CORRUPTION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Corruption manifests itself into a mirror image in every walk of our lives be it the relatively
unnoticed dishonesty, or exploitation of the mind, or the malpractices in the socio-politico
plane which seem to be rather inherent now, but to delve in to the question as to how
corruption pertains to the economic growth of a society we need to understand what it
implies. Transparency International’s definition of corruption is: “the abuse of entrusted
power for private gain” but a universally viable implication of corruption can be drawn out to
simply being the perversion of morality, integrity, character or shying away from one’s
dereliction to duty which are all forms of corruption that begins with a want to satisfy
unethical demands fulfilled by unethical gains perpetuated intensively out of mercenary
motives that is without any regard to honour, rights or justice of those who genuinely deserve
those opportunities.

With the advent of the grappling capitalism since the 1990’s, commodification of any and
every viable idea or service has come into being hence marking the economic growth of any
society as the fundamental proponent of measuring its development and suddenly each and
every transaction taking place, each and every commodity being traded, or idea sold holds
value and becomes susceptible to being corrupted, as ideas and services when they become
commodities become taxable and hence percolate into the general mindset of evading the law
than to obeying it, which culminates into the daily lifestyle.

Before moving forward with as to how corruption affects economic development, it is of

primal importance to know as to what economic pertains to a layman. Money is the nodal
point of every transaction in any market in today’s times, and when such transactions come
together as a whole on a national level distinctively marked by geographical boundaries
under uniform market practices make up the economy. As the flow of money dictates the
level of advancement of an economy, increasing the minimal monetary threshold of the
individual creates monetary insulation for the masses as indicators such as average life
expectancy, education standards, literacy rates, availability of household and health services
pooled together make up for the governing factors that affect economic development while
increasing the per capita income serves to empower the masses to better address these factors.
Whereas on a national level the purchasing power parity (PPP) of a nation and effective
growth in GDP are the factors determining economic change.
As a discussed earlier, due to a monetary value being attached to everything corruption itself
enjoys a healthy confluence with the same and today the idea of corruption revolves around
money. Coming to as to how corruption affects the economic growth, it would be rather
interesting to look at the same from the perspective of the masses and the nation distinctively.

Money as being the driving force for change towards better circumstances in todays times,
serves as the opium of the masses as amassing usurped amounts of money has came to be
viewed directly as ensuring better circumstances. While money is also taken as the medium
to achieve any and every end hence setting into motion practices such as siphoning off money
from the economy as to virtually being non existent to evade taxes or a classic example of
money being the god that governs the workings of government offices as it has become a tool
to expedite the process and make it hassle free or the benefit of government schemes not at
all reaching the ones who actually dwell on such support due to virtually no money left for it
to to be utilized by the beneficiaries as it mitigated over and over as its benefits trickle down
to those who actually need it. These practices born out of an unending want for unethical
economic gains have set the precedent for an economically malnourished society as the
greatest benefits are enjoyed by the least number of people. Whereas when talking on the
national level, the GDP takes a hit when people spend less money due to such corrupt
practices, it leads to economic stagnation and affects the employment rates as as
production dwindles. While the intricately embedded mindset and practice of evading taxes
swells up the purchasing power parity of the nation with no real money in circulation as it
comes to exist in a limbo as black money hence leading to hyperinflation in the economy
with prices of basic commodities soaring sky high.

In the particular case of Indian economic development which many experts believe to be
plagued with corruption, effective socio-economic engineering needs to be done to ease the
public into a less and lesser corrupt economy. A few suggestions in our particular case can be
made such as:

1. Introduction of carbon tax to put a cap on emissions by industries to curb

environmental corruption which slows economic growth.
2. Greater transparency in election funding as can be seen in the case of Norway where
parties are publicly funded, on which we are on the right path with the issuance of
Political Bonds this year as this curbs corruption in party funding and curbs black
money from being circulated in the economy.
 3. Creating localised branch of Lokpal as to have a greater access for the public to report
and resolve corruption and black money cases.

Becoming corruption free is an ideal goal for our economy as well as any other in this wold,
but to have a greater penetration for the poor, curbing menace of black money, and to deter
tax evasion, we the people have to be vigil against such malpractices as we are the ones at the
helm of the future to come. Whereas it needs to be realised that the aim is not to reach the
moon for us anymore, as it has already been achieved, it is the grassroots that needs to be
worked upon to fight corruption, hence the aim is to rise and to rise from dust to star-dust.