Who is corrupt and who is not is a million-dollar question that needs to be thoroughly probed before somebody can be dubbed so in the modern day context due to the machination of some really corrupt, who normally and cleverly escape the notice of others in the society. Oxford’s English Dictionary defines ‘corruption’ as ‘use of corrupt practices especially, bribery or fraud’. ‘Corrupt practices’ mean ‘fraudulent activity especially, at elections’. ‘Fraud’ means ‘use of false representation to gain an unjust advantage’. ‘Honesty’ means ‘truthfulness’. Honest’ means ‘fair and just in character of behaviour’. So an honest individual, not being corrupt is expected to be fair and just in his thought and action. Similarly, a public servant in a governmental set-up or somebody occupying or about to occupy a public office is expected to avoid bribery or stop the practice of false representation before the powers that-be, to gain promotions and postings for oneself at the cost of better serving and more committed (to the public cause) individuals. Plainly and honestly speaking, I am afraid; more than 90% of those in such positions and professions at the moment in the country would not qualify the aforesaid litmus test of honesty.
Corruption can also be of different types; corruption in monetary terms, corruption in terms of goods and services, corruption in terms of moral turpitude associated with the physical body of an opposite sex or a group of such individuals, corruption in terms of present positions and future prospects etc. etc. All these forms of corruption are being practiced in full measure and at almost all levels; at all work places and at all economic, social and cultural spheres. Similarly, sometimes the self styled honest souls send out signals that they are above board whereas the inner truth would be that their association or proximity to the power-centers enables them to entertain such ideas and impressions or cultivate covertly among their colleagues and subordinates, the media and the people in general. Some of the so-called honest persons do surely indulge in such extremely inexplicable idiosyncrasies morally and monetarily behind the doors and windows. Their insulation from outside influence and attack is so well-managed and cleverly protected that they end up successfully till they reach their graves. At the same time some well intentioned and well-trenched in ideals and principles throughout their career get sidelined, ridiculed and made redundant in their avocations and professions and almost get beaten up mentally and socially till they succeed in proving their rivals wrong and heave a sigh of relief.
Satan corrupted Eve in the Garden of Eden. All her descendants are no doubt corrupt in some way or other. Corrupt and self-seeking Viswamitra successfully ensured the intolerable and nerve-breaking hardships to truth-speaking King Harischandra. Similarly, the legendary Socrates had to swallow poison for telling the truth. Kings of yester years and Rulers of the modern states do indulge in high-handed actions / omissions in the name of public safety and public welfare. Put on a test of individual’s integrity, they might tumble miserably and without any convincing explanation. But what to do! Kings can do no wrong and hence his henchmen enjoy the perks of highest order without any shame or qualm. Much water flows steadily in the Ganges before it is checked, regulated and thrown into the common ‘chaks’ (paddy fields). Nature takes its toll and corrects the imbalance and aberrations but takes time in the duration of which crocodiles and whales get away joyously and jokingly.
Modern Rulers many a time manipulate and seize the seats of power by hook or crook. Once entrenched / seated on the pedestal they get away easily with all sorts of corrupt deals unless some El Nino type of disaster topple these devils and draw them into the deep waters. All sorts of excuses and explanations are advanced in justifying their amazing means to achieve the top posts / positions. In most of the cases they steamroller their views and make attempts to define and deal differently with the so-called corrupt deeds of others and in particular their opponents. Heads of Governments both at central and provincial levels manage their affairs by picking up individuals – both officials and non-officials, for various positions who had successfully maintained or manipulated a so-called good track record on paper and pencil in the system.
When the top becomes corrupt and all its deals are dealt on the basis of currency accruals, the middle tier and the last tier in administrative hierarchy definitely adopt corrupt means to enter the system, meddle in corrupt muddles and practice corruption without any fear of persecution or prosecution. Matters get so much messed up that projects and schemes are over-billed and extra money pocketed by mediators and individuals-in-charge. Hardly any perceptible percentage of project cost gets spent and project execution ensured in a given time-frame. Time and cost over-runs are invariably the end-result – putting extra burden over the state exchequer. Many a time in the very interior places schemes are executed on paper and not on the ground or sometimes in every plan period the same schemes get repeated or taken up as new works or renovation / expansion, modification or strengthening. Good God! – No salvation or compunction, it seems. When the character of a whole nation or a society is such, then who is to blame? Transparency International can only keep publishing figures every year and complaining that India is highly qualified in corruption index (C.I). There is nobody to take notice of and no agency to ponder and provide solutions. C.I further talks of interdepartmental position in the scale of ten. Police Department takes the top spot although very few officials and the staff from the said department are caught in the net of anti-corruption campaign and cases. Departments vitally want to vie with each other to capture the top position in this index. Politicians as a class are the most–visible corrupt class as per its assessment reported of late. How to set right this class of unorganized and highly heterogeneous group while the organized government sector is still out of control all over India?
Soon after Independence, corruption was at low ebb but now it has reached the edge of the cup and it is about to spill over and turn topsy turvy in the whole system of governance in the country. It will be a free for all with no controls whatsoever at any level. Can anyone think of a solution in the long run at least even if not in the short-run?
Long-term solution demands that a system should be developed appropriate and adequate to meet the challenges in spheres like politics, economics, trade, business, finance, banking, manufacturing, primary sector etc. A clean and comparative system suitable to our national interest in India at the moment will be the presidential form of government in which the Head of the State viz. the President should get elected for a fixed tenure of six years with a scope for two terms only as a rule and similarly the head of the govt. at the state level, the governor also to get elected for a tenure of six years with the scope for repetition once more. It would go a long way in controlling the top-level corruption to a large extent. Elected head should be free to choose and appoint his ministers on the basis of their knowledge and experience in the field. Advice and suggestion can come from elected representatives in the form of committees attached to various ministries / departments. The so-called demand for party fund at the time of general election can be kept very minimum by choosing the elected executives and representatives on the basis, in turn, of their election from primary Panchayats and Municipal wards directly and selected on merit and experience to middle tiers like District Panchayats, the State Assemblies and finally to the Parliament – not by lung and money power but by their ability to win the hearts and votes of elected and selected people in a pyramidal hierarchy on the basis of knowledge, talent and experience to govern the state and the country.
In terms of top civil service in departments like general administration, police, judiciary, forest, revenue, accounts and audit should get the services of those individuals who are prepared to commit their lives for the nation with a spouse and a child at the cost of state exchequer with no scope – real or ‘benami’ – for additional comforts, facilities or properties more than what is provided by the state. Service should be the motto and no other consideration for supervising and controlling the lower levels of government and administration as well as the local politicians of any party. Postings and promotions of officials should not take place on the sweet will or whims and fancies of political executives with an over-riding self-interest but on the strong basis of well laid-out and transparent policies and cleared by powerful and independent Boards. Posting would always be for a fixed tenure for achieving certain indentified and quantified goals in real and measurable terms.
Recruitment to almost all the positions, with a few exceptions here and there, in the Government and government-aided institutions is mostly subject to payment of bribes at some level or other so far but invariably so of late. A very powerful, independent and transparent recruiting agency has to be set up at national, state and district levels to curb corruption ab initio in the career of a new entrant. Frauds in business, trade, banking, insurance and industry are to be taken up seriously with fast-track courts to decide and dispose of those cases on time so that they prove deterrent to others and reduce the possibility of corruption including frauds and forgery to a very large extent. Properties accumulated more than declared in returns or found disproportionate to known sources of income by any individual – be it a politician, a government servant, a business man, an artist or an industrialist – should be investigated promptly and regularly at random to register fear and awe in such anti-social and self-seekers in the society.
Development minus discipline is no guarantee for growth with equity in the shortest possible span of time of a nation. Malaysia and Singapore are the best examples of development with discipline in major fields. Freedom of speech is no substitute for a starving and neglected citizen. Growth with no equal opportunity is no growth at all. Billionaires and Millionaires in the Forbes’ list grant very little inspiration to men and women in the lower-middle class category and those millions of people living below the poverty line with US $ 1.25 a day according to the latest definition of World Bank. How to ensure discipline and thereby control corruption? Absence of principles and lack of discipline in the minds of public servants lead to corrupt behavior in all walks of life. Majority of the people in this country would expect to live like human beings. It hardly matters whether they have time or will to talk ill of a corrupt system. All that they want is an equal opportunity to come up in life with no price-tag attached. There is no doubt that many thousands of families have achieved a tolerable standard of living in a few pockets of this country but what needs to be done in its major parts is much more and that too in a shorter duration without waiting for ten more Five-year Plans from the Planning Commission of India.
Reforms in an existing system should ensure that the humble and straightforward do not suffer and the real culprits do not escape from the intended prosecution and punishment. Sometimes, the decent ones get demoralized, prosecuted and punished for want of peer support and the most corrupt ones escape easily and neatly without prosecution and punishment. System is so hopeless at times that a country like Italy has to pass a legislation in its Parliament to protect some four top public servants including Prime Minister Berlusconi from frivolous prosecutions (about 2500 hearings in different courts of law and spending a sum of Euro 174 million in legal fees). Despite several alleged scandals Berlusconi got elected as Prime minister for the third term in his political career of 14 years. Either he is highly corrupt or totally and unnecessarily being tortured by the prosecutors. As a matter of fact he has not been convicted by any court in any case so far. Is the system at fault or not? I do sincerely believe and swear that the system is certainly at fault. All those who tried to prosecute this billionaire need to be prosecuted and put behind the bars so that the real rascals roam never around Rome like Angels in that country.
(Writer wrote this article in 2006 as the Principal Secretary to Govt. of Chhattisgarh State)
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