The
recent bribery scandal in the defence helicopter deal of 3600 crore rupees has
once again brought the issue of corruption on forefront in India. Interestingly,
the Union Cabinet has accepted 14 out of 16 recommendation of the select
committee for passing the Lokpal bill, meant to tackle corruption in the
country.
It’s
an irony that even a prolonged campaign against corruption last year could not
throw any tangible solution. The matter is bursting at its seams but there is
little hardly any respite to the common man hit hard by such unethical
practices.
India
like many other countries of South and Southeast Asia is grappling with the
problem of corruption. This evil has seeped into every segments of the country,
be it administration, judiciary, legislature, education, health defence or
developmental projects.
Corruption
is mostly attributed to the government functionaries who demand a hefty sum for
getting a simple job being done. The most popular adage is, one has to pay
bribe for getting a birth or death certificate in India.
In 2012 India was ranked 94th out of 176
countries in the corruption list. The Transparency International Corruption
Perceptions Index has found that more than 62% of Indians have first-hand
experience of corruption in getting jobs or work done in public offices.
The
causes of corruption in India include excessive regulations, complicated taxes
and licensing systems, numerous government departments each with opaque
bureaucracy and discretionary powers, monopoly by government controlled
institutions on certain goods and services, delivery, and above all lack of
transparency of laws and processes.
Indian
corruption scenario could be divided into two phases, one before the economic liberalization
in 1990 and second post liberalization.
In
the first phase government nationalized many sectors of the Indian economy to
protect the growth of its nascent industries. Thus began an era of license
permit raj and corruption flourished with impunity. The business -government
nexus developed. Only those who can afford to pay the officials were able to
procure license for doing businesses.
With
the opening up of the economy in 1990 the post liberalization era begun. In
this phase the quantum of corruption multiplied manifold and continues to
increase at an alarming pace.
In
the name of de -regularization and inviting private players, some government
officials indulged in corrupt practices as many players scrambled for favors
through greasing their palms.
The
politicians, the bureaucrats, the middlemen nexus became all pervasive and all
were seen hand in glove to provide fodder to corruption.
As a result, every institution of the
government was infested with the menace of corruption. Even in the private
sector corruption started making its inroads.
Even
though there are many laws and regulations to handle corruption, none seem to
provide any relief to the people. They are all under the control of the
government that’s seen as the engine of corruption.
When
corruption hit the roof as scam after scam started surfacing every now and then
and newspapers littered with corruption stories, common man became restless
what to do, it’s at this point of time
some members of the civil society came forward to launch campaign against corruption.
Anna
Hazare, a prominent Gandhian along with other members of the civil society in
2011, launched a campaign to fight corruption in India. This campaign against
corruption drew huge response and some even called it as second freedom
struggle in the country.
The
anti corruption campaign was essentially to bring a Lokpal bill that would
constitute a separate body comprising prominent members of the civil society to
monitor the corruption cases in the country.
When
the intricacies of this extra constitutional body was discussed and debated in
the backdrop of Parliamentary democracy, the civil society’s campaign against
corruption started receiving a lukewarm response from the masses, which
initially whole heartedly supported the initiative taken by the civil society.
Anna
Hazare ultimately had to withdraw his movement and disband his team that was in
the forefront of this electrifying movement. Later, he made some attempts to
kick start the movement holding a public rally but hardly any enthusiasm was
seen among the general public.
Arvind
Kejrewal, a member of team Anna and Right to Information activist took up the
fight forward and launched a political outfit called ‘Aam Aadmi Party.’ It
remains to be seen how this party fares in the general elections and fulfills
the aspiration of the people.
Meanwhile,
the Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the official version of the Lokpal
and Lokayuktas Bill that it brought in 2011 in wake of Anna Hazare’s agitation.
The government has accepted 14out of 16 suggestions made by the Select
Committee comprising of the members of the Rajya Sabha represented by all major
political parties.
The
bill accepted by the government rejected the core demand of the civil society
making Lokpal appointment free from government control and providing autonomy
to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
No
wonder the members of the civil society have rejected the government’s move to
control corruption as it has failed to address their key demand.
So
in the current situation, neither the government nor the civil society is able
to come up with a plan of action to tackle corruption. The general feeling
among the masses is both have failed to provide concrete solution to address
the core issue. As a result the problem corruption continues to remain as it is
in the country.
Syed
Ali Mujtaba
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