A STUDY OF CORRUPTION IN INDIA: A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Sociology 3.4

Submitted by:

Pranoy Goswami

UID: SM0117037

2nd year, 3rd semester

Faculty-in-charge:

Miss Preeti Priyam Sharma

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY AND JUDICIAL ACADEMY, ASSAM

October, 2018

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS PAGE NO.

1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………….
1.1. Research problem…………………………………………………………..
1.2. Research methodology……………………………………………………..
1.3. Scope and Objectives………………………………………………………
1.4 Literature review……………………………………………………………
2. Understanding corruption………………………………………………………
2.1. Concept of corruption………………………………………………………
2.2. Corruption: a Historical Perspective …………………………………….…
2.3. Impacts of corruption……………………………………………………….
3. Two conflicting kinds of corruption ………………………………………........
3.1. Political corruption…………………………………………………………..
3.2. Moral corruption…………………………………………………………….
4. Curbing corruption………………………………………………………………
5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….
6. Bibliography …………………………………………………………………….

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 1. INTRODUCTION
India was once called a soft state but the political scientist of our country mulled over the
structure and functioning of the Indian state and came to conclusion that it is no longer a
soft state. Rather India is now called a kleptocratic state that is a government or state in
which those in power exploit national resources and steal ; rule by a thief or thieves we
can also called the Indian state a consideration state where everything be had for a
consideration. We can see the examples of this kleptocractic state in our day to day life
when a clerk at an octroi -post walks way every evening with Rs 300 to 400 in his pocket
or a railway ticket examiner who allots vacant berths in a compartment earn Rs. 100 to
50 per day. Earlier there were people who resorted to the phenomenon of defection due to
the craving for more money but people now do not make fun of a political phenomenon
of “Ayarams” ( who come in) “Gayaram”( who go out) but rather accepted as an
common phenomenon. The above illustrations and the idea of a kleptocractic state
directly indicate that state corruption has progressively increased and is now rampant in
the society. But the thing that we need to focus on is that what the aftermaths of
corruption are. Do the corrupt political leaders, bureaucrats and businessmen are
found in central prisons. Various criminologists who study the statistics of prisons
empirically don’t come across high level politicians of ruling and non ruling party and
high status government functionaries convicted an imprison for various crimes that are
conducted in the broad daylight by them but are never seen by anybody. This project
focuses more on the aftermaths of corruption rather than the definitions and intricacies of
it. Any book or chapter on corruption can present us with the basic information about
corruption prevalent in our society. But pondering more over the basic information
sometimes leads us in finding solutions to the problems as such.

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 1.1. RESEARCH METHODOLGY

Approach to Research

In this project, the researcher has adopted Doctrinal type of research. Doctrinal research is
essentially a library-based study, which means that the materials needed by a researcher may be
available in libraries, archives and other data-bases. Help from various websites was also taken.

Sources of Data Collection

Data has been collected from secondary sources like web sources. No primary sources like
survey data or field data were collected by the researcher. Various books are also being referred
while going about this research.

Analytical Research design

In the present research, various aspects of the corruption in India and at the world at large are
discussed in detail and analytical study has been done to suggest various changes needed in the
existing functioning to bring them in confirmation with the changing societal structure. The
present study is socio legal study. Therefore, it will somehow try to relate the various aspects of
corruption with the various aspects of law as such.

Citation method

The method of citation used is the Oscola (4th Edition) method of citation.

1.2. RESEARCH PROBLEM

This research goes on to ponder over various aspects of corruption and will try to
seek answer to various research questions. Some of them are:
1. What are the deepest reasons and factors that cause corruption?
2. What are the aftermaths of corruption on our day to day life?
3. What should be done to eradicate corruption from its very deep root level?
4. Does corruption affects a layman in person more than the society at large?

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 1.3. SCOPES AND OBJECTIVES
This project on corruption as a social problem has some interlinked scopes and objectives.
The present research is based on some purposes that need to be fulfilled. This project is
being made by the researcher:
1. To understand the basic concepts and basic history of corruption.
2. To formulate an understanding about the prevalent state of corruption in the society.
3. To create hypotheses that may further lead to some more exciting studies of corruption.
4. To come across some ideas that may help in the eradication of corruption as a social
bane.

1.4. LITERATURE REVIEW

 Ram Ahuja, Social Problems in India, (second edition), Rawat Publications, Reprinted
2013
This is the book that the researcher has referred to the most to go about this project. It is one of
the leading books on the subject of sociology. Various social problems namely Domestic
Violence, Ageing and Elder Abuse, Tribal Unrest, Globalization & Consumerism and
Agricultural Distress & Farmer Suicides are discussed intricately in this book. Also, certain
other disturbing issues are included, like honor killings, acid attack, cyber crimes, terrorism,
alcoholism, communal unrest, drug abuse and child abuse, violence against women, youth
unrest, black money, population explosion, unemployment, poverty and illiteracy. The book is
presented with sociological perspective being its main background. The book is most relevant for
students studying sociology but is also equally material for people from all respects of life
because the issues that are discussed in this book are of such a nature that affects everyone’s life.
It is useful for students who are preparing for competitive examinations and also to
administrators, policy makers and planners because it provides with various important statistical
information about all the social issues.

There are many social problems in the Indian subcontinent that have arisen due to various
reasons. The book Social Problems in India is a helpful textbook detailing the social problems
that plague India and their causes. It is a critical analysis of the situation in the country from a
sociological viewpoint.

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The first chapter of Social Problems in India takes you through the methods to approach social
problems. The following chapters talk about each social problem, their hidden reasons and
potential solutions to eradicating them. The book is useful for students and teachers alike and is
an aid for those of you who are writing competitive exams too. Researchers in the social sciences
will find the book particularly handy. This book comes handy when someone wants to
understand a social problem in order to eradicate it because this book makes us understand all
these problems intricately. This book is insightful. Thorough explanations are provided for the
issues covered in this book making it an important asset for individuals from all sections society
interested in the sociological aspects of the nation. Every society has its own problems. Problems
arise due to many reasons. They are symptoms indicative of underlying causes that need to be
focused on and resolved, in order to make the problems go away. This book provides critical
analysis of problems with a sociological perspective, and theoretical explanations.

PAPER STUDY EXCERPT:

 Channanagouda & Hanamagaoud, 2002, Social reality of corruption: A Study

Vito Tanzi (1998) is the Director as the J.M.S Fiscal affairs department has written a paper
entitled "corruption around the world". In which has surveyed and discussed the issues related to
the causes, consequences and scope of corruption and possible corrective actions, it emphasizes
the cost as corruption in terms of economic growth. It also emphasizes that the fight against
corruption may not be cheap and can be independent from the reforms of the state. If corruption
reforms are not made, corruption is likely to continue to be problem regardless of actions directly
aimed at curtaining it. Tanzi has explained the results suggesting that the corruption has an
impact on the rate of economic growth of countries. It increases public investment because
public investment project land themselves easily to manipulations by high-level officials to get
bribes, it reduces expenditure for operation and maintenance for reasons similar to those that
reduce expenditure for education and health, it reduces the productivity of people investment and
of a country's infrastructure and it reduces tax revenue, mainly because of the impact that it has
on the tax administration and on customs, thus reducing the ability of the government to carry
out needed public expenditure.

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 1.5. HYPOTHESES

Keeping in mind the above mentioned objectives of the study the following hypotheses have
been framed for the study.

 Social origins are more positively related to watch corruption news through mass media.
 Social origins are positively related to primary and reference group orientations.
 Attitude towards corruption is positively related to social origins
 Attitude towards corruption is related to caste affiliation.
 Attitudes toward corruption are more related to read corruption news and watch
corruption oriented movies.
 Perception of corruption is related to social origins.
 Perception of corruption is related to caste affiliation.
 Perception of corruption is related to attitude towards corruption.
 Perception of corruption, attitude towards corruption and social origins are interrelated.

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 CHAPTER 1

2. UNDERSTANDING CORRUPTION

2.1. CONCEPT OF CORRUPTION

If we consider corruption in simple terms “Corruption in simple terms may be described as "an
act of bribery". It has also been described as "the use of public power for private profits in a way
that constitutes a breach of law or deviation from the norms of society''.

D.H Bailey has explained corruption as “misuse of authority as a result of consideration of

personal gain which need not be monetary”.

These definitions of corruption define corruption of one form or another at a single time. No
definition is apt enough to define all the forms of corruption simultaneously. Corruption is
spread over in the society in several forms. Major corruption among these is bribe, nepotism,
patronage, favoritism etc.1

2.2. CORRUPTION – A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Corruption is a universal phenomenon. From the time being the society has witnessed various
examples of corruption in one form or another. In earlier times the judges prevalent at that time
used to receive bribes in earlier Egyptian, Babylonian and Hebrew societies. Rome is the best
example of old times when bribe was taken in elections to public offices. The Indian economists
Kautilya, in his Arthshashtra has given illustrations about how government servants indulge in
corruption or corrupted activities. Comparatively during Ashoka’s rule corruption prevailed on a
lower scale. The reason behind lower corruption in the medieval society was that there were only
few collectors of revenues. During the British rule both the Indian and British officials offered
and received bribes on a large scale. After our independence we decide to remain corruption free
for few decades but the happy times did not last long. The government employs in all public
concerns at all levels starting accepting huge bribes even for petty considerations. And now

1
Ram Ahuja, “Social Problems in India” (Second Edition), Rawat Publications, Reprinted 2013, pg no. 449-451

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considering the situation of today the honest officials or leaders can be counted on fingers easily.
India is viewed as the seventh most corrupt city in the world. 2

2.3 IMPACT OF CORRUPTION

When we talk about corruption we should not curtail ourselves with the study of big financial
deals and scams or types of corruption called political, bureaucratic, industrial, institutional etc.
rather we should be concerned more about the corruption cases which remain invisible but
prevail in our daily life and corrode the very fiber of our moral fabric. Corruption impacts in the
society as a whole by blotting the image of the society that we live in. the economic condition of
the society deteriorates with increasing corruption in the society. The economic divide goes on to
increase. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But the larger impact of corruption is on our
day to day life when we indulge in corruption in every activity possible. The moral ethics of
human being corrodes day by day. The wealth the person generates through corruption helps him
to gain a lot but at the same time he snatches the very right of having three meals per day from a
poor family.3

2
Larmour & Nick Wolaninby, “Corruption and Anti-corruption”, ANU press, 2013
3
Ram Ahuja, “Social problems in India” (second edition), Rawat Publications, Reprinted 2013, pg no. 450-452

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 3. TWO CONFLICTING KINDS OF CORRUPTION

3.1 POLITICAL CORRUPTION

Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain.
An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related
to their official duties, is done under color of law or involves trading in influence. Forms of
corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage,
influence peddling, graft, and embezzlement. Corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such
as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking, though is not restricted to these
activities. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political
opponents and general police brutality, is also considered political corruption. The activities that
constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. For instance, some
political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some cases,
government officials have broad or ill-defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish
between legal and illegal actions. Worldwide, bribery alone is estimated to involve over 1 trillion
US dollars annually. A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy,
literally meaning "rule by thieves". Some forms of corruption – now called "institutional
corruption" – are distinguished from bribery and other kinds of obvious personal gain. A similar
problem of corruption arises in any institution that depends on financial support from people who
have interests that may conflict with the primary purpose of the institution.4

3.2 MORAL CORRUPTION

Corruption is a form of dishonest or unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of

authority, often to acquire personal benefit. Corruption may include many activities including
bribery and embezzlement, though it may also involve practices that are legal in many countries.
Government, or 'political', corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental

4
Hughes, Robert. “CORRUPTION.” Passage of Change: Law, Society and Governance in the Pacific, edited by
Anita Jowitt and Tess Newton Cain, ANU Press, Canberra, 2010, pp. 35–50. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt24h3jd.11

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employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain. Stephen D. Morris, a professor of
politics, writes that [political] corruption is the illegitimate use of public power to benefit a
private interest. Economist Ian Senior defines corruption as an action to:

(a) Secretly provide

(b) A good or a service to a third party

(c) So that he or she can influence certain actions which

(d) Benefit the corrupt, a third party, or both

(e) In which the corrupt agent has authority.

Daniel Kaufmann, from the World Bank, extends the concept to include 'legal corruption' in
which power is abused within the confines of the law — as those with power often have the
ability to make laws for their protection. 

3.3 PERCEPTIONS OF CORRUPTION

According to Freedman a generally accepted definition, Perception is the process of organizing

and interpreting sensory data by combining them with the result of previous experience which is
generally accepted. Perception entails not only to the past and present but also the external and
internal responses. Thus, the study of perception involves who, which and what kind of
perception i.e. who is perceiving, which aspect is perceived and under what condition perception
is taking place. 5

Considering the initial changes in the mind of people about corruption, we have kept in our
perception to make an attempt to understand how among the educated section of India's
population the process of perception of corruption.

5
Jowitt, Anita, and Tess Newton Cain, editors. Passage of Change: Law, Society and Governance in the Pacific.
Canberra, ANU Press, 2010. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt24h3jd.

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 4 CURBING CORRUPTION

Van Rajjckeghem and Weder (1997) has tested empirically to the relationship between wage
level and corruption index with the use of cross sectional date, they have been able to support the
common intuition by finding satisfactory significant relationship between corruption and wage
levels similar to that shown by the CC curve. They have speculated that whole an increase in the
wage level is likely to reduce it to minimal levels. In other words, the fight against corruption
pursued exclusively on the basis of wage increases, can be very costly to the budget of a country
and can achieve only part of the objective. Furthermore as argued above, even at high wages
some individuals may continue to engage in corrupt practices. In recent years, several countries
(Argentina, Peru etc) have attempt to reduce corruption in particularly sensitive areas, such as
customs and tax administrations by increasing the level of salaries for the public employees in
these areas. These countries have also increased salary differentials to be able to retain and
attract more able, productive and honest individuals over the years Singapore has pursued a wage
policy aimed at reducing the temptation for public officials to engage in acts to corruption.
Reportedly, the salaries of ministers and other high level officials in Singapore are among the
highest in the world. There has been some speculation in the theoretical economic literature that
high wage may reduce the number of corrupt acts, whole they may lead to demands for higher
bribes on the part of those who continue to be corrupt. The reason is that high wages raise the
opportunity cost of losing one's job, while they not eliminate the greed on the part of some
officials. Thus white the number of corrupt acts it 14 reduced the total amount of corruption
money paid may not necessarily fall.6

Every political party that comes to power makes huge claims that their leaders will work towards
the eradication of corruption. But at the end they are the only ones indulging into corruption.
Take the example of the communist government that came into power in West Bengal in 1977.
That government made huge claims to eradicate corruption but today, most of the leaders in

6
Channanagouda & Hanamagaoud, 2002, Social reality of corruption: A Study

12
power are themselves accused of corruption to the extent that one member, who was at one time
the Tripura chief minister, was expelled from the party in mid April 1995 only because he had
accused the highly placed politician of the party of being personally corrupt and indulging in
nepotism.

There are some myths prevalent in the society and due to those myths corruption is still prevalent
in the society. Some of these myths are: corruption has now become a way of life and nothing
can be done about it; or that corruption is a post independence phenomenon and it is a result of
giving too much freedom and license to the people in democracy or that the poor people of
underdeveloped countries are dishonest and are easily tempted to indulge in the act of corruption.

For eradicating corruption we have to focus on law, procedure and administration. Laws and
rules pertaining to the organization and behavior of persons in specific situations with specific
status are essential. The laws that were formed earlier to curb corruption must be repealed
because clearly it is evident that corruption is still prevalent despite of all those laws. Sometimes
harsh rules also lead to corruption because people always find a way to do away with the things
that may harm their living. They then resort to corruption. Another means to curb corruption is to
increase the supplies of certain things that are desirable but are in shortage. When things are in
shortage and people have demand for that thing then they resort to malpractices such as
corruption. 7

Vigilance commissions should be set up on lower levels also. Each recruitment should be made
by passing it through the vigilance check. Any doubtful person should be kept away from every
official task. Some says that vigilance hampers efficiency but that is not actually true because
vigilance works in longer term and improves the quality of people serving the society.

Liberal countries are usually found to be more corrupt than the ones that are not. This is the
reason because of which it is said that liberalizations policies in a country should be introduced
cautiously. 8
7
Peter Hughes, “Passage of Change”, ANU Press, 2010, JSTOR

8
Channanagouda & Hanamagaoud, “Social reality of corruption: A Study”, 2002

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Elections are the major harbor of corrupt activities. A huge amount of money is spent in the
elections and for procuring that money huge scams are done and corrupt deals are made.
Politicians resort to corrupt actions to arrange the money to lure people’s votes. The central
government should finance the election funds and there should be a limit on the amount of
money to be spent on elections. All the funds should be secured in a bonafide manner. This
system is followed in Germany, Sweden and Norway and some other advanced countries of
Europe.

Despite all these efforts corruption will still be there in the society if the people of a country will
not come forward to curb corruption. It is the people who increase corruption and it will be the
people who will work together to curb it. The very moment when people will stop enduring the
illegal practices such as corruption, at that very moment our society will be a better place to live.
Society is created by the people of the society and they need to come forward and take
innovative steps to end this social evil known as corruption.

4. COMPARATIVE STATISTICS OF CORRUPTION IN WORLD AND IN INDIA

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https://www.google.co.in/search?
9

q=statistics+showing+corruption+patterns+in+india&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ah
UKEwicj5mxlfzWAhULNY8KHThFD9cQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=662#imgrc=nKH7wooq
QfmtsM:

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 5. CONCLUSION

It may be concluded that corruption no longer surprises people. Everyone knows about the
malpractices of the corrupt officials but still people pretend not to know anything and the
officials go scot-free. If an official is found corrupt at one place then that official is shifted to
some other place to destroy the very functioning of that other place. So long corruption fails to
attract legal, moral and social censures; there is no hope of eliminating or even reducing it. It
may not be possible to eliminate corruption from all the levels but still it can be controlled at
certain levels and a large part of society can be saved from the impact of corruption as well.
Honest and dedicated persons known for their honesty and integrity, reduced government control
in the economy, popularly called liberalization policy, and control over electoral expenses could
be three most important prescriptions for corruption.

The problem of corruption is a complex process, which has deep roots and ramifications in the
society. It is an integral part of our society It can't be examined in isolation. It has suitable
economic, political, ideological and social connotations. In its widest meaning, corruption
includes improper or selfish exercise of power and influence attached to a public office or to the
special position one occupies in public life. Corruption is a global phenomenon, which is found
in almost all societies in one or the other form, the problem of corruption seems to have been
taken for granted reality in many parts of the world. In many developing countries like India it is
apparently seem as an problem to contend with as those nations grapple with the complex
process of social and economic development. Corruption is the single largest element to be found
in India. No person is free from the clutches of corruption. In every part of Indian society the
problem of corruption is to be a ritual. It is habituated among the people. In recent years this
phenomenon has attracted a great deal of attention. In developed or developing countries, large
or small, Govt, have fallen on account of accusations of corruption prominent politicians have
lost these official status due to corruption Therefore the researcher has taken more interest in
dealing with this problem in the present study. In this chapter the conclusions and summery is
analyzed systematically.10

10
Channanagouda & Hanamagaoud, 2002, Social reality of corruption: A Study,
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/95137/6/06_chapter%201.pdf

16
A unique feature of the study on corruption practice is that how the person has perceived the fact
of corruption in the society. The perception of corruption by others is also significant fact to the
present study. Perception of corruption is a crucial variable in the present study of the social
reality of corruption. As it provides us, with an understanding as to how persons located in a
particular social setting are able to take an account of reality of corruption. Perception is a
specific aspect of social reality it is a complex process dependent on the intricate net-work of
social relations. Perception as a subjective process is distinguished from all other subjective
process, in that it involves the cognitive element of knowledge, which we do not observe in other
subjective process. This cognitive element his three components which we have considered
namely, corruption practice (CP), Control agents (CA) and corruption control (CQ. Corruption
practice relates to the way in which the respondents feel about law, whether law should prohibit
certain corruption practices or not. It also related to the knowledge that, they have the existence
of a law prohibiting a practice.

We have endured corruption for a very long time. So, it is high time that people now take
corruption seriously; not to conduct it but to eradicate it.

6. BIBILOGRAPHY

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Books:

 Peter Larmour & Nick Wolaninby, “Corruption and Anti-corruption”, ANU press, 2013
 Ram Ahuja, “Social problems in India” (Second Edition), Rawat Publications,
Reprinted 2013

Research Articles:

 Channanagouda & Hanamagaoud, “Social reality of Corruption: A Study”, 2002

 Peter Hughes, “Passage of Change”, ANU Press, 2010, JSTOR

WEBLINKS:

http://www.jstor.org/topic/political-corruption/

http://www.jstor.org/topic/government-corruption/?refreqid=excelsior
%3A9462211b6eb7a0f6e1445415a4dbe307

http://www.jstor.org/topic/moral-corruption/?refreqid=excelsior
%3A177076e91e658333b33eb3301aee6989

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/95137/6/06_chapter%201.pdf

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/95137

IMAGE REFERENCES:

https://www.google.co.in/search?
q=statistics+showing+corruption+patterns+in+india&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ah
UKEwicj5mxlfzWAhULNY8KHThFD9cQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=662#imgrc=nKH7wooq
QfmtsM:

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