HOW TO ABOLISH CORRUPTION IN INDIA

Corruption is a global evil. Corruption in India is the main problem since Independence. Mostly underdeveloped and developing countries are greatly affected by corruption. Corruption is closely associated with bribery which means given or take profit for some illegal work. Corruption has progressively involved in every sphere of Indian society. Corruption is a cancer that is not restricted to any particular political party. It infects the whole system. An honest politician has become an oxymoron. In India, people with an honest image are very few. In India, There are a bunch of scams often in the Indian administration i.e. Bofors scam, Hawala Case, Fodder Scam, Taj Corridor scam, Satyam Scam, Commonwealth games scandel etc. According to the Corruption Perception Index 2009 Report released by Transparency International, Indias rank is 84th among 180 countries affected with corruption. The corruption methods also improve with the development of the nation. There are many causes of corruption in India. Nexus between Bureaucracrats, Politician and criminals is the main cause of corruption in every country. Lack of ethical qualities and morality among administrators and politicians, complete lack of public corruption, illiteracy among people, poor economic infrastructure all these are corruption to tighten grip over the people. Complex laws and procedures to eliminate corruption discourage the people for taking steps against corruption. Corruption prevailed at large scale during election times and votes are bought with the help of bribary. Corruption has a worst impact on our economy and could malign our image in international scenario. Best example of this is Commonwealth games scam. Commonwealth games is a global phenomenon and recently exposed scam has maligned the image of India in the global scenario. We will have to have planned measures to fight corruption. Bureaucracy should be made more citizens friendly, accountable and transparent. More and more courts should be opened for speedy justice. Lokpals and Vigilance Commissions should be more powerful and of independent nature so as to provide speedy justice. Other measures are - strict laws should be made; political interference should be minimized; power to make policies in public interest should be vested with independent commission; people should have a right to questioned the elected representatives and get answer; funding of elections should be banned and there should be State funding of election expenses for candidates and persons with criminal records should be denied to contest elections. More areas of public interest should be covered under Right to opposition against allowed Information, which will empower the citizens to ask for more information. Stringent actions will be taken against corrupt officials. Immediate function which needs to be done is to literate the people.

Whistle blowing is an honorable technique against corruption, recently in news. Whistle blower is a person who raises a concern about wrong doing occurring in an organization. Whistle blower frequently faces reprisal from organization. Whistle lowing policy should be made mandatory with clear cut guidelines for prosecuting intimidation of or retaliation against complainant and an act for the protection of Whistle blower should be made. The life and future of the nation is secure only when the nation is corruption free. Corruption is destruction and it cannot control unless citizen of country become an active partner to control it. Co-operation of the people to tackle this problem is must. Honest and dedicated persons in public life could be the most important instrument to tackle corruption. Priority should be given to make all public offices more people-friendly in reality. The fight against Corruption may well begin with simple acts of documentation. Media also can play a significant role to abolish the corruption by exposing the corruption. In last, for the development of the country, it is the duty of every citizen to make joint efforts to free the country from the clutches of corruption. Every individual should accept and follow all existing systems like Law, Discipline; Traffic Violators should be hardly punished. More transparent Projection of undergoing nationwide development works should be made known to public. Before every election parties should tell us what is told what is achieved in past. If the reason is not valid we should ignore that party. Political, bureaucratic, corporate and individual corruption in India are major concerns. A 2005 study conducted by Transparency International in India found that more than 55% of Indians had first-hand experience of paying bribes or influence peddling to get jobs done in public offices successfully India tops the list for black money in the entire world with almost US$1456 billion in Swiss banks (approximately USD 1.4 trillion) in the form of black money. According to the data provided by the Swiss Banking Association Report (2006), India has more black money than the rest of the world combined. Indian-owned Swiss bank account assets are worth 13 times the countrys national debt. The recent scams involving unimaginably big amounts of money, such as the 2G spectrum scam, are well known. It is estimated that more than trillion dollars are stashed away in foreign havens, while 80% of Indians earn less than 2$ per day and every second child is malnourished. It seems as if only the honest people are poor in India and want to get rid of their poverty by education, emigration to cities, and immigration, whereas all the corrupt ones, li] are getting rich through scams and crime. It seems as if India is a rich country filled with poor people", the organizers of Dandi March II in the United States said.

Politics
As of December 2008, 120 of India's 522 parliament members were facing criminal charges. Many of the biggest scandals since 2010 have involved very high levels of government, including Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers, such as in the 2G spectrum scam, the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam and the Adarsh Housing Society scam, mining scandal in Karnataka and cash for vote scam

Bureaucracy
A 2005 study done by Transparency International (TI) in India found that more than 50% of the people had firsthand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office. Taxes and bribes are common between state borders; Transparency International estimates that truckers pay annually US$5 billion in bribes. A 2009 survey of the leading economies of Asia, revealed Indian bureaucracy to be not just least efficient out of Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines and Indonesia; further it was also found that working with India's civil servants was a "slow and painful" process.

Land and property

Officials often steal state property. In cities and villages throughout India, consisting of municipal and other government officials, elected politicians, judicial officers, real estate developers and law enforcement officials, acquire, develop and sell land in illegal ways.

Tendering processes and awarding contracts

Government officials having discretionary powers in awarding contracts engage in preferential treatment for selected bidders and display negligence in quality control processes. Many state-funded construction activities in India, such as road building, are dominated by construction mafias, which are groupings of corrupt public works officials, materials suppliers, politicians and construction contractors. Shoddy construction and material substitution (e.g. mixing sand in cement while submitting expenses for cement) result in roads and highways being dangerous, and sometimes simply washed away when India's heavy monsoon season arrives.

Medicine
In Government Hospitals, corruption is associated with non availability of medicines (or duplicate/fake medicines), getting admission, consultations with doctors and availing diagnostic services. There have been cases of diversion of medical supplies from government hospitals and supply and distribution of medicines of inferior quality.

Income tax department

There have been several cases of collusion of officials of the income tax department of India for a favorable tax treatment in return for bribes.

Preferential award of public resources

As detailed earlier, land in areas with short supply is relatively common with government entities awarding public land to private concerns at negligible rates. Other examples include the award of mining leases to private companies without a levy of taxes that is proportionate to the market value of the ore.

Corporate corruption
Less stressed, but no less important, is the supply side of corruption (in which the payer of the bribe gets to evade regulation and taxation). Business owners often bribe public officials to sabotage processes (while keeping most of the proceeds thereof with themselves), and at other times to evade prosecution for illegal acts. Also noteworthy are stock market scams, fleecing of consumers, adulterated and substandard products by businesses, fake medicines, environmental damage by industries via evasion of environmental regulation, and so on.

Fake papers
There is a widespread use of fake documents for getting privileges which are otherwise unavailable to an individual or a business. Indian visa applications to foreign embassies are routinely hauled up for using fake educational degrees, fake financial statements, etc.

Judiciary
According to Transparency International, judicial corruption in India is attributable to factors such as "delays in the disposal of cases, shortage of judges and complex procedures, all of which are exacerbated by a preponderance of new laws".

Armed forces

The Indian Armed Forces have frequently witnessed corruption involving senior armed forces officers from the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. Many officers have been caught for allegedly selling defence stores in the black market in the border districts of Indian states and territories. Recent sukhna land scandal involving four Indian Lieutenant Generalshas shaken public faith in the country's growing military at a time when large sums are being spent on modernising the armed forces. A string of eye-popping fraud cases has damaged the institution in recent years. The latest Adarsh land scam is another example of the nexus between the armed forces, bureaucracy and the politicians in the embezzlement of government property.

Right to Information Act

The Right to Information Act (2005) and equivalent acts in the states, that require government officials to furnish information requested by citizens or face punitive action, computerization of services and various central and state government acts that established vigilance commissions have considerably reduced corruption or at least have opened up avenues to redress grievances. The 2006 report by Transparency International puts India at the 70th place and states that significant improvements were made by India in reducing corruption.

Ombudsmen
The Lokayukta is an anti-corruption organization in the Indian states. These institutions are based on the Ombudsman in Scandinavian countries. An amendment to the Constitution has been proposed to implement the Lokayukta uniformly across Indian States as a three-member body, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or high court chief justice, and comprise of the state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator as other members. Social welfare worker Anna Hazare has led a movement to compel the Indian Government to notify the Committee for the implementation of the Lokayukta against corruption as an independent body and also giving enough powers to the Lokayukta to also receive corruption complaints against politicians, bureaucrats and even sitting judges. Anna Hazare is currently pursuing an agenda to pass a bill called Jan Lokpal bill, and he has gathered the support of many citizens residing in metropolitan cities of India. He was on an indefinite fast at the Ramlila Grounds, Delhi, in order to campaign for the cause.

Whistleblowers
Whistleblowers play a major role in the fight against corruption. India currently does not have a law to protect whistleblowers, which was highlighted by the assassination

of Satyendra Dubey. Indian courts are regularly ordering probe in cases of murders or so-called suicide of several whistle blowers. One of the latest case of such murder is of V Sasindran Company Secretary of Palakkad based Malabar Cement Limited, a Government company in Kerala and his two minor children, Kerala High Court ordered CBI probe on 18 February 2011. Initially, CBI showed its unwillingness for probing into such cases citing over-burden as a reason.

Anti-corruption police and courts

The income tax department of India, Central Vigilance Commission and Central Bureau of Investigation all deal with anti-corruption initiatives. There have been calls for the Indian government to create an anti-theft law enforcement agency that investigates and prosecutes corruption in government at national, state and local levels. Special courts that are more efficient than the traditional Indian courts with traveling judges and law enforcement agents are being proposed. The proposal has not yet been acted upon by the Indian government. Certain states such as Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh Anti-corruption Bureau) and Karnataka (Lokayukta) have similar agencies and courts.

Anti-corruption organizations
Variety of organizations has been created in India to actively fight against corrupt government and business practices. Notable organizations include:

5th Pillar is most known for the creation of the zero rupee note, a valueless note designed to be given to corrupt officials when they request bribes. India Against Corruption is a movement created by a citizens from a variety of professions and statuses to work against corruption in India. It is currently headed by Anna Hazare. Jaago Re! One Billion Votes is an organization originally founded by Tata Tea and Janaagraha to increase youth voter registration. They have since expanded their work to include other social issues, including corruption. Association for Social Transparency, Rights And Action (ASTRA) is an NGO focused on grass-roots work to fight corruption in Karnataka. One organization, the Lok Satta Movement, has transformed itself from a civil organization to a full-fledged political party, the Lok Satta Party. The party has fielded candidates in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Bangalore. In 2008, it obtained its first elected post, when Jayaprakash Narayan won the election for the Kukatpally Assembly Constituency in Andhra Pradesh.

How to Fight Corruption Legally

LokayuktaThe Lokayukta is a statutory authority established under Indian laws to resolve the problems and grievances of the common man against corruption and public maladministration. In Indian law, the Lokayukta also popularly known as the Ombudsman, that scrutinizes the functioning of public administrative authorities. It aims to protect the interest of public against corruption, favoritism, nepotism and misuse of power by those who occupy positions in the government or positions of power. The Lokayukta is expected to ensure that a fair and just enquiry is carried against those who misuse their positions. Also, Lokayukta has to bring transparency and efficiency in the functioning of public authorities.

Indian law provides that any person whether personally affected or not can register a complaint with the Lokayukta. You just have to file your complaint in the prescribed manner, by providing details of the problem. Support it with relevant documents, an affidavit in support of the case and Rs.500 as the fee for the judicial stamp. If you are the complainant, you can personally participate in the proceedings of the Lokayukta. You can also inform the Lokayukta about corruption and abuse of power in writing. The Lokayukta is authorized to commence an inquiry against those public authorities based on any such information it receives.

Legal Process Followed by the LokayuktaThe complaint is reviewed by the Lokayukta to check whether it is covered under its purview. If the complaint falls under its jurisdiction, an inquiry is initiated. The appellant and the public authority can present their case before the Lokayukta. Indian law requires that the Lokayukta is authorized to summon any person or document from public records. The Lokayukta is also empowered to examine the witnesses and use the services of the government officers or agencies. On the completing the inquiry, the Lokayukta shall prepare a report and submit it to the competent authority, which will be required to respond within three months.

Greater solutions may include population control to improve the quality than the quantity, Controlling population will bring up the quality of life and thus lesser competition and effective control of people and government processes. However feasible solutions are to impart moral principles in schools, and introduction of stringent audits, accountability, effective tracking of corrupt individuals through citizen cards or tax id's.

Computerization of processes, privatization of public sectors, eliminating the chain of orruption by not just punishing the first level but also higher levels involved. Corruption is not limited to atheists, even the most corrupts are highly religious and have close family ties, in other words corruption has no boundaries. Religion and religious congregations can support and promote anti-corruption drives. Corruption is NOT a luxury tax. Whoever described corruption is a luxury tax probably said it out of frustration; the religion of corruption, the corruption of politics, the dishonest souls and perversion of integrity is unpardonable. The World Bank has suspended $800 million worth of loans to India's health sector after detecting corruption in procurement. Fair enough: corruption should be checked. Yet, if corruption is really a no-no, the Bank should stop almost all lending to India, so widespread is corruption here. The Bank may have just discovered corruption, but it is no news at all to the public. Nation In the Global Corruption Index, a survey of 133 nations conducted by Transparency International (an anti-graft watchdog), India stood 83rd in the world, alongside Malawi and Romania. India recorded a score of 2.8 out of 10. Last year, India's score was 2.7 out of 10, but it stood 71st in a list of 102 nations, unlike 133 this time. Finland with a score of 9.7 has been ranked first, making it the least corrupt nation on earth. A score of 10 means a country is seen as being highly clean', and a score of zero means highly corrupt.' Bangladesh had the dubious distinction of being the world's most corrupt nation with a score of 1.3, worse even than Nigeria and Haiti, which had scores of 1.4 and 1.5, respectively to stand 132nd and 133rd. However, Asia as a whole fared badly in the report on corruption, with many nations in the region being counted amongst the worst in the world for graft among public officials and politicians. Myanmar ranked 129th and Indonesia was 122nd. Corruption is defined as moral depravity and influencing through bribery. Essentially, corruption is the abuse of trust in the interest of private gain. And it can be divided into five broad types: transactive, extortive, defensive, investive and nepotistic.

The transactive type refers to the mutual agreement between donor and recipient to the advantage of, and actively pursued by, both parties. This normally involves business man and government. The extortive type is the kind where the donor is compelled to bribe in order to avoid harm being inflicted upon his person or his interest. Defensive corruption is the behavior of the victim of extortive corruption. His corruption is in self-defense. Investive corruption involves the offer of goods or services without any direct link to a particular favor but in anticipation of future occasions when the favor will be required. And nepotistic corruption, or nepotism, is the unjustified appointment of relatives or friends to public office, or according them favored treatment, in pecuniary or other forms, violating the norms and the rules of the organization. The constituent elements of corruption are cheating and stealing. Where corruption takes the extortive form, it is stealing by force through compulsion of the victim. Where it concerns bribing a functionary, the latter is involved in theft. No society or culture condones stealing and cheating, actually all cultures condemn these activities. It is not difficult to locate the causes of corruption. Corruption breeds at the top and then gradually filters down to the lower levels. Gone are the days when people who joined politics were imbued with the spirit of serving the nation. Those who plunged themselves into the fight for freedom knew that there were only sacrifices to be made, no return was expected. So only the selfless people came forward. But the modern politicians are of entirely different mould. They are not motivated by any lofty ideals. They win elections at a huge personal cost and then try to make the best of the opportunity they get. Powerful business magnates who are forced to give huge donations to political parties indulge in corrupt practices not only to make up their losses but also to consolidate their gains. When people in power indulge in corruption so unabashedly, the common man gets a kind of sanction. Ironically, instead of fighting against the menace of corruption, our political leaders declare it a worldwide phenomenon and accept it as something inevitable. India enjoys a none-too-credible position in the league of corrupt rations. We are in an age where corruption has become a national menace. First, corruption in India occurs upstream, not downstream. Corruption at the top distorts fundamental decisions about development priorities, policies and projects. In

industrial countries, these core decisions are taken through transparent competition and on merit, even though petty corruption may occur downstream. Second, corruption money in India has wings, not wheels. Most of the corrupt gains made in the region are immediately smuggled out to safe made in the region are immediately smuggled out to safe havens abroad. While there is some capital flight in other countries as well, a greater proportion of corruption money is actually ploughed back into domestic production and investment. In other words, it is more likely that corruption money is used to finance business than to fill foreign accounts. Third, corruption in India occurs with 345 million people in poverty. While corruption in rich, rapidly growing countries may be tolerable though reprehensible, in poverty stricken South Asia, it is appalling that the majority of the population cannot meet their basic needs while a few make fortunes through corruption. This corruption in South Asia does not lead simply to cabinet portfolio shifts or newspaper headlines, but to massive human deprivation and even more extreme income inequalities. Combating corruption in the region is not just about punishing corrupt politicians and bureaucrats but also saving human lives.

Information technology
IT can be a prime weapon against corruption. Information technology is making its presence felt in India. Therefore, India is not only a corrupt country; it is also a country which is hoping to emerge as an Info tech superpower or a software superpower. The interesting point for consideration therefore is that can Info tech be used to help India become economic superpowers by checking corruption? To understand this, we must first understand the dynamics of corruption and the dynamics of Info tech. So far as the dynamics of corruption are concerned, it is obvious that corruption flourishes in our country because of the following five reasons: (i) Scarcity of goods and services (ii) Lack of transparency (iii) Complicated rules and red tape, which encourage corruption although 'speed' money. (iv) Legal cushions safety created for the corrupt under the healthy assumption that everybody is innocent till proved guilty. (v) Tribalism or biradari between the corrupt.

It is therefore logical that if we can tackle each of the five cause of corruption, we should be able to check the malaise to that extent. Information technology can help us to tackle these causes of corruption. Let us look at the features of information technology. The first of these is its capacity for processing information very fast to borrow Bill Gates's expression, business at the speed of though! In fact, we know that delay in decision-making is the breeding ground for corruption. Information technology can help speed up the processes to assist in decision-making. Computerisation can check bank fraud too. If specimen signatures are fed in the computer, it will facilitate easy verification and provide security against forgery. Stop payment instructions received by bankers can alert the teller whenever a lost cheque is presented. The manipulation of books by unscrupulous staff can be prevented or detected because computerisation would enable tallying/balancing of books on a daily basis. The reconciliation of transactions relating a draft issued and paid through a computerised system would help the early detection of fraudulent payments. Fraud relating to local clearing operation may be minimized through the prompt reconciliation of the number and amount of cheques through a computerised banking system. Attempts by unscrupulous employees to perpetrate frauds by raising fake credits through inter-branch accounts may be thwarted through a computerised system for reconciliation of entries between originating branches and responding branches. With the introduction of passbook writing machines, fraud relating to the misappropriation of cash receipts by cash department staff can be prevented or detected early. According to credit bank's guidelines, electronic clearance systems have been introduced at the metros for corporate clients. But the lack of proper reconciliation on a daily basis has facilitated the perpetration of massive fraud. Again, software that enables daily reconciliation can be used to detect fraud early. As regards advances in credit-related fraud, it would help if banks computerised the database of parties enjoying credit facilities from different banks to avoid double financing. A database on fraudsters and willful defaulters with photographs will help the banking system protect itself. The Central Vigilance Commissioner, Mr. N. Vittal has noted that it is possible to go on cheating banks one after the other because they did not have a system of communicating information about willful defaulters among themselves. The CVC

therefore directed in November 1999 that ill cases of willful default of Rs. 25 lakhs and above be reported to the RBI and when they occur or are detected. While there are client confidentiality restrictions under Article 14 of die Constitution, it would not be out of place to suggest that the public has a right to know the identity of the willful defaulters who are cheating nationalized banks. This will also bring in the necessary social shame and pressure on the unscrupulous, corrupt willful defaulters who are today responsible for the formidable non-performing assets to the tune of Rs. 45,000 crores in our banking system. So, speedy transactions can reduce the scope for corruption. The second cause of corruption is lack of transparencya customer does not get to know what his rights are and how his case is being handled. It is a healthy sign that the Central government is thinking of coming up with a Freedom of Information Act. Various State governments are also talking about setting up information kiosks. In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu aims to allow citizens to conduct transactions with the government through computers. The whole State is being networked with Andhra Pradesh Wide Area Network so that payment of taxes and obtaining of certificates and even issue of ration cards become faster and free of corruption. Of course, public servants will resist (as they did in Andhra Pradesh early last year) any attempt to curtail their power to make money. For example, computerisation of the Registration Department for property transfer has cut transaction time to less than an hour, which earlier used to take two weeks or more. Info tech also ensures that the files are never lost, thus rendering the paper trial inerasable. This can be done by scanning and storing of confidential files. Of course, this will also means that cyber laws have to come into effect. Database need to be computerised. The National Crime Records Bureau, for example has got data about corrupt elements and their modus operandi. By using computerised search options rather than shifting the database manually, the police can help to bring the corrupt to book more effectively and speedily. These are some ideas about how information technology can help to fight corruption. What India needs is a greater display of imagination are locating the causes for corruption and seeing how, in each area, Info tech can help.

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