Politics

See also: Booth capturing

As of December 2008, 120 of India's 523 parliament members were accused of crimes, under India's First Information Report procedure wherein anyone can allege another of committing a crime.[22] Many of the biggest scandals since 2010 have involved very high levels of government, including Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers, such as in the 2G spectrum scam, the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam and the Adarsh Housing Society scam, Coal Mining Scam, mining scandal in Karnataka and cash for vote scam.

Black money

Black money refers to money that is not fully legitimately the property of the 'owner'. A white paper on black money in India by the Government of India suggests two possible sources of black money in India.[9] The first includes activities not permitted by the law, such as crime, drug trade, terrorism, and corruption, all of which are illegal in India. The second, more likely source is that the wealth may have been generated through a lawful activity but accumulated by failing to declare income and pay taxes. Some of this black money ends up in illicit financial flows across international borders, such as deposits in tax haven countries.

A November 2010 report from the Washington-based Global Financial Integrity estimates that over a 60-year period, India lost US$213 billion in illicit financial flows beginning in 1948; adjusted for inflation, this is estimated to be 462 billion in 2010 dollars, or about $8 billion per year ($7 per capita per year). The report also estimated the size of India's underground economy at approximately US$640 billion at the end of 2008 or roughly 50% of the nation's GDP.[54]

Black Money in Switzerland

According to a 2010 The Hindu article, unofficial estimates indicate that Indians had over US$1456 billion in black money stored in Swiss banks (approximately USD 1.4 trillion).[55] While some news reports claimed that data provided by the Swiss Banking Association[56] In a separate study, Dev Kar of Global Financial Integrity concludes, "media reports circulating in India that Indian nationals held around US$1.4 trillion in illicit external assets are widely off the mark compared to the estimates found by his study." Kar claims the amounts are significantly smaller, only about 1.5% of India's GDP on average per annum basis, between 1948–2008. This includes corruption, bribery and kickbacks, criminal activities, trade mispricing and efforts to shelter wealth by Indians from India's tax authorities.[54]

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 UN Convention against Corruption since 2005 (ratified 2011). The Convention covers a wide range of acts of corruption and also proposes certain preventive policies.[65]

The Lokpal Bill, 2011 is a bill pending before the Rajya Sabha.

India's lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha voted to pass The Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, 2011. The bill is now pending in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house.[66]

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.

Corruption is the mother of all evil. Poor people are mostly affected and it gets reflected in the death rates and malnutrition of children. It also gets reflected in the life span of individuals. It also destroys environment and helps terrorism

Whether you are an ordinary individual or a Government Employee, you are duty bound to fight corruption. This is because corruption is a criminal activity and as the Supreme Court has remarked if law would permit them then they would not hesitate to award death sentence by hanging the corrupt

In today’s scenario, if a person wants a government job he has to pay lakhs of rupees to the higher officials irrespective of satisfying all the eligibility criteria. In every 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 the people. In the assessment of property tax the officers charge money even if the house is built properly according to the Government rules and regulations

(RTI) gives one all the required information about the Government, such as what the Government is doing with our tax payments. Under this act, one has the right to ask the Government on any problem which one faces. There is a Public Information Officer (PIO) appointed in every Government department, who is responsible for collecting information wanted by the citizens and providing them with the relevant

iIt was setup by the Government to advise and guide Central Government agencies in the areas of vigilance. If there are any cases of corruption or any complaints thereof, then that can be reported to the CVC. CVC also shoulders the responsibility of creating more awareness among people regarding the consequences of giving and taking of bribes and corruption.nformation on pa

1. Corruption in India is one of the most menacing threats that our economy has been battling with ever since the independence. At all levels of Indian bureaucracy corruption has seemingly taken its toll and has been corroding the structure of our nation. Be it private sector or public sector, Indian people have a tendency of misusing the public position/power in their favor to fulfill their motives and gain personal benefits. All these “allegations” are not solely based on observation but have statistical data to back with.

In 2005, a study was conducted by Transparency International that revealed that more than 62% of Indians have had at least one experience of paying bribes. In 2008 this figure fell down to 40% which is still significant. A recent unofficial data published by The Hindu estimated that Indians had over $1456 billion in Swiss banks. India stands among one of the most corrupt nations in the word.

Causes:

When evaluating the causes responsible for corruption the number seems to be infinite. However the main reason is lack of implementation of the rules and laws. It seems as if the ones employed to stop corruption have become a part of corruption itself. There are numerous stringent laws like Indian Penal Code, 1860, The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, Prevention of money Laundering Act etc. that have been framed to stop corruption but their implementation is missing.

Another prominent reason for corruption is lack of transparency in bureaucracy and governmental processes. Especially the government controlled institutions tend to keep the working principles and functioning under the carpet. The welfare programs that aware started to help the poor strata of society contribute significantly to the corruption. The older the economy becomes the more challenging becomes its maintenance.

Consequences:

The consequences of corruption are grim. The whole system falls apart if the structure of government is struck by the storm of corruption. The efficiency of governmental and private institutions decreases tremendously due to corruption. The ones who are not so rich and are unable to bribe officials don’t get their work done on time and their files collect dust in the offices. The growth of nation cripples when corrupt officials operate at powerful positions. It is estimated that if corruption is stopped the annual growth rate would increase by 4-5%.

Cure:

When it comes to fighting this adversary, the first blood must be drawn by general public. If there are no individuals that pay bribe then the structure automatically resurrects again. The implementation of laws should be stricter. And increased transparency (e.g. RTI) must be brought into action. Unless the general public becomes vigilant corruption can’t be unplugged from our nation.

yment of a nominal fee to the PIO. We are all aware of the term ‘corruption; and do a lot of discussion on how to control it. It may

be defined as the misuse of the public office for one’s own advantage or for the purpose of any other illegal benefits by a public servant. According to sec. 2(c) (vii) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, a public servant is, ‘any person who holds an office by virtue of which he is authorized or required to perform any public duty’. But in reality this has been seen to be abused. Every person has his/her own dignity and some fundamental rights. Corruption also affects the fundamental rights. How? It has been seen that a common (general) man fears to go to police station even when his/her right(s) is violated. Why? Because he/she does not want to face a series questioning of the police. Normally, what actually happens is, a person when goes to a police station for FIR, he/she has to struggle a lot and face a lot in order lodge his/her FIR in the order of it being properly written. If therefore suggests that we need such a body that could provide us a corruption free society. As per Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Sec. 13 (1) d (ii) of POC Act, ‘a public servant is said to commit the offence of criminal misconduct, if he, by abusing his position as a public servant, obtains for himself or for any other person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage’. This seems to be omnipresent be it in any police department or medical department and even in judiciary

5 Ways To Reduce Corruption:

The question again arises how to control this increasing corruption in our country? There are several bodies that are working for a corruption free system. Here are suggested some of the tools to reduce the corruption;

1. The first tool is ‘education’. With the help of education we can reduce corruption. According to a survey conducted by India today the least corrupt state is Kerala, the reason being that in Kerala literacy rate is highest in India. So we can see how education effects education. In most of the states, normally a fairly large number of people are uneducated. Those who are uneducated do not know about the process, provisions and procedures through which they can get justice. Corrupt public servants try to make fool of them and often demands for bribe. It is due to unawareness in the field of law, public rights and procedures thereof that a common and an uneducated suffer out of the corrupt society. This suggests that if we are educated, we can understand our rights well.

2. We need to change the government processes. If the members of the governing body are government officials, there will certainly be less reports of the criminal cases. The reverse may be possible only when there are no more criminal politician in our

government. The provision is that, if there is any case filed against a person then he would not be eligible for election. But if we see hundred politicians then about sixty percent of them would be criminal in nature. If these criminal politicians command us and make laws, what types of law would be formed, we can guess! Thus during election, we should keep in mind the person for whom we shall not vote. In India there is a provision that no person as a criminal shall be allowed as a Member of Parliament or member of legislative. Unfortunately a fairly large number of them are a part of it.

3. We can reduce corruption by increasing direct contact between government and the governed. E-governance could help a lot towards this direction. In a conference on, ”Effects of Good Governance and Human Rights” organized by National Human Right Commission, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam gave an example of Delhi metro rail system and online railway reservation as good governance and said that all the lower courts should follow the explanation of the Supreme Court and High Court and make the judgments online. Similarly, Sivraj Patil said that the Right to information should be used for transparency. We have legal rights to know any information. According to this act, (Right to Information act 2005), generally people should follow the procedure of law given to then when their work is not being implemented in a proper way in public services. This act is a great help in the order to control corruption.

4. Lack of effective corruption treatment is another reason. That means, instruments which are in use, are not running properly. For example Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 came into force on 9th September, 1988. But corruption is still flourishing. Why? Because of weak actions and proceedings towards corrupt people. People don’t have any fear of this act and the court. The act may thus be revised for its better implementation.

5. Lack of transparency and professional accountability is yet another big reason. We should be honest to ourselves. Until and unless we will not be honest, we can’t control corruption. If each of us is honest towards our profession, then corruption will automatically decrease. We need to pay attention towards professional accountability i.e., how much we are faithful and truthful towards our profession. Corruption may be controlled by handling five major professions: lekhpal, medical, revenue, police and judicial.

5 Places Where Corruption Exists:

Lekhpal, a government official, whose job is to examine, report and keep all records of lands. But in currently there have been a lot of cases in the court, which are based on land dispute. Why is it so? This is due to the flaws in the department of lekha vibhag. For their personal benefit, they become corrupt. As far as this department is concerned, if the people pay attention towards professional accountability, there shall be no land dispute. This would account for a fairly large number of controls over corruption.

Another type of profession being corrupt is medical department. How? There are many government hospitals like public health centers in villages and city. There are some doctors, appointed for the treatment of the people. But in government hospital there have been seen no proper treatment for the common man. Doctors have started opening their own private clinic for earning more money. The public hospitals are lacking in enough medicines and other required facilities. Doctors may not be found on the scheduled

timings. The poor people, who only depend upon the government hospitals, are suffering and they can’t afford the treatment of the private hospital. If the doctors would come in time, and in hospital there is sufficient medicines and proper treatment available, then most of the people would have been healthy. Thus doctors need to give their job professional accountability.

Third one is the revenue department. In this department, a fairly large number of the employees are corrupt. They take bribes and leave the person who didn’t even give tax off the hook. For e.g. income tax. If every person is honest towards his/her profession then a heavy loss of Indian government may be saved.

There is a lot of crime around us and criminals are doing their work without any fear. If police becomes serious then there will be control over corruption to the extent of nearly, say about 60-70%. They should perform their duty honestly. The day all the officers will be serious towards their profession, we may expect a corruption-free environment.

And last but not least is the department of judiciary. We know there are several lakhs of cases which are in pending in the courts in India. The process of justice is very delayed in our country. Due to this, the numbers of cases are increasing day by day. If the proceedings are fast, people may see that if they do wrong or commit any crimes then they will have to face punishment right then. People thus will hesitate to take bribe. To recall and mention a famous quote here, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’

The increasing corruption in India has increased the frustration of the people. This was witnessed when the Aam Aadmi came on the streets to support the activist, Anna Hazare who sat on a fast. He demanded the implementation of the Lokpal bill that will appoint a Lokpal to look into the officials indulging in corrupt practices at both state and central level. All over India, there was an immense support reckoned to Hazare by the commoners and the Government finally had to submit to the demands of the people.

Stringent actions must be taken to ensure that corruption is reduced. Since the government itself is seen involving into scams like 2G spectrum scam, Commonwealth scam, Adarsh Housing scam, Coal mining scam, etc, the citizens and the statutory bodies must take initiative to curb this malpractice. People have taken initiatives to fight against corruption through citizen-created websites and social media activism like ipaidabribe.com and India Against Corruption Movement. The problem still is the slow working judiciary that takes time to pronounce any conviction in most corruption charges. Moreover, with the growth of cities, corruption also grows as more and more intermediaries are needed between the central government and the people.

Protests in Pune in the India Against Corruption Movement started by Anna Hazare

Setting up of strict laws and along with them, strict enforcement of these laws will help the fight against corruption. As indicated by an article in Harvard International Review (HIR), there are plans to update anti-corruption laws by “eliminating loopholes and introduce an amnesty period of three months during which all those who have black money can claim it legally by paying an income tax of 21%.”

There are bodies like CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) to look into cases of high officials getting involved into corruption. There should be no control of the government on these bodies and they should act independently to bring in effective results.

Research indicates that India can control corruption by training its civil servants to a more professional level with skills in auditing, accountancy, and legal matters. If this step would have been taken at the time of liberalization, the scenario could have been much different as oversight and scrutiny from within the administration would have increased. Moreover, there would have been a greater understanding and respect of administrative procedures, thereby reducing corruption and increasing development in India.