Corruption all the Way

Corruption all the Way

Sabrina Iqbal Sircar

Corruption not only has become a pervasive aspect of Indian politics but has also become an increasingly insidious factor in elections. The extensive role of the Indian state in providing services and promoting economic development has always created the opportunities for using public resources for private benefit. As the government regulation of business was extended in the 1960s and corporate donations were banned in 1969, trading economic favours for under-the-table contributions to political parties became an increasingly widespread political practice. In fact, corruption has come to be so indispensably associated with politics in India that politics cannot be perceived separately from corruption. This was reflected when The Times of India conducted a poll in 2003 on 1,554 adults in six metropolitan cities and found that 98 per cent of the public were convinced that all politicians and ministers were corrupt, and 85 per cent were of the opinion that corruption was still on the rise.Besides this, even Transparency International, a Berlin-based NGO, in its latest corruption perception index (CPI) ranked India 72nd in a list of 189 most corrupt countries of the world.It needs a deeper observation as to why corruption is so rampant in the Indian state. Here not only the authorities but also the people are to blame. The Indian civil society as such is not a very active but a relatively passive whole, in comparison to its counterparts in other countries. Any critical psychoanalysis reveals that the Indian masses are more tolerant to nepotism and other such corrupt practices. People in India are not very keen to raise their voice to illegal methods. Besides this, the government officials are also not guided by the standards of moral judgement. The notions of virtue and honesty are rather utopian to them.It is argued by critics that corruption started in India right after independence. They say that Nehru had legitimized corruption by tolerating it amongst his ministers, and his daughter Indira Gandhi institutionalized it by holding the posts of both the Prime Minister and party president.Corruption on a wider scale began in India after the fourth general elections of 1967. This election marked the entry of a new interest-oriented political elite into Indian politics. And that was the beginning of a never ending and vicious cycle of corruption in the country, which continues till date.Considering the widespread corruption in the country, the government took various measures for containing the menace, but the measures did not yield fruitful results. Various committees like the Vohra Committee, the Gorwala Committee and the Santhanam Committee were appointed, but there were loopholes in the implementation processes of these committee recommendations.For this, again, the lack of transparency and accountability in the system are to blame. The Indian system is like a system of veils and covers which provides hundreds and thousands of opportunities for indulging in corruption. Not even a single wing of the government is free from the aggravating menace. Even the judiciary — which is supposed to be the guardian of the state — and the Constitution are in the grab of this problem. A former Chief Justice of India has observed that about 20 per cent of the judges are corrupt.Besides this, there are other kinds of data which really present a rather dark and gloomy picture of the political future of India. According to a report of the Election Commission (2003), out of 425 MLAs in the UP Assembly, about 125 had criminal records.Even after such data was made public, there was not much reaction from the masses. This gives a boost to the corrupt political and electoral practices. Indian politics saw several humiliating cases which were a disgrace to the entire nation and the leaders as a whole, but even after such incidents, corruption continues unabated in our society.Actually, politics in India has become a dirty game involving money and power, and the people have come to believe that it is nothing but a futile attempt to try to reform or correct the process. Anyone who raises a voice against the corrupt holders of power is silenced by using violent means.Abuse of money and muscle power to stay in power is a common and characteristic feature of Indian politics, and this feature as it appears is here to stay.We need a revolution to change the political scenario. Leaders are supposed to be guided by value standards and expected to secure public interest rather than their own parochial gains. Indian politics needs to wake up to this truth.A strong, vigilant and alert civil society is a prerequisite for this and we can start by restructuring ourselves as an active mass of people. A prime reason for the flourishing of corruption in Indian politics is that there is no active resistance to it. Let us act before it is too late. source: sentine assam