रविवार, 11 अगस्त 2013

Bureaucracy And Corruption In India

Bureaucracy and corruption in India are closely connected.  A non-government organization with the name of Transparency International conducted a survey and studied various aspects of behavior of bureaucracy, the common citizens, politicians etc. and concluded that more than half of the Indian population had actually given or taken bribes and had required pressure tactics that were applied by means of bribery, to see that a legitimate or illegitimate work in a public department was done.

The connection between Bureaucracy and corruption in India is so strong that the same NGO  surveyed several countries of Asia such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia  and India  and found that India was at the bottom of the list and also that it was  very difficult to work  with the Indian Bureaucracy.

Land And Property
The nexus between the Bureaucracy and corruption in India is evident in villages, towns and cities of India where several scams come to light and several others happen but are not known to the public, about public land being stolen for personal use or illegally sold or occupied by officers from all strata of the bureaucracy.

Tendering Processes And Awarding Contracts
The Indian Government needs many things for its smooth operation which are acquired from private entrepreneurs through a system of tendering. Public Tendering processes are supposed to be fair and transparent so that the products bought are of the best quality for the best price. The Bureaucracy is in charge of initiating and going through the whole process of tendering, negotiating and awarding contracts to enterprises who bid in the tenders. The discretion to choose one vendor over another lies with the officers of the concerned Government department  and more often than naught, unfair and illegal preference is shown to some bidders for a consideration without giving weightage to  quality and delivery time etc.
The nexus between corrupt officers of the bureaucracy and politicians and big infrastructure developers, contractors and suppliers has resulted in poor and sub-standard construction of roads and highways that are damaged within no time.

Medicine
Even in essential services such as health care and supply of medicines etc. the bad connection between the Indian bureaucracy and corruption in India is seen.  Government-run Hospitals and clinics that are supposed to give free or highly subsidized health care services to the under-privileged are found without medicines or doctors and getting treatment in these Government run hospitals is sometimes impossible without bribing the medical staff through touts.

Income Tax Department
The Income tax Department is most susceptible to corruption because evasion of income tax is rampant among the tax-payers of India who would rather bribe the income-tax officials than pay the taxes due. This department is well known for corruption as the class of people that are offering the bribes for favors is the tax-paying elite. No wonder large sums of money are given as bribes at the cost of the Exchequer.  

Preferential Award Of Public Resources
The connection between Bureaucracy and corruption in India is strong wherever the government officials have the authority to grant or apportion public land or some such resources of the country. When granting large contracts for mining or drilling oil or licenses of 2G spectrum, corruption of a very high degree is common because the private enterprises would benefit greatly from getting these public contracts and the bribes are proportionate to the projected earnings. The beneficiaries of these contracts get favorable working conditions and other benefits in return of bribes given.

Driver Licensing

Agents and touts and intermediaries abound in the proximity of the offices of  Licensing Authority that grants driving licenses.  The process of getting a driver’s license which should be based on the driver’s ability to drive a vehicle safely and know all the traffic rules is completely subjugated and for a paltry sum paid as bribes through touts, incapable drivers are granted driving licenses. The result is clearly seen on Indian roads which have a very high rate of accidents and fatalities.

कोई टिप्पणी नहीं:

एक टिप्पणी भेजें

कुल पेज दृश्य