrupt.
A misjudgement on my part angered my unionized workers and they ransacked my office. Since I knew my boss and my seniors won't support me, so I reported the matter to Police but didn't lodge an FIR. After that the harrasment from the Police (for the money) and by the management (to get rid of police involvement) was enough for me to say goodbye to this country.
I'm glad that I now live in a country where corruption is unthinkable and professionals maintain high level of ethics and integrity which will remain a permanent dream in India.
corruption of ideas and conscience with the top leaders is more dangerous than corruption indulged for financial benefit by businesspersons, govt. servants and politicians. the former is malignant and cancerous and the latter is benign and will be remedied with better widespread education, living condition.
The article and the comments from readers reflect the deep concern & high intellect of the society. Where there is a will, there is a way indeed! At times we get a doubt how much time does it take to change the existing rotten system for better? Start now compulsory Education for kids above 5 yrs. under RTE, within two decades the whole system is transformed. To startwith, strengthen Primary & sec. education. Select teachers on merit alone. Teach basics required for living.
I left India some 20 years ago after a brief stint as a public servant and as a private industry manager. The twin curses of India is corruption and nepotism. I have seen corrupt public servants demanding money and busineses providing it as a business expense. It is an irony while most Indians seek properity in a market based economy, they elected politicians who offer quick-fix socialism and social agenda. There is no mecahnism available to fight the corruption within the ranks of public service and assist the whistle-blowers.
Interesting read..
But If we look at the hierarchy of Corruption, we can understand the problem,.. The motivation for corruption is Money. It is wide spread in Government offices. But they can be tackled by increasing salaries, like it happened in 6th pay commission. But what about the people on the top. eg politicians. They do it for not only themselves but also for party funding. So now the motivation is not only money but also POWER. If we can solve this 'Party Funding' problem it may reduce the problem by 50%.
To prevent this setting up videos in all government offices slightly reduces corruption to a certain extent.
Hat`s off to you Shri.Prabhudev Konana. Govt. people started the show and now Private Companies are getting more corrupted day by day.As somebody said Cash should not be used for dealing. This makes sense. All the transactions should be made through Debit cards. This can change the scenario.
Who will bell the cat !
IT is very simple to fix this problem.Just dismiss the people who ask for bribe or caught with bribe money.(now they are suspended,probably with all benefits,cases take decades to consummate,meantime some godfather interferes and the public never hear about these cases).Seize their assets.set bail at a high value (instead of silly amounts like Rs 500,1000 etc,which I see in the papers daily!). Post pictures of them on the internet,public places,schools,offices etc where their relatives ,children are studying,working etc..Let public ridicule,shame bring this menace down.It is difficult to imagine that a small percentage of people(in govt offices) can control or harass bulk of the population.
Laws of this country have to be revised just like the income tax code.Seems they have been written 100 years ago and fines,punishments are too silly.
Corruption is as old as Indian history. But its intensity has widened over the years, particularly in the past two decades. Corruption has permeated to all facets of life. More and more people are forced to accept corruption as part and parcel of their life, of course scornfully. At present the magnitude of corruption has become so great that the very existence of our democracy is threatened. Even the public sector banks have become hot spots of corruption.
The comment by Dr. C. Murukadas that even the public sector banks have become hot spots of corruption deserves special attention. Today banks play a very significant role in our efforts to achieve sustained economic development. But corruption and frauds have shaken the public confidence to a great extent. It is disquieting to know that in most cases bank officials are directly or indirectly involved in almost all such cases. The Government should think of establishing a separate division exclusively to look into complaints of corruption and insider frauds in Banks.
Not a day passes without news about corruption and fraud by officials of banks - public sector or private sector or co-operative sector. The SARFAESI Act has bestowed them with immense power. In many cases the bank officials collect huge amounts as commission, mostly through agents, for sanctioning loans and rescheduling loans.
The UPA Government seems to be unconcerned about the evil of corruption. Despite the hue and cry about large-scale corruption by certain Ministers, the Prime Minister has not acted so far to initiate steps to punish them. I am unable to understand why the PM is keeping stony silence. Does he believe that his duty ends with keeping his reputation of being an honest person? I actually believe that unless effective steps are taken to unearth the black money staked inside and outside the country by politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and others through corruption, embezzlement, scams and other such shadow activities, the benefits of high growth rate attained by our country will be vain and the goal of inclusive growth will become meaningless.
I am of the opinion that malaise is having corrupt politicians.
I am writing in every possible forum for the introduction NONE OF THE ABOVE in the Electronic voting machine. This will really change the present society for better future
In a country with over 100 crore hardworking people, why does it take 3-4 years to resolve only 25,000 cases? Or perhaps GOI possesses military weaponry that is high-tech, but can't or doesn't want to even have forensic and fingerprinting type technologies? Are the courts so incompetent, that we don't even need to claim that we are a democracy anymore with a functioning judicial system in place?
A billionaire construction tycoon by the name of Virendra Mhaiskar of IRB Infrastructure Developers was exposed by Satish Shetty in various land-grabbing scams worth hundreds of crores of rupees. Not just the police but almost everyone in Pune knows this. Satish Shetty had received phone calls with death threats many times from the suspect's accomplices, before he was ruthlessly slaughtered with sharp weapons on the streets in broad daylight. If the CBI were to dig up just the land scam reports Satish Shetty was working on and his phone records, the case would be solved within weeks if not days.
But if the system is so badly broken, nothing will happen. The only solution left is a people's revolution. Only after the entire corrupt structure from an impotent bureaucracy to the braindead polity is tried for their ghoulish crimes and hanged to death by the people, will emerge a new India.
A very balanced Article.
It is important that we maintain positivity in our attitude and actions when it comes to handling our system. There are flaws for sure, but we cannot just blame the whole thing on the system. Small actions from normal citizens go a long way in fixing the system. Attitude is the most important thing and it must be positive.
Indians,bar none, by nature nature have a character flaw. And that is that they are HYPOCRITES.
The politicians,the religious leaders and CIVIL servants have only one thing on their minds and that is How they can BILK the system.They will say anything in Public to make themselves look good.
In my opinion India should Institute Courses on Ethics right from Kindergarten to the end of College and then in the Work place which may help produce a generation that will instill some honesty in the system and pass that onto the coming generations--RAM RAJYA????
Even at the Housing board offices to get any NOC for construction without paying off bribe its not possible. If we don't pay the bribe, the officer says there are many clauses to stop the construction.
Intresting to see so many response for this article.
Atleast gives us some hope that there are still people around wanting changes.There is no point in blaming others and waiting for media to help us(Of course our medias are commericialy oriented,what more to expect?).
Somehow there is a perception in India that corruption is prevalent in Govt depts. When the of corruption in Private sector is also a
matter of concern - ask any small scale supplier of raw materials to a
big manufacturer for the corruption indulged in by the big manufacturer. Also corruption at the common level is never spoken of,
for e.g the milkman adulterating milk to earn higher profits; the autho-rickshaw driver charging above the meter rates; the porter at railway station demanding more money than what the Railways have stipulated; greasing palms for getting admission in reputed schools...the list is endless. There is no remedy for this and we have to learn to live with this.
This article by the Professor is great. The solution is awareness and asks us (the society to refrain from bribing). When someone admitted to a government hospital has a short time to live without some expensive treatment, but if the hospital authorities are bribed this patient gets immediate & timely treatment, then the Professor's message to society is not useful.
The ONLY solution to corruption is establish SUMMARY COURTS & immediate DEATH SENTENCES to those who demand & take bribed and are corrupt. A few executions and everyone will fall in line. In India, law enforcement is not an easy task. In India just like in USA, Canada, France, Germany & UK there are enough laws on the books, but enforcement is not there and if it is there, it is almost weak. The recipient of bribes should be treated as Cancerous.