Though India achieved Independence 63 years ago, the menace of corruption has not ended. On the contrary, it has grown like a cancer. There is hardly any walk of life which is not tainted by corruption. Be it a court of law, a Government office, a railway booking office or an educational institute, one cannot get one’s work done without greasing the palms of the dealing person. Thus corruption is rampant everywhere in all walks of life.
Europeans and Americans used to point an accusing finger at the magnitude of corruption prevalent in the social and political life in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Some classical cases in the U.S.A. and European countries have shown that even these countries are not free from the evil of corruption. On the other hand, these countries show moral degradation of the worst order. In U.K., one Prime Minister had to resign because he had misled the Parliament about the romantic affairs of Minister Profumo with Christine Keeler.
Mr. Eisaku Sato, the former Prime Minister of Japan, was alleged to have bribed the members of the Swedish Academy and obtained the Nobel Prize, the highest award in the world. This exposure demoralised him so much that he died an early death. The Watergate Scandal of the U.S.A. was one of the biggest scandals of the 20th century. President Nixon is said to have collected nearly 40 million dollars through dubious means for his re-election in 1972.
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He had also authorised his men to resort to telephone tapping, stealing, tape recording telephone calls, etc. This scandal rocked the U.S.A. greatly and President Nixon had to resign under the pressure of public opinion. Yet another famous scandal was the Lockheed Scandal. Lockheed Corporation, an American Multi-national Corporation, gave bribes to high-ranking officials in countries like Italy, Holland, Belgium, Iran and Japan to use their good offices in selling their aircraft to these countries. The high-ranking officials who were bribed included no less a person than Mr. Tanaka. the then Prime Minister of Japan.
In India too, cases of corruption keep on coming to notice. In recent years, various scandals and corruption charges have come up like that of Boors, Fairfax securities, fodder scam, Telic stamp scam, etc. The culprits have not been identified so far and this shows the intensity of corruption even aright level. The various scams that have been exposed reveal misappropriation of public funds. There are also reports of certain college authority’s accept bribes and other favours for admission of candidates to M.B.B.S. engineering courses, committing fraud in mark sheets, manipulating results examinations, etc.
The public dealing Government Departments in India rarely do along with taking a bribe. Some departments like the Income tax, Sales tax, Customs Excise, C.P.W.D… Municipal corporations, etc. are notorious in this regard.
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Corruption is more pronounced in the political life of the country. It is open secret that every candidate has to spend lakhs of rupees to fight election for the Legislative Assembly or for the Parliament. Once elected, he tempted to make good the loss by fair or foul means. This leads to a lot corruption.
Unscrupulous traders in India indulge in corrupt practices like hoardin black-marketing, adulteration, etc. to fleece the customers. If a person wants travel on a long distance train, he has to book his seat many days in advance otherwise he has to get spot reservation by greasing the palms of the booking clerk. Goods clerks are known to be making a lot of money in the booking luggage. In short, there is no sphere of activity which is free from corruption.
There are a number of factors responsible for the growth of corruption India. Firstly, after the experienced British officers left India, a big vacuum, created and a number of Indians who had no previous experience administration had to be appointed or promoted.
Secondly, after gaining Independence, there was a spurt in Governme activities, programmes and projects entailing massive investment consequently, there was a lack of accountability and adequate control, to corruption.
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Thirdly, big business houses and multi-nationals amassed a lot of blab money. They used their money power to influence the policies of Government of the day.
Fourthly, the ill-paid Government employees were easily tempted to ace bribes. Fifthly, nearly 35% of Indians are illiterate. They become an easy pre to corruption.
Once Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, our late Prime Minister, decried red-tapes and procedural delays in the Government work as the root cause of corruption another reason for corruption in India is the existence of too many control regulations, restrictions, permits and licenses. In the process inspectors matters a lot of money. Therefore, it is said that India is an Inspector Raj.
As per the latest report (September 2008) released by Transparency [international (TI), India has slipped further in the global corruption perception (index. In world rankings. India has come down from 72 to 85 in a list of 180 countries. China leads a group of nations which has marched ahead of India with an improved image.
India’s integrity score came down to 3.4 from 3.5 in 2007, says the survey. The country’s integrity score in 2006 was 3.3. The cancer of corruption can be eradicated by a multi-pronged strategy. The people should be educated so that they become aware of their rights and of I duties. They should be able to assert their rights without offering any bribe.
The rules and regulations should be simplified so that these are easily understandable to the common man. Only, persons of high moral character and proven integrity should be recruited to Government jobs.
Elections to Parliament and the State Legislatures should be made less expensive. Government servants’ salary structure should be improved so that they do not feel tempted to accept any bribes. Government servants should be told that they are the servants of the people and not their masters.
People’s co-operation should also be enlisted to fight this menace. Persons who are found to be corrupt in public life or Government service should be awarded exemplary punishment to serve as a warning to others. Vigilance machinery at the Centre and the States should be strengthened so that cases of corruption are handled with a sense of urgency.