Misappropriation of public funds

Oh! It happens many times

in many places

We shall change

Yes U can!

After the establishment of the Republic of India there is a

widely shared desire in the country to evaluate the

gains made as also to assess our future.

• Undoubtedly, the people of the country and

the managers of society can be congratulated

on many counts for India's achievements since

independence which include (i) self-sufficiency

(in fact surplus generation) in food-grains, (ii) a

strong industrial base, (iii) a rising expectancy

of life, (iv) a higher percentage of literacy, (v) a

united and better integrated India and (vi) a

growing recognition by the world of our

capabilities and potential.

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On the negative side, one could count the

nagging problems of unemployment, illiteracy

and poverty accentuated by an ever increasing

population.

Also, a low per capita income, inadequate

infrastructure, feudalistic tendencies and worst

of all a pathetic contempt of rule of law and

ethics in public life.

Finally, an administration which is perceived as

self seeking and citizen unfriendly.

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"WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute

India into a SOVEREIGN

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, and to secure to all its

citizens :

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them

all;

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of

the

Nation:

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of

November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO

OURSELVES

THIS CONSTITUTION."

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Corruption in public life in India

As a recent editorial in a leading newspaper

observed:

Corruption in public life is one of the most

daunting issues facing the country. Things have

come to such a pass that all politicians evoke

public ridicule.

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Mahatma Gandhi:

Corruption will be out

one day, however much

one may try to conceal

it, and the public can,

as its right and duty, in

very case of justifiable

suspicion, call its

servants to strict

account, dismiss them,

sue them in a law court

or appoint an

arbitrator or

inspector to

scrutinize their

conduct, as it likes.

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Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for the forces

of evil to triumph in the world is for enough good

men to do nothing. [India, please note.]

1. Satyagraha is a tapasya (penance) for truth;

there is no room for untruth or violence in a

Satyagraha.

2. In Satyagraha, there is no enemy.

3. A Satyagrahi knows no defeat.

- Mahatma Gandhi

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• The Transparency International (TI) Corruption

Perception Index (CPI), ranks countries in terms of

the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist

among public officials and politicians. It is a

composite index derived from 15 different polls and

surveys from 9 independent institutions carried out

among business people and country analysts.

• CPI defines corruption as the abuse of public office

for private gains. The index provides an annual snap

shot of the views of business people and analysts

like bribing of public officials, kickbacks in public

procurement or embezzlement of public funds.

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• Of the 102 countries surveyed in 2002, seventy countries

– including many of the world’s most poverty stricken –

score less than five out of a clean score of ten.

• Corruption is perceived to be rampant in Indonesia,

Kenya, Angola, Nigeria, and Bangladesh, countries with a

score of less than two.

• Countries with a score of higher than 9, with very low

levels of perceived corruption, are rich countries, namely,

Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Singapore, and

Sweden. 9

• There is nothing to be proud of India's ranking in the

Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index

2009.

• The country ranked low also in the Bribe Payers Index

among emerging economic giants.

• The use of public funds for private gain is common.

• The misuse of power, position and privilege is widespread.

• Corruption seems to be a fact that affects all sections of

society

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PEOPLES’ PERSPECTIVE

Indians think ( some even hope) that corruption cannot be eliminated in India – at least not in their lifetime. This pessimistic and cynical perception of the people is largely an outcome of confusing corruption with all kinds of illegal actions and activities by individuals.

Are you aware corruption accentuates poverty,

aggravates economic disparity, thwarts development,

undermines democracy and is a threat to national

security and, destroys the moral fibre of the Nation?

No, corruption will NOT destroy India. Why Not?

Because, much of India functions, 'oiled' by

corruption. It damages India, for sure. But just as the

average Indian has more of a 'natural immunity' to

TB, Asthma, Dengue, Malaria, Conjunctivitis, 'Delhi-

Belly' and other 'gastro viruses and bacteria', than

other peoples, Indians have found ways of

continuing to work around this corrupt system.

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Most illegal actions, many of which are private actions, are

confused with corruption.

The Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and Indian Penal

Code clearly distinguishes between corruption indulged by

public servants for private gains and illegal actions by

individuals.

There are separate Acts in India for dealing with different

kinds of illegal actions of private individuals. For example, if

a public servant amasses wealth disproportionate to his

known sources of income then he can be tried under

Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

However, if a businessperson amasses wealth

disproportionate to his known source of income he will be

dealt under Income Tax Act for concealing his income and

not under Prevention of Corruption Act. 13

TYPOLOGY OF CORRUPTION

Corruption is defined as the use of public office for private gains

Scales of corruption can be Grand, Middling or Petty and payment of bribes can be due to collusion between the bribe taker and the bribe giver, due to coercion or even anticipatory.

Existence of corruption implies that there are corrupt people, there are also corrupt practices, and there is a corrupt system.

Therefore, all the three have to be fought simultaneously to eliminate the vice of corruption.

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• The present system provides for taking on the

corrupt persons through a legal mechanism,

which has not been found to be very effective.

• Many corrupt practices fall outside the

purview of existing laws and need to be

tackled by people themselves.

• The responsibility for dealing with corrupt

people, corrupt practices and corrupt systems

devolves equally on individuals, civil society

institutions, legislature, executive, and the

judiciary.

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CORRUPTION IN INDIA: A scenario

India is one of the most regulated economies of the

world with powers concentrated in few hands. It is a

poor country with scarce resources where demand is

always more than supply. The receivers of the public

services are largely poor, ignorant, and illiterate. There

is also absence of transparency and accountability of

the public servants. There is no system of rewards

and punishments for the public servants.

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CORRUPTION IN INDIA: A scenario

There was also no right to information. The license-permit-quota-inspector regime was pervasive in India since independence and continues under a different nomenclature even after liberalization and globalization of 1991.

In addition, there are 3000 central statutes and 10 times as many state statutes plus subsidiary and administrative laws (most of them archaic), with several exemption clauses and discretionary powers sans accountability. All these conditions are fertile breeding grounds of corruption.

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Adopting this strategy, we can definitely see India becoming a less

corrupt, progressive and developed country in the next 10 to 15

years.

Om Shanti! Shanti! Shanti

A Prayer for Wisdom

(Let us come together. Let

us enjoy together. Let our

strengths come together.

Let us move from

darkness to light. Let us

avoid the poison of

misunderstanding and

hatred. That way lies

progress.)

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Good Governance Agenda

The growth of civil society networks engaged in anti-corruption work has played a useful role.

The last decade has seen the rise of NGOs involved in a broad range of anti-corruption activity at the village, city, regional and national levels.

These organisations are active on many fronts and are increasingly networking and provide useful role models for anti-corruption campaigners throughout the country.

The rise of civil activism has been accompanied by demands for greater transparency in public life.

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Akbar "the Great," who governed

India for half a century (1556-1605)

and by a wise, gentle and just reign

brought about a season of prosperity.

This man, whose memory even to-day

is revered by the Hindus, was named

Abul Fath Jelâleddin Muhammed. And

truly he justified the epithet, for great,

fabulously great, was Akbar as man,

general, statesman and ruler.

AKBAR, EMPEROR OF INDIA

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AKBAR, EMPEROR OF INDIA

Akbar succeeded in establishing order, peace, and prosperity in his regained and newly subjugated provinces. This he brought about by the introduction of a model administration, an excellent police, a regulated post service, and especially a just division of taxes.

Up to Akbar's time corruption had been a matter of course in the entire official service and enormous sums in the treasury were lost by peculation on the part of tax collectors.

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• AKBAR, EMPEROR OF INDIA The corruption in the finance

and customs department was abolished by means of a

complicated and punctilious system of supervision (the

bureaus of receipts and expenditures were kept entirely

separated from each other in the treasury department).

• Akbar himself carefully examined the accounts handed in

each month from every district, just as he gave his

personal attention with tireless industry and painstaking

care to every detail in the widely ramified domain of the

administration of government.

• Moreover the Emperor was fortunate in having at the head

of the finance department a prudent, energetic, perfectly

honorable and incorruptible man, the Hindu Todar Mal,

who without possessing the title of vizier or minister of

state had assumed all the functions of such an office. 22

INDIA can become a Nation, which is best described in the

words of Rabindranath Tagore

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by

narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards

perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into

the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led by thee into ever widening thought

and action- Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my

country awake."

Source: Gitanjali, verse XXXV.

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