Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
When, we speak of the corruption in India, its history tracks down to the Jeep Scandal, as first corruption case after India gain independence. In 1948 Jeep Scandal was first major corruption case in independent India involving V.K Krishna Menon, the then Indian High Commissioner to Britain. The high level corruption involving government official in hand and glove with private players, when rock the entire country we speak of it as a scam or scandal. Scandal is an occurrence in which people are shocked and upset because of behavior that is morally or legally wrong and it is shocking, upsetting or unacceptable. Before elaborating corruption aspects in detail it is worthwhile to mention some of the scams which rocked the country involving political faces as well as private players, such as Ketan Parekh Share Scam, Satyam Scam, Aadarsh Scam, Common Wealth Games Scan, 2G Spectrum, S Band Scam, Cooperative Banks Scam, Fake Election Votes Scam, Passport Scam, Black Money Scam, Escort Scam, SEZ Scam, Government Land Scam, Army Land Scam, Toll Scam, Road Construction Scam, Slum Scam, Government Housing Society Scam, Food Waste Scam, BRT Scam., Metro Scam, Pam Oil Scam, Light Scam, Arms Purchase, Bullet Jackets Purchase Scam, Colgate Scam, Coffin Scam, Tatra Truck Scam, Antrix Devas Deal, Stamp Paper And Telgi Scam, Sardha Group Financial Scandal, Arms deals scandal, UP NHRM scam. Convictions in corruption: Haryana teachers recruitment scandal accused sentenced to 10 years imprisonment (Indian National Lok Dal), Bihar fodder scam, MBBS seats scam, RS MP Rasheed Masood (INC) convicted for four years, Cash for Vote in 2015, Disproportionate asset case (Shiv Sena) convicted along with his wife, Cremation shed scam MP from AIADMK convicted for two years Power theft scandal MLA and his brother sentenced to three years in Maharashtra, Telecom scam, then telecommunication minister sentenced to imprisonment and many more.
Corruption is a term known to all of us precisely meaning an illegal, immoral or unauthorized act, done in due course of employment; Corruption means the state of being bad and dishonest especially in matters concerning money. Corruption is a form of dishonest or unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of authority. Literally it means, ‘inducement by improper means to violate duty. It involves abuse of discretion, favoritism and nepotism. A very accurate definition by Transparency International is ‘Abuse of entrusted powers for private gain’.
Categories of Corruption: It stands defined in generally following categories; Bribery; an act of dishonestly persuading someone to act in one’s favor by a person. Embezzlement; is misappropriating funds in ones control. Facilitation payment means to pay someone to speed up the legitimate work. Fraud; deceives someone to get illegal advantage. Extortion means to obtain something under threat.
Types of corruption: Generally speaking the corruption emerges as a Facilitator to obtain undue benefits, and in the process both bribe giver as well as bribe taker are consenting parties. Hence such type of corruption is almost never reported and becomes visible only when somewhere misuse of official position is detected. We can categorize this corruption into two categories;
Collusive corruption; in this case the bribe is paid willingly and there are bleak chances of its reporting directly.
Forced corruption; where to obtain bribe the circumstances by the position holder are so created that one is forced to pay the same and this type of corruption is prone to reporting.
Causes of Corruption: Mostly agreed causes are money greed, power lust, Personal enrichment, standard of living, and competitions for more show of. The corruption is also because of reasons that we have; Weak law enforcement, very minimal punishment, no incentive for honesty, successful parallel economy and lack of Transparency.
Forms of corruption: broadly speaking it can be classified as, Collusive Corruption; is a system of corruption where public and private partners join hands. Bribe is willingly given and it is seldom reported, Moral Corruption; means when we do not differentiate between good and correct and fail to apply the common sense, owing to certain considerations and sometimes may be without it such as favoritism, Political Corruption; is a way of life mostly affiliated with politicians and is adopted to win elections for power. Sometimes in this form of corruption involved are kidnapping, murder, violence, injustice, wealth and everything among people, but law on the subject deal with them under criminal acts, Administrative Corruption; is prevalent in all type of government employees. By money we can get anything difficult easily. In this form of corruption, an office holder or other government employee acts in an official capacity, for personal gains and to confer undue benefit to some other.
Professional Corruption; it is in the form of adulteration, duplicating and sub standard productions, Bureaucratic-Political Nexus Corruption; leading to big scam and is the most dangerous form of corruption.
Levels of corruption: corruption can occur on different scales and can be categorized as; Petty corruption; involving small favors. Systematic Corruption; is so prevalent in a large scale, that it is part of the everyday structure of society, Grand corruption; that affects the government.
Effects of corruption: The myth of corruption effects people, society and economy; Effects of corruption on People; Lack of quality in service such as municipality services, electricity, water supply, relief distribution, and lack of proper justice; Chances of employment, Poor health and hygiene, pollution, Accidents etc, Effects of corruption on Society; Disregard for officials, Lack of respect for rulers, Lack of trust and faith on the government, Effects of corruption on Economy; Decrease in foreign investments, Delay in growth, Lack of development.
How to combat corruption; Common man needs to reform as it always wants shortcuts to everything. System needs reform. The knowledge is power that means awareness and education. Media; the common man should curb his greed to seek favors and instead expose and condemn corrupt officials through media. The expose is also a mean to curb corruption. And above all transparency is vital.
Many private players are in field and are contributing to curb the corruption at the National and International level by exposing it and coming forth with suggestions.
At the National level we have; ” India against Corruption movement; movement of 2011-12 by Anna Hajare.
” Bharat Swabhiman Trust to fight graft by Baba Ramdev to bring back black money.
” All India Anti-Corruption, crime prevention, Human Rights Committee; by Vijay Kadam, fighting against corruption, crime and human rights in India operating from Maharashtra.
” The Social Institute of Anti-Corruption from West Bengal.
” Jai Hind Anti-Corruption operating from Haryana.
” Federation of Anti-Corruption Teams India from Tamil Nadu.
” Anti Corruption Organisation Karnataka from Karnataka.
” Indian Human Rights and Corruption Trust from Tamil Nadu.
” All India Anti Corruption Committee from Delhi.
” National Human Rights and Anti Corruption Bureau from Delhi.
(To be continued)