technologies

he following technologies have created an environment by which there could be greater transparency in our modern communities.   Corruption can be checked by naming and shaming and more important bring to book those who indulge in it. 

Some of these technologies are likely to be useful and emerge as enablers in combating corruption.

1.Smart phones with facilities for taking photographs, recording conversations and ever growing applications for a wide range of activities. These have made every citizen a potential vigilance activist and whistleblower.

2.The citizens’ power is multiplied by the large number of TRP hungry 24x7 news channels. Naming and shaming as a strategy for corruption was initiated for the first time in the world by the CVC in January 2000 when the names of corrupt officials of the senior civil services like IPS, IAS, IRS against whom prosecution has been recommended or major penalty suggested by CVC, were published. This scope has increased tremendously thanks to the ubiquitous application of information technology in the context of e-governance and e-seva. 

The manipulative technologies regarding voice and data and the working of criminal minds have also raised the danger of misuse and cyber-crimes. In this context the effective use of technologies for combating corruption will depend upon application of intelligent common sense and thinking innovatively. As Oscar Wilde said, “the thief is the artist, the policeman is only a critic”. 

With an awareness of this basic principle the wide range of technologies available today not only in IT but in other areas we find that technology can indeed help to combat corruption and usher in good governance. Each one of us can participate in building a well governed clean India.

Impact of corruption

Loss of credibility[edit]

A study on Bribery and Corruption in India conducted in 2013^[78] by one of the largest global professional services firmsErnst & Young (EY), a majority of the survey respondents from PE firms said that a company operating in a sector which is perceived as highly corrupt, may lose ground when it comes to fair valuation of its business, as investors bargain hard and factor in the cost of corruption at the time of transaction.

According to a report by KPMG, "high-level corruption and scams are now threatening to derail the country's it is credibility and [its] economic boom".^[79]

Economic loss[edit]

Corruption may lead to further bureaucratic delay and inefficiency as corrupted bureaucrats may introduce red tape in order to extort more bribes.^[80] Such inadequacies in institutional efficiency could affect growth indirectly by lowering the privatemarginal product of capital and investment rate.^[81] Levine and Renelt showed that investment rate is a robust determinant of economic growth.^[82] According to the neoclassical growth model, institutional variables contribute to determining steady-state per capita income levels and speed of convergence to its steady state, hence affecting its growth rate.^[83]

Bureaucratic inefficiency also affects growth directly, such as through misallocation of investments in the economy.^[84]Additionally, corruption results in lower economic growth for a given level of income.^[81]

Lower corruption, higher growth rates[edit]

If corruption levels in India were reduced to levels in developed economies such as Singapore or the United Kingdom, India's GDP growth rate could increase at a higher rate annually. C. K. Prahalad estimates the lost opportunity caused by corruption, in terms of investment, growth and jobs for India is over US$50 billion a year.^[1]

Factors contributing to corruption in India

In a 2011 report on Corruption in India,^[11] one of the world's largest audit and compliance firms KPMG notes several causes that encourage corruption in India. The report suggests high taxes and excessive regulation bureaucracy as a major cause. India has high marginal tax rates and numerous regulatory bodies with the power to stop any citizen or business from going about their daily affairs.^[11][74]

This power of Indian authorities to search and question individuals creates opportunities for corrupt public officials to extract bribes - each individual or business decides if the effort required in due process and the cost of delay is worth not paying the bribe demanded. In cases of high taxes, paying off the corrupt official is cheaper than the tax. This, claims the report, is one major cause of corruption in India and 150 other countries across the world. In real estate industry, the high capital gains tax in India encourages large-scale corruption. The correlation between high real estate taxes and corruption, claims the KPMG report, is high in India as well as other countries including the developed economies; this correlation has been true in modern times as well as for centuries of human history in numerous cultures.^[11][74]

The desire to pay lower taxes than those demanded by the state explains the demand side of corruption. The net result is that the corrupt officials collect bribes, the government fails to collect taxes for its own budget, and corruption grows. The report suggests regulatory reforms, process simplification and lower taxes as means to increase tax receipts and reduce causes of corruption.^[11][74]

In addition to tax rates and regulatory burden, the KPMG report claims corruption results from opaque process and paperwork on the part of the government. Lack of transparency allows room for maneuver for both the demanders and suppliers of corruption. Whenever objective standards and transparent processes are missing, and subjective opinion driven regulators and opaque/hidden processes are present, the conditions encourage corruption.^[11][75]

Vito Tanzi in an International Monetary Fund study suggests that in India, like other countries in the world, corruption is caused by excessive regulations and authorisation requirements, complicated taxes and licensing systems, mandated spending programmes, lack of competitive free markets, monopoly of certain goods and service providers by government controlled institutions, bureaucracy, lack of penalties for corruption of public officials, and lack of transparent laws and processes.^[12][76] A Harvard University study finds these to be some of the causes of corruption and underground economy in India.^[77]

Anti-corruption laws in India

Public servants in India can be penalised for corruption under the

• Indian Penal Code, 1860
• Prosecution section of Income Tax Act,1961
• The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
• The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 to prohibit benami transactions.
• Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002

India is also a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Corruption since 2005 (ratified 2011). The Convention covers a wide range of acts of corruption and also proposes certain preventive policies.^[58]

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 which came into force from 16 January 2014, seeks to provide for the establishment of the institution of Lokpal to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public functionaries in India.^[59][60]

Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011, which provides a mechanism to investigate alleged corruption and misuse of power by public servants and also protect anyone who exposes alleged wrongdoing in government bodies, projects and offices, has received the assent of the President of India on 9 May 2014, and (as of 02 August) is pending for notification by the Central Government.^[61][62]

At present there are no legal provisions to check graft in the private sector in India. Government has proposed amendments in existing acts and certain new bills for checking corruption in private sector. Big-ticket corruption is mainly witnessed in the operations of large commercial or corporate entities. In order to prevent bribery on supply side, it is proposed that key managerial personnel of companies' and also the company shall be held liable for offering bribes to gain undue benefits.^{[citation needed]}

The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 provides that the properties of corrupt public servants shall be confiscated. However, the Government is considering incorporating provisions for confiscation or forfeiture of the property of corrupt public servant in the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 to make it more self-contained and comprehensive.[63]

A committee headed by the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), has been constituted to examine ways to strengthen laws to curb generation of black money in India, its illegal transfer abroad and its recovery. The Committee shall examine the existing legal and administrative framework to deal with the menace of generation of black money through illegal means including inter-alia the following: 1. Declaring wealth generated illegally as national asset; 2. Enacting/amending laws to confiscate and recover such assets; and 3. Providing for exemplary punishment against its perpetrators. (Source: 2013 EY report on Bribery & Corruption)

The Companies Act, 2013, contains certain provisions to regulate frauds by corporations, including, increased penalties for frauds, giving more powers to Serious Fraud Investigation Office, mandatory responsibility of auditors to reveal frauds, and increased responsibilities of independent directors.^[64] The Companies Act, 2013 also provides for mandatory vigil mechanism which allows directors and employees to report concerns and whistleblower protection mechanism for every listed company and any other companies which accepts deposits from public or has taken loans more than 50 crore rupees from banks and financial institutions. This intended to avoid accounting scandals such as the Satyam scandal which have plagued India.^[65] It replaces The Companies Act, 1956 which was proven outmoded in terms of handling 21st century problems.^[66]

Science and technology

[edit]

CSIR, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has been flagged in ongoing efforts to root out corruption in India.^[26]Despite being established with the directive to do translational research and create real technologies, CSIR has been accused of transforming into a ritualistic, overly-bureaucratic organisation that does little more than churn out papers.^[27][28]

There are many issues facing Indian scientists, with some - such as MIT systems scientist VA Shiva Ayyadurai - calling for transparency, a meritocratic system, and an overhaul of the bureaucratic agencies that oversee science and technology.^[29][30][31] Sumit Bhaduri stated, "[t]he challenges of turning Indian science into part of an innovation process are many. Many competent Indian scientists aspire to be ineffectual administrators [due to administrative power and political patronage], rather than do the kind of science that makes a difference".^[32] Prime minister Manmohan Singh spoke at the99th Indian Science Congress and commented on the state of the sciences in India, after an advisory council informed him there were problems with "the overall environment for innovation and creative work" and a 'warlike' approach was needed.^[3

FACTS

1.A 2006 report claimed state-funded construction activities in Uttar Pradesh, such as road building, were dominated by construction mafias, which are groupings of corrupt public works officials, materials suppliers, politicians and construction contractors.^[19]

Corruption caused problems in government funded projects are not limited to the state of Uttar Pradesh. According to The World Bank, aid programmes are beset by corruption, bad administration and under-payments. As an example, the report cites only 40% of grain handed out for the poor reaches its intended target. The World Bank study finds that the public distribution programmes and social spending contracts have proven to be a waste due to corruption.^[20]

As an example, the government implemented the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on 25 August 2005. The Central government outlay for this welfare scheme is 400 billion (US$6.5 billion) in FY 2010–2011.^[21] After 5 years of implementation, in 2011, the programme was widely criticised as no more effective than other poverty reduction programmes in India. Despite its best intentions, MGNREGA faces the challenges of corrupt officials reportedly pocketing money on behalf of fake rural employees, poor quality of the programme's infrastructure, and unintended destructive effect^{[clarification needed]} on poverty.^[7][22]

2.

Medicine[edit]

In Government Hospitals, corruption is associated with non-availability/duplication of medicines, getting admission, consultations with doctors and availing diagnostic services.^[3]

National Rural Health Mission is another health care-related government programme that has been subject to large scale corruption allegations. This social spending and entitlement programme hoped to improve health care delivery across rural India. The programme has been managed since 2005 by the Ministry of Health of the Indian government. The Indian government mandated a spending of INR 277 billion in 2004–05, and increased it annually to be about 1% of India's gross domestic product. The National Rural Health Mission programme has been clouded by a large-scale corruption scandal in which top government appointed officials were arrested, several of whom died under mysterious circumstances including one in prison. Corruption, waste and fraud-related losses from this government programme has been alleged to be  100 billion (US$2 billion).^{[23][24][25][6]}

corruption

Corruption is not a new phenomenon in India. It has been prevalent in society since ancient times. History reveals that it was present even in the Mauryan period. Great scholar Kautilya mentions the pressure of forty types of corruption in his contemporary society. It was practised even in Mughal and Sultanate period. When the East India Company took control of the country, corruption reached new height. Corruption in India has become so common that people now are averse to thinking of public life with it.

Corruption has been defined variously by scholars. But the simple meaning of it is that corruption implies perversion of morality, integrity, character or duty out of mercenary motives, i.e. bribery, without any regard to honour, right and justice. In other words, undue favour for any one for some monetary or other gains is corruption. Simultaneously, depriving the genuinely deserving from their right or privilege is also a corrupt practice. Shrinking from ones duty or dereliction of duty are also forms of corruption. Besides, thefts, wastage of public property constitute varieties of corruption. Dishonesty, exploitation, malpractices, scams and scandals are various manifestations of corruption.

Corruption is not a uniquely Indian phenomenon. It is witnessed all over the world in developing as well as developed countries. It has spread its tentacles in every sphere of life, namely business administration, politics, officialdom, and services. In fact, there is hardly any sector which can be characterised for not being infected with the vices of corruption. Corruption is rampant in every segment and every section of society, barring the social status attached to it. Nobody can be considered free from corruption from a high ranking officer.

To root out the evil of corruption from society, we need to make a comprehensive code of conduct for politicians, legislatures, bureaucrats, and such code should be strictly enforced. Judiciary should be given more independence and initiatives on issues related to corruption. Special courts should be set-up to take up such issues and speedy trial is to be promoted. Law and order machinery should be allowed to work without political interference. NGOs and media should come forward to create awareness against corruption in society and educate people to combat this evil. Only then we would be able to save our system from being collapsed.

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