CAN INDIA GET RID OF CORRUPTION?
“Corruption is highly regressive type of tax. Its burden falls disproportionately on poor people”
India is one of the most regulated economies of the world with powers concentrated in few hands. It is an over populated poor country with scarce resources where demand is always more than supply. The receivers of the public services are largely poor, ignorant, and illiterate. There is also absence of transparency and accountability of the public servants. There is no system of rewards and punishments for the public servants. There is also no right to information. The license-permit-quota-inspector regime is pervasive in India since independence and continues even after liberalization and globalization of 1991. This provides for a fertile breeding ground for corruption. Transparency international ranks India on the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI ‘03 ) as 83 out of 133.
It is high time we realized the perils of corruption, to better understand the dynamics of corruption, we would have to first explore the roots of corruption and how lack of accountability and transparency has helped it’s exponential growth. The growth of corruption in India after independence has taken place in two stages. The initial stage was the corruptionalisation of institutes leading to the second stage of institutitonalization of corruption itself. On the sideline this whole process was getting reinforced by the rapid criminalisation of politics.
After independence in 1947, we had inherited from the British a system of elected representatives checking over a permanent and politically neutral civil services appointed for the welfare of the state and it’s citizens. However in 1975 emergency was imposed and the bureaucracy was no longer neutral or committed to the constitution, instead it was committed to the government of the day. This in itself was the foundation for the first stage, from where started the systematic deterioration of our whole system. Then onwards, harmonious collusion of criminalized politics hand in hand with indulgent bureaucrats led to the fermentation of the already existent need-based-corruption. The vicious cycle, which was hence initiated, grew unchecked, finally leading to the institutionalization of corruption.
As a result of this institutionalization, today we find corruption so firmly rooted in our work ethics that it is taken for granted. Today corruption is accepted cynically and swallowed with a defeatist attitude, under such circumstances it would be natural to inquire “Can India do anything about corruption?” Many would say that it is like a malignant cancer, which can neither be cured nor be controlled. However elimination of corruption is possible by a firm mindset of zero-tolerance towards corruption. To bring the “Zero-tolerance” for corruption in our country we urgently need to implement the following.
a)Simplification of official rules and regulations.
b)Bringing greater transparency in the working of the government.
c)Imparting swift punishment for confirmed and convicted culprits of corruption.
To examine these penetrating approachs for eradication of corruption, let’s elaborate on them in detail. Firstly, simplification of official rules and procedures (red-tapism) would remove much of the friction required with the civil servants. This would not only remove the possibility of these officers abusing their responsibility but also remove much of the delay built into our mammoth government structure. Corruption can be substantially reduced in our country by merely scraping obsolete and archaic laws (majority of them are such) and rationalizing the remaining ones.
The second step of bringing greater transparency would further empower the ordinary public, to bring accountability into the system. For this purpose, the proper use of information technology is extremely effective for it provides for random and rapid access to massive data so chances of any foul up’s can be easily and quickly detected. Infact the intelligent and diligent use of information technology would erase many of the delays in our system. Today we find the greater use of computers in banking sector is a huge boon for the masses, for it negates all prospects of fraudulent dealings ‘by’ or ‘in’ the bank.
The third step of appropriate punishment is a complex issue and needs to be studied in detail. As early as 1000 BC, the law laid down by ‘Manu’ stated that civic official who accepted bribes should be banished from the territory and their property seized by the state. Over the ages the social traditions of India have also dictated that the greedy and the morally scrupulous should be dealt with severely. It is in keeping with this, that today we have the Central Vigilance Commission (C.V.C). The important part of the C.V.C’s strategy is ensuring effective punishment against corruption. Punishment of the guilty is possible under two circumstances .One is through a departmental inquiry and the other is through prosecution .So far as departmental inquiries are concerned, it has been found that there are no time limits for these inquiries. There have been classics cases where an inquiry committee was appointed after five years and by the time the committee finished it’s report, the defendant had retired this is why a new approach must be immediately sought, where retired honest officers are deputed on chairs of the commission to conduct the inquiries and are time bound to finish the same within six months. This will ensure that the fear of swift and sure punishment would install morbid fear for corruption among the civil servants.
On the other hand, when it comes to prosecution we have a frustratingly slow process with less then 6% conviction rate. In this context, we need to take new and bold initiatives. Corruption flourishes because it is seen as a low risk, high profit activity where material gains are easy to come by, so there is an urgent need for incorporation of new provisions the criminal law to provide for confiscation of the ill gotten property of the corrupt. Justice Jeevan reddy, (ex- Chairman Law Commission) had drafted an act called the ‘Corrupt Public Servants (forfeiture of property) Act’. Hasty enactment of this law would ensure that corrupt bureaucrats never get to enjoy the benefit of their mis-endeavours .On the same lines there is another law called the ‘Benami Transaction Prohibition Act’. This law which was passed twelve years ago, also has the same provisions, but our lethargic government never laid down any procedure for it's enactment, hence it remains a teethless weapon in vigilance's already deficient armada. Besides these, we also have to look into various cushions of legal safety, which have been laid out by the courts on the principal that "everybody is innocent till proven guilty" .The net result is that the corrupt are able to engage the best lawyers and quibble their way out of prosecution. Such legal loopholes in our law need to be plugged. It should be made mandatory that special courts try all such cases of corruption, with the court personnel including judges, prosecutors and counselors' specially trained and sensitized to the issue of corruption.
It is therefore, possibly by adopting these strategies to tackle corruption among public servants, but what of the politically bred corruption? How do we tackle that issue? Well the Supreme Court judgment in the J.M.M case has declared that the M.P.s and M.L.A's are also public servants. If they are detected to be in possession of any unaccounted property then it should also be liable for confiscation. Recently the Cabinet has also decided to put in place a Lok Pal regime, intended to check corruption in high places. Even the office of the prime-minister has been brought under it’s jurisdiction. The public must be made aware and public opinion must be built for the fact that whether a politician is "in" or "out" of power he/she is still liable for prosecution.
Coming to the investigative agency of our country, Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I) we find it lacking in manpower and proper orientation, motive or direction for proper investigation of corruption cases, but the revised position of the C.B.I after the verdict of the supreme court in the Veet Narain (Hawala case) has given C.V.C statutory supredence over the C.B.I.This would probably add a new dimension to the handling of the corruption in future. In course of time C.V.C and C.B.I should work out norms and procedure to make the bureau into an effective instrument for checking corruption not only among the civil servants but also among the politicians.
The new environments hence developed would also call for a reappraisal of the image of the viligance authorities. Today, the vigilance officers are seen as fault seekers, and the vigilance organization as being adversial to the organisation under investigation. Instead the projected image of the vigilance authorities has to be that of an effort for pro-healthy growth and development, an effort which will improve and increase the credibility of any organization, an effort which will ultimately make our nation more progressive and advanced.
At present, the perception is that, the government can eradicate corruption and responsibility for eradicating corruption is that of the government alone. However, in view of the kind of corruption and the framework that we have in India, it is very clear that government alone cannot eradicate corruption. If the people and civil society institutions remain indifferent and show helplessness in combating corruption then it can never be eradicated or for matter that even reduced. Thus, the responsibility and the onus of combating corruption are as much of the people and the civil society institutions as that of the government. It is not impossible to reach Zero-tolerance towards corruption. However, more informed and intelligent debates on this issue will help forge yet better strategies for achieving the same goal…but one thing is certain, it will forever remain a question of the public’s mindset.
The end
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