Corruption and Lokpal

Yesterday was a big day in the history of Independent India. The Bill for constituting Lokpal was presented in the Parliament. It is taking shape. It may not be of very perfect shape. But, it is going to born. It will grow and define itself in coming years. Institution is also known by man and man. We have very famous example. Many of us are unaware about names of Election Commissioner prior to Mr. Seshan. Let us hope (pray) that Lokpal would start cleansing the rot from India. Law is only as good as it is administered. It is not an easy task to tame the monster of corruption. It has become strong with the help systematic lacuna. As is stated in media, lokpal has no magic wand. Cancer of Corruption is in second stage now. This menace needs to be killed now; otherwise, it would prove fatal for the nation. In spite of differences of opinion over CBI, quota in Search Committee, Group C & D inclusion, it seems all probable that Lokpal would come. It may not be to satisfaction of all.

Why is corruption a problem? It can be argued that bribe taker is happy, bribe giver is happy. Where is the problem? This logic is very basic. It is in narrow context. Corruption is not in the form of cause and effect. Good for Good and Bad for Bad. Effect of corruption is felt by the society in general. Corruption takes life, corruption starves, corruption makes you sick, corruption make you week and so on. In the recent tragedy at Kolkata hospital, corruption must be in its root. Fire safety NOC might have been purchased. Fire inspection might have been signed without visiting the sight. Corruption in PDS starves people. Corruption in medical profession gets totally undesired results. Everywhere there is some cut or commission.

What is corruption? Corruption as I see is doing what you are not expected to do or not doing what you are expected to do. Second part is vague for many people. Let us list out some forms of corruption:-

1. Lack of punctuality in government servant

2. Not doing one’s duty responsibly

3. Submitting fake claims

4. Not delivering goods/ services with in reasonable or stipulated time

5. Assisting in corruption

6. Taking/giving bribe for doing something/ for getting something done or not doing something/ stopping something being done

7. Lack of sincere effort in saving public money/good

8. Giving gifts for promoting a product or getting some service

9. Leaking state secrets

10. Overcharging for goods to maximize profit

11. Underestimating values to save tax

12. Reporting baseless news

13. Using legal loopholes to save money of people

14. Wasting Rs.100/- of the Government to get back your Rs.10/-

15. Misusing official resources including vehicles

16. Lack in supervision

17. Selectively giving advertisement in newspaper and television to ward off bad publicity

18. Taking permit of five buses and plying ten buses

19. Issue of driving license without proper test. Obtaining such license is also similarly corrupt

20. Not teaching properly in class. Forcing or motivating students to take tuitions to you rather

21. Selecting inferior quality for representing a team

22. Showing undue favour

23. Not speaking what is right

24. Alluring people to vote

25. Dividing the society for ballot gain

26. Taking donation (by various names) for admission in educational institution

27. Not declaring goods brought from foreign countries to evade custom duty

28. Selling goods without receipt to save tax

29. Inferior wares are imported for armed forces

30. Undue consultancy charges are paid to firms

31. Import substitution is avoided to garner commission

32. Service man charges fee for which he gets salary

33. Utility charges are manipulated on some consideration

34. Due grievances are not redressed

35. Laws are not implemented or implemented selectively

36. Black and white dealing in properties

37. Taking unaccounted donations

38. Running NGOs in the name of spouse to milk government fund

39. Taking agencies of insurances in spouse name and working on their behalf

40. Adulteration

41. Selling personal details of individuals by telephone and other companies

42. Rule by proxy in Panchayats especially in women constituencies

43. Making the situation ripe for calamities and then making money in relief operations

44. Always asking for privileges, not wanting to be an ordinary citizen

45. Copying research done by others

46. Getting household works done by government officials

47. Not opening bank accounts for priority lending schemes

48. Postmen not delivering letters

49. Allowing overloading on trucks

50. Using faulty measuring equipments (kg, mtrs, ltrs etc)

51. Taking undue advantage of subsidy

52. Putting one’s name in bpl although having enough income

53. Making foreign trips without having concrete purpose

54. Constructing inferior quality infrastructure by misusing clauses of tenders and using substandard material

55. Stealing cables of electricity and telephone and even transformer wire

56. Using fake name in right to work scheme (MNREGA)

57. Allowing people to cross border without visa or permit

58. Not supplying water through pipeline for benefiting water tanker mafia

59. Deliberately sending wrong bills to solicit bribe for rectification

60. Taking questions of people with motive for presenting in the Parliament

61. Not adhering to norms of democratic values enshrined in party laws

62. Not reporting correct details in nomination form for elected bodies

63. Showing paid news without indicating that it is a paid news

64. Casting vote on other’s name

65. Taking lunch from polling agents in an election

66. Overcharging parking fee (sometimes even on false receipt)

67. Accepting gifts on Diwali, New year or any other occasions from companies

This list is not exhaustive. There could be very few people among us who have not faced one or more situations stated above. The idea for listing them is to review corruption. Since it has become a way of life; many time we do not see many of above items as a form of corruption. Trauma is that we all know this but it seems no body is willing to work for rectifying it.

What can be done? Is it possible to get rid of or not? Corruption can be tackled effectively. There is urgent need of will to tackle this situation. Corruption would remain prevalent. No society can remain free of corruption. Problem in India is its rampant manifestation. Almost every walk of life is infested with corruption. It is faced in your day to day dealing. We may not need even the institution of Lokpal. Existing laws are sufficient. Despite these laws, corrupt people go scot-free. Take example of Shri Sukhram. He did dishonest work. The investigation and judicial proceedings took too long. Now, he is requesting for leniency. Ridiculous! Bail has already been granted. What picture does this show to the people and prospective corrupt. It only encourages them. Somebody else will not change this scenario. The people have to purify themselves. Sometimes, we pay bribe or uses influence just to become ahead in queue.

All of us know that there is corruption in bureaucracy. There is political corruption. But people are not being caught. We know that property rates are not those which are shown on registration papers. Dhabas all over India do not give receipt and are evading taxes. Shops even in metropolitan cities do not like issuing receipts. Everybody knows how do they file return and pay taxes. The Government has to get up from the deep slumber. Without statistics, I would like to say not less than 25 percent of medicine is spurious. Bottled water is not safe. I had personal experience. There was no filter in my house. I planned to have one. So in the meantime, I started buying bottled water. The day when people from water filter company came, they checked my tap water to decide about the filter machine I should buy. I also asked them to check water from the bottle. You may not be amazed to know that tap water was of better quality than that of bottled water. These things are not in dark. But there is lack of will to act on these dark things.

Tax compliance has to be enhanced. A panwalah or chaiwala earns several times more than taxable limit. They need to be taxed. There should be incentive to remain honest. Rather, there is a support system for dishonest. A whole lot of people are living beyond their known sources of income. People are not afraid of law. There is a general thinking that they can get away. Everyday, we hear about a peon stacking crore or a junior engineer had twenty plots. Believe me there are many and in every nook and corner of the country. There is administrative paralysis. Law enforcing agencies need to crack it down. There is a general unwillingness in bureaucracy to do their assigned work. They take actions only when they are forced to. They wait for orders. This state of affairs is not only in lower level but upto the top level of governance. Otherwise, they remain indifferent. Law enforcement can be effectively done only after generating faith among people. Police can not be everywhere. Crime is controlled by the thinking that they would be caught if they do something illegal. If this controlling institution can be MANAGED crime would only increase.

There is an urgent need of rewriting forms and procedures by minimizing discretionary powers in Government. RTI Act, 2005 has become a successful law only because there is very limited discretion in not providing information. Many scams have been unearthed because of RTI Act. Effective administration of Right to Service coupled with Citizen Charter can go a long way in ameliorating the situation of corruption.

How Lokpal is supposed to help? The biggest deterring effect would be that there is somebody who can take cognizance and is especially created for corruption. Lokayuktas in Karnataka and Uttarpradesh have shown a way. A Chief Minister has to go and several Ministers of UP Government have to resign. This was unthinkable some years back.

What is positive in Lokpal? The biggest positive vibe in this issue is that corruption has taken a center stage. Political and administrative establishments of the country are under pressure to address the problem of corruption. This has also become an electoral issue. Gains may not come immediately but it will certainly help in bringing an order in fight against corruption. Anti-corruption movements spread across India have created a web encircling Government’s thinking. We hope that Lokpal would be harbinger of corruption free India.

***Jai Hind***