The Article On Corruption

Corruption is a complex social problem that affects all societies. India is no exception. It is no longer considered a soft state as political scientists once used to call it. It has now become a kleptocracy, a consideration state, where everything to be had can be had for a consideration. Here, it is said, obvious does not happen.

For example, if a person wants a government job, he/she has to pay lakhs of rupees to the higher officials irrespective of satisfying the eligibility criteria. In every government office one has either to give money to the employee concerned or arrange for some sources to get work done. There is adulteration and duplicate weighing of products in food and civil supplies department by unscrupulous workers who cheat the consumers by playing with the health and lives of innocent people. In the assessment of property tax one has to pay bribes even if the house is built as per rules and regulations. Political corruption is one worst part in India. A newly elected independent MLA is offered crores of rupees as well as ministership for supporting the ruling party. Today, corruption has taken the shape of such as common menace that people do not mind giving bribe even for getting a lawful work done.

Corruption among public (common people)

Corruption among public has always existed in one form or the other although its shape, dimensions, textures and shades have been changing from time to time and place to place. At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now the bribe is paid for getting right things done at the right time.

The term “corruption” has wide connotations, the following patterns of behavior among public can be described as “corrupt” within the provisions of law.

•         i.            Acceptance of gratification as reward for work done in an official capacity.
•       ii.            Obtaining any object or pecuniary advantage illegally.
•     iii.            Fraudulent misappropriation of public property.
•     iv.            Being in possession of financial resources or property disproportionate to one’s known sources of income.
•       v.            Misuse or abuse of official position.
•     vi.         Borrowing money for purchasing a costly article from a person with whom one has official dealings with a known understanding that the borrowed money will not be returned.
•   vii.            Accepting gifts by persons of position from persons with whom they have positional relations.
• viii.            Disregard of neglect of rules purposely to help the citizen in avoiding dues/tax/duty due to be paid to government.
•     ix.            Refusal to do a duty on some plea which may benefit the other party (e.g., Police officer not registering a case to protect a criminal).

                  

Extensive corruption in government departments/ ministries has almost become a tradition. There are at least five ministries in the union government which are regarded as gold mines for making money. These are defense, railways, petroleum, power and communication. The annual budget of these ministries runs in billions. While commissions between 15 and 40 percent are not uncommon in defense purchases, the import of oil and natural gas also yields a big kickback. Recently, we have also seen the examples of communication (2G spectrum) and railways ministries where scandals involving lakhs of crores of rupees were broken out. In both the case, the concerned ministers were found to be involved. While the 2G scam amounts to about Rs 1,76,000 crore, in the railway scam the minister’s nephew was alleged of accepting Rs 90 lakh from a railway board member for promoting him as member. It is mention that the member has huge financial powers being responsible for around 35 percent of total spending, amounting to about Rs 2500 crore of railways total budget.

                                

Four other departments where corruption is rampant are public works, police, excise and revenue. The public works department gets a huge portion of budget and plan provision for civil engineering works like construction of buildings, maintenance of roads, digging drains, construction of dams, and so on. Corruption in this department prevails from top to bottom at all stages like selection, purchase of materials, execution of work, payment of bills and settlement of disputes. It is said that out of the total cost sanctioned for the project, about 70% is invested in the work, 20% on contractor’s profit and 10% goes into various officers pockets.

              

The police department is said to be the most corrupt department where bribes are taken by constables upward to high status officers. What surprising is that the police takes money from both accused and the complainants. The power enjoyed by the police are so wide that they can accuse, arrest and harass even an honest person. Cases of beating the poor people on small pretexts and taking away all the money in their pockets, accepting money from truck drivers, taking ‘hafta’ (weekly fixed amount) from shopkeepers are very common cases of corruption.  

                                     -Rajiv