Corruption in the governance in India, since Independence from colonial rulers more than six and a half decades ago, has been the single most important factor for the deterioration in the quality of life of the citizens of the country. Involvement of a large number of politicians and bureaucrats in various scams has shaken common people’s faith in the democratic system itself.
By now, it has been amply proved beyond doubt that people are coming into politics not for public service, but for self service. Even leaders who had participated in the freedom struggle and Gandhian social movements have been greedily accumulating as much money and other wealth as possible for themselves and for their own future generations.
Faulty economic policies, particularly after globalisation was introduced in the country more than two decades ago, have resulted in unlimited corruption in the governance, with multi-national companies buying politicians and bureaucrats wholesale. The changes that have taken place are helping an army of persons in business, industry, politics and the governance of the country. Huge commissions and kickbacks have corrupted the democratic system in the country. Moreover, it’s not the political system alone, but every aspect of Indian life has been corrupted by persons in authority.
While corruption has helped to criminalise the Indian social life, the nation’s security and peace has been mortgaged by those who are elected to protect it. Lack of vigilance, educational, social and political backwardness of the masses have been exploited by the leaders. Shamelessly, the leaders try to boast of their so-called rich heredity when the people around them know their talented past.
The politics of waves; projection of persons with personality and religion and castes; and lack of commitment to any ideology, have proved dangerous for the nation. In the last sixty seven years of India’s Independence, there have been ample of indicators of how corruption in the country has become institutionalised. What is at stake is not just the future of the democratic set up, but the very existence of our socialist community as well.
It should be realized that no one can save this nation except its citizens. Unless citizens realize and wake up to clean up the public life by denouncing corrupt and dangerous public figures (politicians as well as bureaucrats) and demanding prosecution against them, there is no future for this country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who rode to power on the crest of anti-corruption wave, is duty bound to urgently put in place a system and create an environment in which the common man has faith in the government. Modi is widely known to be a radically non-corrupt politician to don the mantle of the country’s chief executive since Independence, and so he is expected to adopt concrete action rather than make bold statements against corruption in public life. So far, he has failed to do anything positive on this front, even after more than six months in office.
In fact, his government is guilty of not only tolerating corruption but practically doing nothing in the name of ‘Coalition Dharma’. No coalition ethics condone the wrong doing or corruption. Forget about the black money stashed abroad, which is said to be the highest from India, governments servants right from peons to clerks have been crorepatis and the wealth of some senior officers belonging to the higher echelons of civil service, caught in corruption cases, runs into hundreds of crores of rupees.
A common man sees no escape from this situation, as not only the government but even the senior officials and politicians are not only indifferent to corruption, but occasionally are indulgent by saying that ‘everything is fine!’ The lucrative departments like the infrastructure development, taxation, licensing, transport, et al are gold mines. Every single law passed by the Parliament or State Assembly adds one more inspector and one more graft collection point.
Forget about the politicians, who number about 5300 (MLAs and MPs), it is the 1.97 crore central, state and PSU employees who have reduced the reputation of the country to zero, as the 87th most corrupt country in the world with Corruption Perception Index scoring 32 out of 100 as per the report of the Transparency International. Transparency International is a Berlin-based anti-corruption group, which assesses each country according to the level of corruption that is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians.
Fighting corruption is a vital duty of the government because only through this you can make the bureaucracy efficient, get rid of the dead wood, and ensure that money for the schemes for amelioration of the conditions of the poor reaches them.
As the Minister in charge of the Enforcement of Anti-corruption law, if the Prime Minister can spare one or two hours a week to this work, he would be doing a signal service to the country.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
