Corruption is often cited as one of the worst ailments afflicting the Indian economy and Indians in general. Eating into the very vitals of the society, this obnoxious practice continues to thrive, defying laws, rules and regulations that are in force. Even those watching Hindi films in which the corrupt seldom go unpunished, believe that nothing happens unless money changes hands.
It is unfortunate that a country that preaches the tenets of Dharma, Righteousness and the best human behaviour, is today an object of ridicule by almost everyone who mentions India by name. Whether those critics themselves subscribe to the endemic corrupt practices would never be known but that is not the point.
The issue here is that just as it takes two to tango and two hands to clap, corruption also has two sides, namely the giver and the taker.
It is impossible to accept the norm that the giver goes scot-free or faces a slap on the wrist. Nothing is ever heard of them.
Many believe that the current wave of corruption sweeping through the Indian horizon clouding everyone including the hundreds of millions of honest people would eventually go, reinstating India to its days of glory that some of us have seen as youngsters.
A beginning has been made but we are sure that this alone would not rid the society of the terrible cancer that it suffers. The campaigns of people like Anna Hazare alone would be insufficient, unless people, including businesses, non-governmental groups, government employees and individuals decide not only to keep their hands clean but also expose those who ask bribes.
Two years ago, an Indian website, ipaidabribe.com, set up by anti-corruption activists, revealed just how grasping officials can be. It documented 8500 instances of bribery adding up to Rs 375 million ($8.25 million) in backhanders. These included Rs 100 ($2.20) to get a policeman to register a complaint about a stolen mobile phone and Rs 500 ($11) for a clerk to hand over a marriage certificate. The amounts are much larger to facilitate income-tax refunds, where the standard ‘charge’ is 10%; sums between Rs 5000 ($110) and Rs 50000 ($1100) change hands.
But such initiatives can do little beyond allowing people to vent their anger about corruption. Kaushik Basu, World Bank Chief Economist and former Chief Economic Adviser to India’s finance ministry, suggested this may be partly because the law treats both bribe-giving and bribe-taking as crimes. This makes it hard to blow the whistle on corrupt officials, because the bribe-giver has also broken the law. If he complains, he risks prosecution or, more likely, being asked for another bribe by the police.
Senior executives of a company could find themselves facing criminal charges for failing to prevent bribery as the government proposes to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act to make such failures an offence.
“Experience has also shown that big-ticket corruption is mostly related to operations by large commercial entities. It is, therefore, also proposed to include corporate failure to prevent bribery as a new offence on the supply side,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a recent gathering of police officers from CBI and state-level anti-corruption bureaus.
The federal government is also examining how the Act can be amended to protect honest public servants more effectively.
India needs to ensure that even while the corrupt are relentlessly pursued and brought to book, the innocent are not harassed.
The importance of making a distinction between bona fide mistakes and colourable exercise of power in investigation of corruption cases cannot be over-emphasised.
