End of corruption can make India super power
'Anna' Hazare is taking on politicians and bureaucrats who have corrupted Indian governance. That's a good sign.
Corruption in India, whose absence was among the hallmarks of Indian political virtue in the 1950s, has broken out like plague But if it is to be attacked effectively, we need to distinguish between two forms of corruption.
First, corruption is rampant at the level of politicians selling licences and top bureaucrats using their discretion to get perks in kind. This is corruption where the authorities are rewarded for doing what they are supposed not to do: i.e. giving licences to those who bribe rather than to those more deserving. This may be called high-level corruption
We find that huge firms are able to bribe governments into creating monopolies that create rents which they capture and share with the obliging politicians and bureaucrats
On the other hand, we have now a far more pervasive second type of corruption: the low-level corruption where one has to bribe clerks to get them to do what they are supposed to do. The middle class, in both urban and rural areas, has long been fed up with having to grease every palm that handles documents such as birth certificates and driving licences. The Anna-centred agitation is trying to put an end to this particular malaise. People are fed up of bribe-taking petty bureaucrats and officials.
The Anna-led campaign is focusing on tackling high-level corruptions as well as corruptions at central and state levels. That's a good thing to happen.
The next question that arises is how competent is our judiciary? There is a need to train judges better. We also need to open them to vigorous criticism when they err. Our judges should not resort to issuing a contempt of court order against any critic. That should be the policy of our judiciary: judges cannot be beyond criticism but must earn their respect like the politicians.
In a democracy the corruption requires radical solutions. Politicians have become used to raising money for elections through corruption because the system does not have a way of raising money for political campaigns legally. There was a time when the Congress party was alleged to have taken Bofors money to give Olaf Palme the contract. If a huge amount of money could be collected from such a single corrupt deal, it would reduce the need to raise it through a multitude of smaller corrupt deals that would cause far more damage.
It is high time we devised a perfect strategy to end corruptions at all levels. We need to do this first and foremost only after which we can chalk out ways and means to make our country progress rapidly and acquire the position of a super power.
'Anna' Hazare is taking on politicians and bureaucrats who have corrupted Indian governance. That's a good sign.
Corruption in India, whose absence was among the hallmarks of Indian political virtue in the 1950s, has broken out like plague But if it is to be attacked effectively, we need to distinguish between two forms of corruption.
First, corruption is rampant at the level of politicians selling licences and top bureaucrats using their discretion to get perks in kind. This is corruption where the authorities are rewarded for doing what they are supposed not to do: i.e. giving licences to those who bribe rather than to those more deserving. This may be called high-level corruption
We find that huge firms are able to bribe governments into creating monopolies that create rents which they capture and share with the obliging politicians and bureaucrats
On the other hand, we have now a far more pervasive second type of corruption: the low-level corruption where one has to bribe clerks to get them to do what they are supposed to do. The middle class, in both urban and rural areas, has long been fed up with having to grease every palm that handles documents such as birth certificates and driving licences. The Anna-centred agitation is trying to put an end to this particular malaise. People are fed up of bribe-taking petty bureaucrats and officials.
The Anna-led campaign is focusing on tackling high-level corruptions as well as corruptions at central and state levels. That's a good thing to happen.
The next question that arises is how competent is our judiciary? There is a need to train judges better. We also need to open them to vigorous criticism when they err. Our judges should not resort to issuing a contempt of court order against any critic. That should be the policy of our judiciary: judges cannot be beyond criticism but must earn their respect like the politicians.
In a democracy the corruption requires radical solutions. Politicians have become used to raising money for elections through corruption because the system does not have a way of raising money for political campaigns legally. There was a time when the Congress party was alleged to have taken Bofors money to give Olaf Palme the contract. If a huge amount of money could be collected from such a single corrupt deal, it would reduce the need to raise it through a multitude of smaller corrupt deals that would cause far more damage.
It is high time we devised a perfect strategy to end corruptions at all levels. We need to do this first and foremost only after which we can chalk out ways and means to make our country progress rapidly and acquire the position of a super power.
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