corruption essay drishti ias

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Ethics , Governance

Context: The CBI and Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) are investigating allegations that the Delhi excise department that allowed a waiver of Rs 144.36 crore to the liquor cartel on the tendered licence fee, and that funds were ‘diverted to public servants’ .

• The CBI has named 15 individuals in its FIR filed in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
• then Delhi Excise Commissioner and two other senior excise department officials were instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to excise policy for the year 2021-22 without approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favours to the licencees post tender.

Corruption in India

“Just as it is impossible not to taste the honey that finds itself in the tip of the tongue, so it is impossible for a government assistant not to eat up, at least a bit of King’s revenue.” – Kautilya

Corruption is dishonest behavior by those in positions of power. It starts with the tendency of using public office for some personal benefit. Moreover, it is unfortunate that corruption has, for many, become a matter of habit. It is so deeply entrenched that corruption is now considered a social norm. Hence, corruption implies the failure of ethics .

Status of corruption in India

• India ranks 85 th rank in corruption perception index of 2021 .
• Country’s score has remained stagnant over the past decade, some of the mechanisms that could help reign in corruption are weakening.
• CPI highlighted that unfair and opaque political financing, undue influence in decision-making and lobbying by powerful corporate interest groups, has resulted in stagnation or decline in the control of corruption.

Causes of corruption

Legacy issues

• Rampant poverty and empty coffers of the government at the dawn of independence leading to chronic low salaries of the government officials
• Pre liberalization license permit raj catered by Monopolies and restrictive trade practices facilitated the corruption.
• The lack of economic freedom led to abuse of the system.
• Necessities of development overshadowed vigilance procedures.

Political system

• Use of black money in elections to win at any cost creates the need for the recovery of that cost through malpractices.
• Election funding is not transparent making it prone to the usage of black money and funding based on quid pro quo.
• It leads to crony capitalism , an unholy nexus between politicians and corporates.
• Criminalization of politics- when the rule-breakers become rule makers, the casualty is the rule of law .

Economic structure

• Low levels of formalization (merely 10%) of the economy breed black money.
• Stringent compliance rules for entry and exit for businesses result in bribery.
• Unequal distribution of wealth – Transparency International data suggests that corruption is directly proportionate to the economic gap in a nation.

Legal lacunae

• Archaic laws like IPC 1860 don’t capture the complexities of administration and lead to the escape of wrongdoers.
• Lacunae in the Lokpal act and delays in the appointments both at the state and central levels
• Dilution of the RTI act and political misuse of CBI and other agencies.

Administrative lacunae

• Loopholes give discretionary powers to the officials making working prone to corruption.
• Lack of resources, funding, infrastructure and manpower in the vigilance institutions.
• Lack of incorporation of standard practices by organizations like Banks, sports organizations which results in multi-billion-rupee scams.
• g. Punjab National Bank scam, commonwealth scam.

Judicial delays

• Lack of protection to good Samaritans
• Targeting of upright and non-corrupt officials and rewards to corrupt officials
• Near non-existent whistleblowers protection

Social problems

• The mindset of the citizenry that doesn’t look at the problems seriously and even accepts it as a necessary part of the system.
• Increasing consumerism in the new middle class that is ready to bribe to get things done.
• Failure of social morality, education system to inculcate the values

Impacts of corruption

Hindrances to developmental process

• Loss of wealth due to corruption and siphoning away of taxpayers’ money leave little to spend in the social sector.
• Corruption in the social sectors like PDS, health and education schemes lead to demographic disadvantage.

Economic loss

• Undermines ease of doing business.
• Corruption in the public services sector carries high risks for conducting good businesses.
• Companies are likely to unwanted red tapes, petty corruption, bribes for finalizing any procedures or deals.
• Wrong allocation policies result in undervaluation of resources like Coal blocks, Hydrocarbon projects, Spectrum allocation. Eg. 2G scam, Coalgate.
• This mismanagement of resources leads to environmental degradation and exploitation.
• Corruption of financial sector officials like Banks, the stock market erodes the strength of the economy. E.g. PNB scam, PMC scam, Harshad Mehta scandal

Social sector losses

• Corruption in government projects targeting poor and vulnerable section of the society increases the economic gap between the rich and the poor
• The corrupt system denies the poor a chance to improve their status rendering them eternally poor

Legal Framework for Fighting Corruption:

• Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 provides for penalties in relation to corruption by public servants and also for those who are involved in the abetment of an act of corruption.
• Amendment of 2018 criminalised both bribe-taking by public servants as well as bribe giving by any person.
• The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 aims to prevent instances of money laundering and prohibits use of the ‘proceeds of crime’ in India.
• The Companies Act, 2013 provides for corporate governance and prevention of corruption and fraud in the corporate sector.
• The term ‘fraud’ has been given a broad definition and is a criminal offence under the Companies Act.
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 sets out provisions which can be interpreted to cover bribery and fraud matters, including offences relating to criminal breach of trust and cheating.
• The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 regulates the acceptance and use of foreign contributions and hospitality by individuals and corporations.

Regulatory Framework:

• The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 provides for an establishment of an ombudsman for the central and state governments (Lokpal and Lokayuktas, respectively).
• These bodies are required to act independently from the government and have been empowered to investigate allegations of corruption against public servants, which include the prime minister and other ministers.
• The Central Vigilance Commission is mandate is to oversee the vigilance administration and to advise and assist the executive in matters relating to corruption.

Way forward

There is a need for windfall reforms in each and every section of the system to fight the menace. Every aspect of governance must be improved for efficiency, economy, and effectiveness .

Electoral reforms

• Imposing limits on the overall expenditure of the political parties .
• Making state funding of elections a reality.
• Empowering ECI by giving legal force to MCC and making paid news a criminal offence.
• Strengthening of autonomous institutions
• Protecting the autonomy of CIC-giving him/her a constitutional status
• Eliminate overlapping of jurisdiction- e.g. Lokpal and CBI

Administrative reforms

• Establishing the Civil Service Board to curb the excessive political control over the administration.
• Conducting periodic sensitivity training for the civil servants.
• Simplifying the disciplinary proceedings and strengthening preventive vigilance within the departments to ensure corrupt civil servant do not occupy the sensitive position.
• Police and judicial reforms – implementation of Prakash Singh recommendations .

Governance reforms

• e-gov apart from advancing the good governance objectives of accountability and transparency also seeks to reduce the manual interface between state and citizen thus preventing the incidences of bribery
• Drives like Digital India projects like Government e-Marketplace must be implemented.
• Enactment of the right to service act. E.g. Rajasthan social accountability bill

Economic reforms

• Negating legal lacunae in banking, stock market legislations.
• Improving corporate governance by implementing corporate governance committee reports
• Formalization of the economy

Social sector improvements

• Awareness of citizenry by training them in RTI act, Citizens charter, social audits .
• Increasing democratization of the masses .
• Curriculum reforms to inculcate values even in higher education by which youngsters acquire high standards of ethical mindset.

Integrity, transparency, and fight against corruption have to be part of the culture. They must be thought of as fundamental values of the society we live in. In India, some recent anti-corruption initiatives have been taken. For example, various Supreme Court’s ruling in pursuit of curbing criminalization of politics, many e-governance initiatives will improve transparency and accountability. These measures are indeed steps in the right direction, but bringing behavioural change in society will act as the most potent weapon against corruption.

Source: Indian Express

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Corruption in India: Status, Causes & Impacts

From Current Affairs Notes for UPSC » Editorials & In-depths » This topic

The menace of corruption is the most talked-about issue in India which grapples the sphere of public debate very often. The phenomenon touches every human being from the one living in slums to the person occupying the highest echelons of the State system. Just like the fictional Voldemort, corruption grows at every utterance of it. In the words of Kautilya “Just as it is impossible not to taste the honey that finds itself in the tip of the tongue, so it is impossible for a government assistant not to eat up, at least a bit of King’s revenue.”

This topic of “Corruption in India: Status, Causes & Impacts” is important from the perspective of the UPSC IAS Examination , which falls under General Studies Portion.

What is Corruption?

Transparency International (TI) defines corruption as “The abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs”

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What is the Status of corruption in India?

• In 2021, the country was ranked 85th out of 180 in the Corruption Perceptions Index, with the lowest-ranked countries perceived to have the most honest public sector. Corruption is caused by a variety of factors, including officials stealing money from government social welfare programmes.
• CPI, 2019 highlighted that unfair and opaque political financing, undue influence in decision-making and lobbying by powerful corporate interest groups, has resulted in stagnation or decline in the control of corruption.
• As per the India Corruption Survey 2019, 51% of the respondents admitted to paying bribes. Rajasthan and Bihar fared the worst in the country with 78% and 75% of respondents admitting to paying bribes.

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What are the causes of corruption?

Inquiry into the causes of corruption presents a detailed picture of a socio-political-economic-administrative scenario that breeds corruption on a daily basis.

• Legacy issues –
• Rampant poverty and empty coffers of the government at the dawn of independence leading to chronic low salaries of the government officials.
• Pre liberalization license permit raj catered by Monopolies and restrictive trade practices facilitated the corruption. The lack of economic freedom led to abuse of the system.
• Necessities of development overshadowed vigilance procedures.
• Political system
• Use of black money in elections to win at any cost (breaching statutory spending limits) creates the need for the recovery of that cost through malpractices.
• Election funding is not transparent making it prone to the usage of black money and funding based on quid pro quo.
• It leads to crony capitalism, an unholy nexus between politicians and corporates.
• Criminalization of politics- when the rule-breakers become rule makers, the casualty is the rule of law.
• Economic structure
• Low levels of formalization (merely 10%) of the economy breed black money.
• Stringent compliance rules for entry and exit for businesses result in bribery.
• Unequal distribution of wealth- Transparency International data suggests that corruption is directly proportionate to the economic gap in a nation.
• Faulty process of liberalisation- we first opened ourselves to the world and then took to legislation for various sectors like FDI, resource auction making it easy for foreign companies to manipulate the system.
• Legal lacunae
• Archaic laws like IPC 1860 don’t capture the complexities of administration and lead to the escape of wrongdoers.
• narrows down the definition of corruption,
• increases the burden of proof
• prior approval from the government for inquiry or investigation of officials
• Lacunae in the Lokpal act and delays in the appointments both at the state and central levels.
• Dilution of the RTI act and political misuse of CBI and other agencies.
• Loopholes give discretionary powers to the officials making working prone to corruption.
• Lack of resources, funding, infrastructure and manpower in the vigilance institutions.
• Lack of incorporation of standard practices by organizations like Banks, sports organizations which results in multi-billion-rupee scams. E.g. Punjab National Bank scam, commonwealth scam.
• Delays and dying away from the corruption cases at the judicial level due to lack of evidence or faulty investigation. It also showcases politician-public servant-judicial (lower levels) nexus.
• Lack of protection to good Samaritans
• Targeting of upright and non-corrupt officials and rewards to corrupt officials
• Near non-existent whistleblowers protection
• Social problems
• The mindset of the citizenry that doesn’t look at the problems seriously and even accepts it as a necessary part of the system.
• Illiteracy, poverty, and inability to understand complex procedures.
• Increasing consumerism in the new middle class that is ready to bribe to get things done.
• Failure of social morality, education system to inculcate the values.

What are the impacts of corruption?

• Hindrances to developmental process
• loss of wealth due to corruption and siphoning away of taxpayers’ money leave little to spend in the social sector.
• many developmental projects cannot be completed or get dragged for decades because of red-tapism, corruption cases raising the expenditure
• out of pocket expenditure by the poor to get things done creates a vicious cycle of poverty.
• Corruption in the social sectors like PDS, health and education schemes lead to demographic disadvantage.
• It misdirects developmental strategy from decentralized, directed projects to big-budget projects on account of crony capitalism.
• Economic loss
• Undermines ease of doing business
• Corruption in the public services sector carries high risks for conducting good businesses. Companies are likely to unwanted red tapes, petty corruption, bribes for finalizing any procedures or deals.
• Wrong allocation policies result in undervaluation of resources like Coal blocks, Hydrocarbon projects, Spectrum allocation. Eg. 2G scam, Coalgate. This mismanagement of resources leads to environmental degradation and exploitation.
• Low tax collection due to tax authority- corporate corruption. It results in low spending in the capital building.
• Corruption of financial sector officials like Banks, the stock market erodes the strength of the economy. E.g. PNB scam, PMC scam, Harshad Mehta scandal
• Rising black money artificially enhances the market capability which is always at the risk of collapse.
• Harmful to national security
• We have a history of corruption in defense procurement and consequent litigation. It undermines the preparedness of the armed.
• Corruption in the border security establishment creates problems of terrorist infiltration. Illegal migration has caused the issue of NRC implementation
• Social sector losses
• Corruption in government projects targeting poor and vulnerable section of the society increases the economic gap between the rich and the poor
• Corruption is always paid by the poor. The loss of exchequer by the big scams are always recovered by higher taxes. It hampers intergenerational parity in taxation.
• The corrupt system denies the poor a chance to improve their status rendering them eternally poor
• On the political front, corruption is a major obstacle to democracy and the rule of law.
• It then leads to the loss of legitimacy of the political systems and gives free hand to non-state actors. E.g. Left-wing extremism
• Judicial corruption too undermines its legitimacy.

Way forward

There is a need for windfall reforms in each and every section of the system to fight the menace. Every aspect of governance must be improved for efficiency, economy, and effectiveness .

• Barring the criminals from even participating in the elections as suggested by the election commission.
• Imposing limits on the overall expenditure of the political parties.
• Making state funding of elections a reality.
• Empowering ECI by giving legal force to MCC and making paid news a criminal offence.
• Strengthening of autonomous institutions
• Protecting the autonomy of CIC-giving him a constitutional status
• Provision of required manpower, infrastructure, training of vigilance agencies
• Eliminate overlapping of jurisdiction- e.g. Lokpal and CBI
• Administrative reforms
• Establishing the Civil Service Board to curb the excessive political control over the administration
• Reducing the hierarchy levels in the governments
• Conducting periodic sensitivity training for the civil servants
• Simplifying the disciplinary proceedings and strengthening preventive vigilance within the departments to ensure corrupt civil servant do not occupy the sensitive position
• Police and judicial reforms- implementation of Prakash Singh recommendations
• Governance reforms
• e-gov apart from advancing the good governance objectives of accountability and transparency also seeks to reduce the manual interface between state and citizen thus preventing the incidences of bribery
• Drives like Digital India projects like Government e-Marketplace must be implemented.
• Enactment of the right to service act. E.g. Rajasthan social accountability bill
• Economic reforms
• Negating legal lacunae in banking, stock market legislations.
• Improving corporate governance by implementing corporate governance committee reports
• Formalisation of the economy
• Refining and speedy implementation of GST
• Social sector improvements

As Transparency International chairman Delia Ferreira Rubio says, “People’s indifference is the best breeding ground to the corruption”. citizen empowerment is a basic need in the fight against corruption

• Awareness of citizenry by training them in RTI act, Citizens charter, social audits.
• Increasing democratization of the masses.
• Curriculum reforms to inculcate values even in higher education by which youngsters acquire high standards of ethical mindset.

Integrity, transparency, and fight against corruption have to be part of the culture. They must be thought of as fundamental values of the society we live in. corruption should not be seen as cancer to be eliminated root and branch for now. A practical approach would be to see it at obsession to be cured.  An incremental approach to the problem will lead to an achievable target-setting and faster completion. People should be aware that they can change the system. India against corruption movement of 2011 was not the last fight as we have seen and it cannot be either. There has to be continuous checks and balances in the system. Corruption can be tackled effectively. But it needs homegrown solutions that eliminate indigenous problems.

• India has dropped to 82nd position in 2021, five places down from 77th rank last year, in a global list that ranks countries based on business bribery risks. The list by TRACE, an anti-bribery standard-setting organization, measures business bribery risk in 194 countries, territories, and autonomous and semi-autonomous regions.
• A strict anti-corruption law is “necessary” because corruption is hollowing out the country, the Centre told a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court, which was considering whether public servants can be prosecuted for bribery if bribe givers fail to record their statements or turn hostile.

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CORRUPTION IN INDIA The development of India and its people and the future is irreparably destroyed due to the massive corruption, bribery and influence peddling. The rule of law is ignored. India is faced with absolute lawlessness, no one is safe and no one’s property is safe. The Higher Judiciary to take stern action against the corrupt politicians, executives and the who’s who of India. In pandemic the leaders have failed its people and caused massive death. Ramesh Mishra Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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Recent Update

Friday, february 26, 2021, fighting against corruption.

  Why in news?

Recently Odisha government declared that all public servants are mandatorily required to file their property returns with the Lok Ayukta.

• In India, politico-bureaucratic nexus is the cause for systematic corruption & the preventive aspect of it is often neglected.
• Lokpal and Lok Ayuktas Act, 2013 which fights against corruption is existing for more than half a decade.
• But its implementation is uneven and the deadline to file the property declarations is constantly deferred.
• Initially it was set at September 15, 2014, but later this date was extended for six times.

What causes corruption?

• Information asymmetry is the primary culprit behind illegal wealth acquired by bureaucrats and political functionaries.
• Now Odisha government stated that all political and bureaucratic functionaries have to publicly declare their assets at the end of every year.
• This baseline data-base of assets provides significant insights into the asset ownership pattern of officials at different positions.
• It also creates transparency between the citizens and those in power at every level, reduces information asymmetry.
• Moreover lack of accountability is another cause for corruption.

How accountability can be promoted?

• According to Robert Klitgaard, systemic corruption is due to monopoly (M), discretion (D), accountability (A) which can be denoted in formula as C = M + D - A.
• But people’s participation (P) is also critical in preventing, detecting and reducing corruption in the system.
• Hence this formula can be rearranged as C = M + D – A – P.
• Odisha declaration can enhance people’s participation and more the people’s participation; less is the likelihood of corruption.
• People’s participation can also be increased if more information about assets of public officials is published regularly.
• The Odisha government has adopted technology and online transactions to reduce discretion.
• In the last one year alone, state government has either dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired 100’s of non cooperative government servants.

What more can be done?

• Though this declaration is a good preventive step but this cannot alone deter the corrupt.
• Currently monitoring practices rely only on inspections, raids, intelligence reports which has to be a institutional approach in identifying targets of those inspections.
• Randomised audits using technology and artificial intelligence without any human bias in the selection of auditee can be another logical step.
• The anti-corruption exercise should promote and safeguard whistle-blowers & the existing  Whistle Blower Protection Act, 2014  needs to be operationalised.
• Hence Odisha Lok Ayukta should nurture a safe environment for whistle-blowers by maintaining their anonymity.
• It can also notify a separate framework for protection of whistle-blowers.
• Those who enjoy power may try to find ways to escape through family or proxies and they should be subjected to the  Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 .

What are the takeaways from this?

• According to the UN estimates, developing countries lose approximately $1.26 trillion every year due to corruption, bribery, theft and tax evasion.
• Moreover, government can lose the trust of citizens if the officials and the political masters are not held accountable for wrongdoing.
• Hence public disclosure of information about the officials’ assets, protecting whistle-blowers and certainty of punishment can create conducive environment for clean and efficient governance.

Source: Business Line

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Back to main page, corruption in india – causes, effects of corruption in india and types.

• 25935 views

Introduction

• Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between Bureaucracy, politics and criminals.
• India is now no longer considered a soft state.
• It has now become a consideration state where everything can be had for a consideration.
• Today, the number of ministers with an honest image can be counted on fingers.
• At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now bribe is paid for getting right things done at right time.

What is Corruption?

• Corruption is the misuse of public power (by elected politician or appointed civil servant) for private gain.
• In order to ensure that not only public corruption but also private corruption between individuals and businesses could be covered by the same simple definition
• Corruption is the misuse of entrusted power (by heritage, education, marriage, election, appointment or whatever else) for private gain.

Causes of Corruption in India

• Low Pay Scales And Wages
• Lack of Stick And Fast Punishments
• Lack of Unity in Public
• Lack of Fundamental Rights Awareness in People of India
• Lack of Transparency in Deals and Affairs
• Lack of Independent detective agency
• Lack of enough powers to the judicial system in India
• Lack of Accountability
• Unhealthy Competition Encouragement in India
• Lack of Effective Management and Implementation
• Lack of Economic Stability In India
• Lack of Effective Leadership in India
• Lack of Autonomy
• Unemployment
• Poverty And Hunger
• Very Less Educational Institute and Medical Infrastructure .
• Vast Size of Population in India Is Biggest Cause of Corruption In India .
• Another Big Cause of Corruption In India Is nexus between political parties and Industrialist.
• Emergence of political elite who believe in interest-oriented rather than nation-oriented programmes and policies is Another Big reason of Corruption in india .
• Tolerance of People Towards Corruption is a Another big reason for Corruption In India.

Consequences of Corruption

• Rise in Unemployment
• Rise in Hunger and poverty
• Loss of Indian Economy Wealth
• Fall in growth of Indian Economy
• Power and Authority in Wrong hands
• Brain Drain is Biggest Consequence for India
• Psychological And Social Disorder
• Corruption is also the main cause of Poverty as Rich are getting richer & poor are getting poorer. Not all the packages, compensation announced by government reach the minorities and backward communities.

How can We Cure Corruption in India

• Give Good salary to Government Employees
• Bring transparency In Indian Economic System
• Try To make Indian Society Cashless
• More Number of Online transactions and provide bill For Every transactions
• Bring Political parties Under RTI
• Set Eligibility For Indian Politician
• Increase in Digital And E Governance
• Transparent tax structure by clean and clear enforcement
• More Police reforms and Power Full Judiciary
• Blacklist Corrupt Businessmen
• Bring More Transparency In Govt Job Recruitment
• Keep Inflation low
• Speed up the judgement and increase the courts
• Citizenship cancellation could be a highest level of punishment if their crime score reaches a certain extent.
• Disrespecting the dishonest

8 Effects of Corruption

• Lack of quality in services
• Lack of proper justice
• Chances of Unemployment
• Poor Health and hygiene
• Low growth rate of Economy
• Low Foreign Direct Investment
• Low Development Rate
• Low Standard of Living

Steps taken by Indian government

• The biggest step is demonetization i.e. banning 500 and 1000 rs notes which is the route of all evil, be it Corruption, Black Money, Terrorism.
• Under “Right to Information Act (RTI)“, citizens can now ask government about how out ta money is spent.
• With “Jan Dhan yojana” & “Direct Benefit Transfer” schemes, bank accounts of millions of people were opened so that they can get subsidies and benefits directly into their account.
• E-Auctions for spectrums and natural resources is a good step towards a corruption less India.
• Government is focusing more on Digitizing, which will lead to more transparency in functioning of government.
• Government introduced self-attestation of certificates and has removed interviews from lower posts, so no one can bribe their way through interview to jobs.
• Another potent check on corruption is Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). It was setup by the Government to advise and guide Central Government agencies in the areas of vigilance.

Anti-corruption laws in India

• 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.

Shameful Statistics That Prove How India Is The Most Corrupt Country In Asia

1.38% of land and property deals in india involve bribes.

• In India, 38% of land deals involve some form of bribes, mostly because for the buyer, that’s the only option left.
• The entire nexus of government officials, politicians, judicial officers, real estate developers and law enforcement officials control the property trade, wherein they acquire and sell land illegally.

More than 60 Percent Enforcement Officials takes Bribes

• The police actually collect the highest amount of bribes. Passport verification make up 30% of the average bribe paid by a regular Indian in a year, while traffic violations make up 25%.
• The methods are numerous and the amounts far-reaching, ranging from botched breathalyser tests charging Rs. 2500 to Rs. 500 for passport verification.

60% of road stops for truckers are for extorting money

• According to Transparency International, truckers pay ?222 crore in bribes every year. Authorities such as government regulators, police, forest and sales and excise force stoppages on roads, and 60% of these are for extorting money.These delays lead to an egregious loss in productivity.
• 60% of people who got their driving license from an agent haven’t taken the driving exam
• 31% of members of parliament have criminal cases against them
• Just about 40% of grain intended for the poor reaches them.

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Prevention of Corruption Act

Topics Covered:

• Important aspects of governance, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
• Role of civil services in a democracy.

What to study?

• Static Part: Proposed amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act.
• Dynamic and Current: Need for Amendments, concerns associated and what needs to be done?

Context: The Supreme Court has ordered the government to respond to a petition challenging two amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Background:

The amendments were:

• The introduction of S. 17 A (1) by which prior permission for investigation of corruption offences was required from the government.
• The removal of S. 13 (1) (d) (ii) (criminal misconduct) from the Act. It had earlier made it an offence for a public servant to abuse his position to give pecuniary or other advantage to a third party.

Highlights of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2018:

Punishment for bribe-taking enhanced: Minimum punishment of 3 yrs, extendable up to 7 yrs with fine; from the earlier 6 months, with extension up to 3 yrs.

‘Undue Advantage’ expanded: The earlier limited definition of “undue advantage” expanded to now include “anything other than legal remuneration”.

Gifts criminalised: Gifts received for established undue advantage/mala-fide motive are now considered an act of corruption.

Collusive bribe-givers criminalised: For the first time, the giving of bribe has now been made a direct offence on par with taking of bribe. At the same time, protection has been built-in against coercive bribery, as long as the victim comes forward within 7 days.

Corporate bribery criminalised: Superiors to be held if employee/agent has bribed with their approval, for advancement of the organisation’s interests.

Immediate forfeiture: Law enforcement empowered for immediate attachment & forfeiture of illegal property of a public servant, invoking provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Timely trial mandated: To conclude the investigation and trial within 2 yrs, extendable up to 4 yrs.

Sources: the hindu.

Mains Question: The amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act does a nice balancing act between avoiding policy paralysis and creating deterrence against corruption in public offices. Critically examine.

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Challenges of Corruption

Last updated on November 16, 2023 by ClearIAS Team

Corruption is defined as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. There are several challenges and impacts associated with corruption.

India ranked 85th out of 180 countries (score 40) in Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2021, released by Transparency International, which measures the corruption level of a country’s public sector.

Table of Contents

Why Corruption is Unhealthy?

Corruption destroys morale, undermines democracy, represses economic growth, and makes inequality, poverty, social division, and the environmental problem worse.

Causes of Corruption

Before learning about the challenges and impacts of corruption, let’s understand what are the causes of corruption. According to a survey conducted in 2017, the following factors have been attributed as causes of corruption:

• Higher levels of bureaucracy and inefficiency in administrative structures
• Weak property rights
• Low levels of education
• Lack of commitment to society
• Extravagant family
• Low press freedom
• Low economic freedom
• Large ethnic divisions and high levels of in-group favoritism
• The greed of money, and desires.
• Higher levels of market and political monopolization
• Low levels of democracy
• Weak civil participation
• Low political transparency
• Gender inequality
• Contagion from corrupt neighboring countries
• Political instability
• Unemployment
• Lack of proper policies against corruption

Impacts of Corruption

Corruption has a wide-ranging impact on organizations, individuals, and communities as well.

Hampering Sustainable Development Goals

The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations is hampered by corruption. The SDGs are comprehensive, therefore it is not surprising that corruption might undermine them.

Countries that lack the capacity to govern effectively are unable to end poverty, eradicate hunger, provide their population with high-quality healthcare and education, ensure gender equality and other human rights, lower inequality, and other goals.

To be more precise,  Goal 16 of the SDGs which is “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels,”, which is highly relevant, is difficult to achieve if corruption in public services persists.

In addition, resolutions passed by the Conference of the States Parties to UNCAC have consistently stressed the connection between corruption and sustainable development. Therefore, if the global community is serious about achieving the SDGs, it must recognize corruption as a barrier to their achievement and strengthen its anti-corruption measures.

Inefficiency and Economic Loss

Although it is challenging to find precise figures for the economic consequences of corruption, International Monetary Fund (IMF) research from 2016 indicated that the cost of bribery alone varies from $1.5 to $2 trillion annually.

This amounts to an overall economic loss of about 2% of the world’s GDP.

However, it does not account for the financial costs associated with all other types of corruption. In developing nations, corruption may contribute to underdevelopment.

According to a report published by Transparency International, “The Impact of Corruption on Growth and Inequality”, At the macro level, research generally shows that corruption has a detrimental, direct effect on economic development and growth.

Additionally, corruption has an indirect impact on a country’s economic performance by influencing a number of variables that spur economic growth, including investment, taxation, public spending level, composition, and effectiveness.

Rigged Political System

Citizens who uphold high moral standards lose representation, influence, and power.

The World Bank  (2019) estimates that more than 50% of people in the oil-rich country live in extreme poverty. This illustration demonstrates how wealth redistribution occurs when corrupt players use the political and economic systems to their advantage.

Corruption makes it possible for party officials, bureaucrats, and contractors to use funds allocated for elections, health care, education, and poverty assistance as a means of personal gain. As a result, social programs, and political systems’ potential for redistribution degrade.

Violation of Human Rights

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) of the United Nations has recently attracted attention to important connections between corruption and human rights violations.

Corruption itself reduces the capacity of the State to address violations of civil and political rights and to enact the necessary safeguards, including socioeconomic rights, which frequently call for complex government initiatives.

Dysfunctioning of Public and Private Sector

Dysfunction is the result of several corrupt actions added together. The quality of products and services declines, whether they are provided by the public or private sectors, and accessing them becomes more expensive, time-consuming, and unfair.

Instead of promoting innovation and efficiency, state-owned organizations and sectors are designed to benefit government officials. In organizations, this may result in the loss of intrinsic motivation.  People start to question the worth of effort and innovation.

Partial Justice

People can no longer trust judges and prosecutors to do their jobs when corruption penetrates the legal system.

Citizens may be falsely accused of crimes, denied due process, and wrongfully imprisoned, especially those who lack finances or strong allies.

Organized Crime and Terrorism

Because money can be laundered, funding can be hidden, and judges and politicians can be bribed, nefarious parts of society can flourish. As levels of intimidation rise, so do levels of violence, illicit drug use, prostitution, and sexual slavery.

In addition to being the result of corruption, organized crime can also be brought about by corrupt opportunities created by a weak, ignorant, or inefficient government.

Failure in Infrastructure

It is a well-known fact that the Mafia uses the construction sector as a means of money laundering and a major source of earnings.

Buildings that are fundamentally hazardous are present everywhere throughout the country as a result of obvious violations of land-use and permission restrictions, purportedly accomplished by bribery, favoritism, and influence-peddling.

Damage to Climate and Biodiversity

Funding and measures to combat climate change are hampered by corruption, which is a challenge that undermines programs to conserve forests and manage them sustainably. It also encourages wildlife-related crimes.

Measures to Combat Corruption

The government of India is committed to “Zero Tolerance Against Corruption” and has taken several measures to combat the challenges associated with corruption which include:

Systemic reforms to provide transparency in citizen-friendly services to reduce corruption. That includes:

• The direct and transparent distribution of welfare benefits to citizens under various government programs through the Direct Benefit Transfer project.
• E-tendering is in public procurement.
• Introduction of e-Government and simplification of processes and systems
• Introduction of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for government procurement.
• Discontinuation of interviews in the recruitment of Group ‘B’ (Non-Gazetted) and Group ‘C’ posts in the Government Departments.
• The Central Civil Services (Classification, Control, and Appeal) Rules and the All India Services (Disciplinary and Appeal) Rules have both been revised to provide precise timelines for disciplinary processes.
• The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 has been amended to clearly criminalizes the act of giving bribe.
• Through a number of decrees and circulars, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) encouraged all organizations involved in significant procurement activities to establish an Integrity Pact in order to ensure an effective and prompt inquiry whenever any irregularity or misconduct is identified.
• Under the 1988 Prevention of Corruption Act, Lokpal is legally required to receive and handle complaints about alleged offenses against public employees.
• The Right to Information (RTI) Act was passed in 2005 to establish a practical framework for the right to information, allowing citizens to secure access to data that is under the control of public authorities.

Read:  Corruption in Civil Services

Article Written By: Priti Raj

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‘Coalgate’: corruption, an honest bureaucrat and a deeper malaise in India

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Disclosure statement

Nayanika Mathur receives funding from the British Academy at present as a postdoctoral research fellow. In the past, her research has been funded by the Gates Cambridge Trust, the Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme, the Smuts memorial fund at Cambridge, and the Leverhulme Trust. She is also a research fellow on the Leverhulme Funded 'Conspiracy and Democracy' project at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH), University of Cambridge, UK. Mathur is personally acquainted with Gupta.

University of Cambridge provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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“Corruption. It’s like a demon sitting on my brain and eating it with a fork and knife.” So bemoans a character in the novelist Aravind Adiga’s Between the Assasinations set in India. While it is commonplace and easy to bemoan the pervasiveness of corruption in India, it is harder to get a sense of what it is doing to the state itself.

The case of Harish Gupta , a retired member of the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS), reveals the dramatic breakdown of confidence and trust in the state that the talk and practice of corruption can precipitate. Gupta has been embroiled in one of the most high-profile corruption scandals of the past two decades, the coal allocation “scam” or “ Coalgate ” as it is popularly known.

It is centred on coal allocations made between 2004 and 2009 by the government of India to public sector enterprises and private entities. A report issued in 2012 by India’s central auditing agency, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), questioned the manner in which these allocations were made by the government of India. The CAG was of the opinion that the government could have made more of a profit had it opted for a process of competitive bidding in coal allocations. What appeared at the outset to be an issue of efficiency and profitability, however, soon morphed into an outright corruption scandal.

The scam implicated the entire state apparatus, from the then prime minister Manmohan Singh down to various officials in different ministries in Delhi. Much to everyone’s surprise and horror, it also swept up Gupta, an officer who is widely believed to be an exceedingly honest, humble, and intelligent civil servant. As secretary of coal to the government of India over 2006-08, a period when several of the questioned allocations took place, he was directly implicated in the scandal.

“Coalgate” burst on the national scene in India in 2012, and ever since then, Gupta – along with another accused – has been subjected to numerous and unrelenting investigations and legal action.

In a recent twist to events, 68-year-old Gupta (pictured below left) took the startlingly unprecedented step of surrendering himself to a special court. He informed a CBI special court judge that he was unwilling and unable to fight the multiple cases against him. He spoke of the straitened financial circumstances he was in, refused the help of the court, and professed a willingness to go to jail.

This is, by any measure, an extraordinary act of self-surrender, and we need to think more about what this gesture means and what sorts of circumstances could trigger it.

Punishing costs and legal quagmires

The legal costs are punishing for a pensioner such as Gupta and, no doubt, he is physically and emotionally exhausted by fighting several judicial and intelligence agencies all at once. Not to mention the often-salacious reports in the mainstream media where his culpability is tacitly – if not overtly – assumed. Even if Gupta were to know how to muster the resources – financial, emotional, legal, physical – to fight off the allegations, perhaps he feels it will be a Pyrrhic victory.

He has been quoted as saying that he suffers from various medical conditions and is not certain if he will live to see the completion of the trial. If that is to be the case, said Gupta – who has always maintained his total innocence and said every decision was taken in good faith – he wouldn’t like anyone to think he had escaped punishment.

The silver lining to this entire sorry saga is the response of his fellow IAS officers. Several of them are coming together to support him. Much like Gupta’s self-surrender in court, this is an extraordinary show of solidarity. It will be one of the first times that IAS officers will leave aside their own petty rivalries to rally behind a colleague whose innocence they are convinced of.

Why, after all, are we seeing such a rare form of collective activism by the bureaucracy?

Corruption is what anthropologist Michael Taussig described as a public secret – its existence is generally known but, for one reason or another, cannot easily be publicly articulated.

The bureaucracy, more than any other body, is fully cognisant of which of their colleagues is or isn’t corrupt. In 1996 the IAS association of Uttar Pradesh (Gupta’s home cadre) voted on who were the three most corrupt officers in the state in a secret ballot. Given that all three were subsequently convicted in corruption cases the list was remarkably accurate. There was also never a murmur of generalised protest of such a nature in previous high-profile cases as Gupta’s surrender has provoked.

Wider ramifications

The Gupta affair is cruelly tragic at an individual level. But it also holds alarming ramifications for the Indian state that need to be spelled out.

First, as with all the other cases of honest bureaucrats being falsely embroiled in similar witch hunts by various arms of the Indian state, it is a heavy disincentive to anyone who is truly honest and wishes to serve the state diligently. It is not just that, as the old saying goes, honesty doesn’t pay. As the Gupta case shows, being honest can actually actively hurt. For you could find yourself in a position similar to his, where you do not possess the financial clout to pay the exorbitant fees demanded by the top lawyers to outwit the multiple judicial and investigative agencies.

The Gupta case also serves to deepen a fear among serving bureaucrats against making any decisions at all. They are being slowly paralysed into inaction as they know that their signatures and decisions might be uncharitably scrutinised in the near future. These decisions can be retrospectively read as indicative of malfeasance, rather than diligence or creativity.

Most disturbingly of all, the Gupta case serves to deepen a crisis of confidence in the Indian state. If left unchecked, it is this profound public distrust of the state and its agents – rather than corruption – that will be impossible to control.

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• Recently the International Anti-Corruption Day-2022 was organised by the CBI on ‘Anti-Corruption efforts – A sine qua non for Development and Security .

About the Corruption

• Corruption refers to misusing public power for personal gain. It can be done by an elected politician, civil servant, journalist, administrator of a school, or anyone in authority. 
• Thus, the corruption definition applies to different forms .
• Corruption in India is not limited to collusive high-level scams. Petty corruption, which affects the delivery of basic services and rights to people, is rampant.
• India has the highest rate of bribery and use of personal links to access public services such as healthcare and education in Asia, according to a survey released by global civil society Transparency International .
• India is in the 85th position among 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index, 2021 .

Issues Linked to it 

• Corruption has a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing costs and reducing access to services, including health, education and justice.
• Corruption encourages dysfunctionality in government, perpetrates economic inefficiency and can be a serious threat to national security .
• the impact of corruption is especially heavy on common citizens, and even more on poorer and vulnerable persons in communities.
• With technological development, there are opportunities to prevent corruption but also areas where corruption can be much more difficult to trace, particularly in fields like cryptocurrency .

Government initiatives:

• Indian government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.
• It has enacted a comprehensive and more stringent new law – the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 . 
• There’s also a Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act , 2016, which empowers the authorities to attach and confiscate benami properties. 
• Law enforcement agencies such as CBI have done a great deal to reduce corruption.
• The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to combat corruption in government agencies and public sector businesses in India.
• As the Prevention of Corruption Act saw limited success in preventing corruption in Government departments and prosecuting and punishing public servants involved in corrupt practices, an amendment was enacted (Amendment Act) and brought into force in 2018. 
• The Amendment Act attempted to bring the Prevention of Corruption Act in line with United Nations Convention against Corruption 2005, which was ratified by India in 2011.
• The intent behind the enactment of the Act is to promote transparency and accountability in the working of Public Authorities. 
• The Act seeks to protect whistleblowers, i.e. persons making a public interest disclosure related to an act of corruption, misuse of power, or criminal offense by a public servant.
• It is provided by the Right To Information Act, 2005, it has been an important weapon for whistleblowers in previous years.
• The RTI Act, 2005 is also called as a ‘twin sister’ of whistleblowing.
• The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 provided for the establishment of Lokpal for the Union and Lokayukta for States.
• The Lokayukta is an anti-corruption authority constituted at the state level.
• It investigates allegations of corruption and mal-administration against public servants and is tasked with speedy redressal of public grievances.
• The Bill amends the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 in relation to the declaration of assets and liabilities by public servants. 
• It requires a public servant to declare his assets and liabilities, and that of his spouse and dependent children. 

Suggestions & way ahead

• Different steps can help in managing corruption and bringing it down. 
• Education is one of the most critical steps. It can help in reinforcing the correct business practices.
• Mandatory education courses like anti-money laundering must be introduced. 
• Accountability mechanisms can also help in curbing corruption.
• Furthermore, it can be easier to reduce corruption if reporting it becomes simple.
• The senior employees in the management department must lead by example and cultivate an open and transparent culture.
• Similarly, rewards and incentives must be granted to encourage people to cultivate an ethical culture. 
• There is a the need for real-time information sharing between law enforcement agencies. 

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