India stands at 79th
position out of total 176 countries in the list of most corrupt countries
produced by Transparency International. India’s poor rank has many reasons but is
attributed mostly to no accountability of Govt. and its officials and no
security of anti-corruption actions.
The bookish definition of corruption says that “Corruption is the misuse of entrusted power for
private gain”. A much more scientific definition given by Dr. Petrus Van Duyne says that “Corruption is an improbity or
decay in the decision-making process in which a decision-maker consents to
deviate or demands deviation from the criterion which should rule his or her
decision-making, in exchange for a reward or for the promise or expectation of
a reward, while these motives influencing his or her decision-making cannot be
part of the justification of the decision”.
If we read these line
carefully then we will realize that corruption is everywhere around us. We are
so neck deepens with corruption that it has become part of our daily life.
Let’s take few of real
life examples of corruptions in our daily life; we are travelling in train and
we don’t have ticket, we bribe ticket collector and get away. We pay bribe to
get a confirmed ticket in train. Police man allowing vendors in train or smoking
in train in return of money.
In a more dangerous
form of corruption, municipality allows illegal constructions and shops. Companies
pays bribe to get tenders and orders. Now, when somebody is paying a bribe to
get some order, they add this money in to their cost and to compensate it they
will use poor quality material in construction which in turn results in
collapse of it and loss of human life. In government office, the corruption is
so huge that one can’t make or take any caste certificate or
birth/death/marriage certificate without giving bribe to any official. The
corruption is so widespread that no area of society is untouched from it. A cop
takes bribe to produce a driving license without giving a test. A man who
didn’t want to fight the competition will give money to get a job and once he
gets the job he will try to earn that money back. This is how corruption
expands itself.
Now, let’s discuss how
we can remove corruption.
One important step can
be to have free education or government sponsored education to all till
graduation. It will provide every individual with same set of skill set and
knowledge levels irrespective of their economic background. In the current
education sector there is wide difference in a government school kid and a
private school kid. When people get same opportunities, they tend to be less
corrupt and will be more responsible. For higher education government can allow
private institutes to come so that those who are interested can go there.
Second step should be
to control money expenditure on elections. Election commission has taken many
steps to curb corruption in elections, which is a big root cause of corruption in
India. A representative spent so much money in elections that after election he
started taking bribe for everything he do be it transfers, jobs or any other
work. Election Commission has put a limit to election expenditure and also made
it mandatory for candidates to make their income and source of income public to
qualify for an election yet here and there we hear the news of violations of
these norms.
Another step to curb
corruption in bureaucracy is to promote e-services. In E-services, people can
apply for various govt. services online. E-services are makes use of internet
and computer in place of files and papers, it will improve quality of database
and it will make system more transparent and will also speed up the whole
process. For many services, government has started e-governance and it is
giving very good result but it is yet to expand itself in other sectors.
Government can also
define a time frame for completion of a job and penalize those who don’t adhere
to it. This will put pressure on government officials to finish a job in given
time, which will reduce corruption. This service has been used in few states
successfully but it needs to cover many services under it. Government has
already started e-tendering process which has cut the corruption from many
tenders but government need to bring more services under this.
Installation of CCTV
(Close Circuit Television Camera) in Govt. offices will generate fear of law
and will force them to use corruption free practices.
Govt. can also
strengthen RTI (Right to information Act) which will make Govt. more
accountable and transparent. Under RTI, people can directly ask questions to
Govt. and Govt. has to reply them. Govt. can also strengthen “Whistle Blower
Bill” which will ensure safety of those who will bring the corruption cases to
media or court.
One more step to curb
the corruption will be to cut the discretionary powers of legislatures. A
discretionary power is a power that a person can use if that person thinks that
it is suitable given the situation and circumstances. These powers mostly used
in giving favors. Most important step to remove corruption is to make people
aware about corruption. Many times people don’t know the proper procedure; this
cannot be called corruption. It is more of un-awareness of law. We also need to
make strict laws to deal with corruption cases whether it is small or big.
Corruption is not a
single man’s problem. Its problem of every one and no one can solve this
problem alone. We can’t just leave it to government. It is responsibility of
each and every individual. Let’s take a pledge to that we will not give or take
bribe. Let’s pledge that we will not promote corrupt practices. Let’s pledge
that we will not give or dowry. Let’s pledge to make India corruption free.
" You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can't do something themselves, they want to tell you that you can't do it. You want something? Go get it. Period."