Corruption is a broad term covering a wide range of misuse of entrusted funds and power for private gain: Theft, fraud, nepotism, abuse of power etc. A corrupt act is often - but not necessarily - illegal. In handling corruption you will often face a gray zones and dilemmas 'the abuse of public office for private gain'.

Petty corruption

Grand corruption

Systemic corruption

*Petty corruption occurs at a smaller scale and within established social frameworks and governing norms.

*Examples include the exchange of small improper gifts or use of personal connections to obtain favours.

*This form of corruption is particularly common in developing countries and where public servants are significantly underpaid.

*Grand corruption is defined as corruption occurring at the highest levels of government in a way that requires significant subversion of the political, legal and economic systems.

* Such corruption is commonly found in countries with authoritarian or dictatorial governments but also in those without adequate policing of corruption.

*Systemic corruption (or endemic corruption) is corruption which is primarily due to the weaknesses of an organization or process.

* It can be contrasted with individual officials or agents who act corruptly within the system.

Government/Public sector

Political sector

Police sector

Judicial sector

Unions

Non-Government sector

*Public sector corruption includes corruption of the political process and of government agencies such as the police. Recent research by the World Bank suggests that who makes policy decisions (elected officials or bureaucrats) can be critical in determining the level of corruption because of the incentives different policy-makers face.

*Political corruption is the abuse of public power, office, or resources by elected government officials for personal gain, e.g. by extortion, soliciting or offering bribes.

*It can also take the form of office holders maintaining themselves in office by purchasing votes by enacting laws which use taxpayers' money

*Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, and/or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. One common form of police corruption is soliciting and/or accepting bribes in exchange for not reporting organized drug or prostitution rings or other illegal activities. Another example is police officers flouting the police code of conduct in order to secure convictions of suspects — for example, through the use of falsified evidence. More rarely, police officers may deliberately and systematically participate in organized crime themselves. In most major cities, there are internal affairs sections to investigate suspected police corruption or misconduct. Similar entities include the British Independent Police Complaints Commission

*Judicial corruption refers to corruption related misconduct of judges, through receiving or giving bribes, improper sentencing of convicted criminals, bias in the hearing and judgement of arguments and other such misconduct.

*Governmental corruption of judiciary is broadly known in many transitional and developing countries because the budget is almost completely controlled by the executive. The latter undermines the separation of powers, as it creates a critical financial dependence of the judiciary. The proper national wealth distribution including the government spending on the judiciary is subject of the constitutional economics.

*It is important to distinguish between the two methods of corruption of the judiciary: the government (through budget planning and various privileges), and the private

*Labour racketeering is the domination, manipulation, and control of a labour movement in order to affect related businesses and industries. It can lead to the denial of workers’ rights and inflicts an economic loss on the workers, business, industry, insurer, or consumer.

*Labour unions provide a rich source for organized criminal groups to exploit: their pension, welfare, and health funds. There are approximately 75,000 union locals in the U.S., and many of them maintain their own benefit funds. In the mid-1980s, the Teamsters controlled more than 1,000 funds with total assets of more than $9 billion

*NGOs and other non-profit organizations are not immune to corruption and may be linked to political corruption

India ranked on 94th place in corruption.

India's image on tackling corruption has not improved with Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) placing it at 94th rank out of 176 nations.

* 1) 2G Spectrum Scam

* We have had a number of scams in India; but none bigger than the scam involving the process of allocating unified access service licenses. At the heart of this Rs.1.76-lakh crore worth of scam is the former Telecom minister A Raja – who according to the CAG, has evaded norms at every level as he carried out the dubious 2G license awards in 2008 at a throw-away price which were pegged at 2001 prices.

* 2) Commonwealth Games Scam

* Another feather in the cap of Indian scandal list is Commonwealth Games loot. Yes, literally a loot! Even before the long awaited sporting bonanza could see the day of light, the grand event was soaked in the allegations of corruption. It is estimated that out of Rs. 70000 crore spent on the Games, only half the said amount was spent on Indian sportspersons.

* The Central Vigilance Commission, involved in probing the alleged corruption in various Commonwealth Games-related projects, has found discrepancies in tenders – like payment to non-existent parties, will-ful delays in execution of contracts, over-inflated price and bungling in purchase of equipment through tendering – and misappropriation of funds.

* 3) Telgi Scam

* As they say, every scam must have something unique in it to make money out of it in an unscrupulous manner- and Telgi scam had all the suspense and drama that the scandal needed to thrive and be busted.

* Abdul Karim Telgi had mastered the art of forgery in printing duplicate stamp papers and sold them to banks and other institutions. The tentacles of the fake stamp and stamp paper case had penetrated 12 states and was estimated at a whooping Rs. 20000 crore plus. The Telgi clearly had a lot of support from government departments that were responsible for the production and sale of high security stamps.

* 4) Satyam Scam

* The scam at Satyam Computer Services is something that will shatter the peace and tranquillity of Indian investors and shareholder community beyond repair. Satyam is the biggest fraud in the corporate history to the tune of Rs. 14000 crore.

*5) Bofors Scam

*The Bofors scandal is known as the hallmark of Indian corruption. The Bofors scam was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s; when the then PM Rajiv Gandhi and several others including a powerful NRI family named the Hindujas, were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India’s 155 mm field howitzer.

*The Swedish State Radio had broadcast a startling report about an undercover operation carried out by Bofors, Sweden’s biggest arms manufacturer, whereby $16 million were allegedly paid to members of PM Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress.

*6) The Fodder Scam* If you haven’t heard of Bihar’s fodder scam of 1996, you might still be able

to recognize it by the name of “Chara Ghotala ,” as it is popularly known in the vernacular language.

* In this corruption scandal worth Rs.900 crore, an unholy nexus was traced involved in fabrication of “vast herds of fictitious livestock” for which fodder, medicine and animal husbandry equipment was supposedly procured.

*7) The Hawala Scandal* The Hawala case to the tune of $18 million bribery scandal, which came in

the open in 1996, involved payments allegedly received by country’s leading politicians through hawala brokers. From the list of those accused also included Lal Krishna Advani who was then the Leader of Opposition.

* Thus, for the first time in Indian politics, it gave a feeling of open loot all around the public, involving all the major political players being accused of having accepted bribes and also alleged connections about payments being channelled to Hizbul Mujahideen militants in Kashmir.

*8) IPL Scam 9,10) Harshad Mehta & Ketan Parekh Stock Market Scam

*Well, I am running out of time and space over here. The list of scandals in India is just not ending and becoming grave by every decade. Most of us are aware about the recent scam in IPL and embezzlement with respect to bidding for various franchisees. The scandal already claimed the portfolios of two big-wigs in the form of shashi tharoor and lalit modi.

State 1990–95 1996-00 2001–05 2006–10 Bihar 0.41 0.30 0.43 0.88 Gujarat 0.48 0.57 0.64 0.69 Andhra Pradesh 0.53 0.73 0.55 0.61 Punjab 0.32 0.46 0.46 0.60 Jammu & Kashmir 0.13 0.32 0.17 0.40 Haryana 0.33 0.60 0.31 0.37 Himachal Pradesh 0.26 0.14 0.23 0.35 Tamil Nadu 0.19 0.20 0.24 0.29 Madhya Pradesh 0.23 0.22 0.31 0.29 Karnataka 0.24 0.19 0.20 0.29 Rajasthan 0.27 0.23 0.26 0.27 Kerala 0.16 0.20 0.22 0.27 Maharashtra 0.45 0.29 0.27 0.26 Uttar Pradesh 0.11 0.11 0.16 0.21 Orissa 0.22 0.16 0.15 0.19 Assam 0.21 0.02 0.14 0.17 West Bengal 0.11 0.08 0.03 0.01