“Corruption and its effect on the economy of the Nation”

Every media carries with it, news item of corruption plaguing the society. It has become a word synonymous with something sinister and offensive. Corruption is like a multi headed hydra that has reared its ugly heads in various forms in the society.  It has become imperative to understand the various forms in which corruption manifests itself in the Public Service and elsewhere in the society.

 

The road to economic disasters is paved with…“failed anti-corruption campaigns.”  “People need to have a sense that allegations are...acted upon.”
Anti-corruption reforms have a good chance of success only when they are moved by a top leader and persistent enough to overcome bureaucratic resistance and inertia, according to experts. They also have to involve civil society and be free from political manipulation.
But even well-meant efforts are unlikely to meet their goals if basic democratic institutions — from judiciary systems to a civil society — are not in place, said Christiaan Poortman of Transparency International, an anti-corruption group.
“Institutions must not only exist on paper, but also have an actual power to monitor and hold the government accountable.”  Newly elected leaders of countries saddled with a reputation for corruption often loudly declare a war on corruption and set up a commission to implement reforms. Yet many of those efforts fail because they lack crucial political and institutional will, and public officials soon revert to the seven deadly sins of bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft and embezzlement.
President Obama raised the subject when announcing his new strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, saying the Afghan government has been undermined by corruption. Anti-corruption is a tenet of U.S. foreign policy because corrupt practices sabotage development efforts, erode confidence in democratic institutions and ease the way for trans-national criminals and terrorists.
It is important to appreciate the forms of corruption faced by the society in this present day context if we have a mission with a vision to expose wrongdoers.  

The connotations of manifested Corruption identifiable in the present day are:-
a.    Bribery: Bribery involves the promise, offering or giving of a benefit that improperly affects the actions or decisions of a public servant. This benefit may accrue to the public servant, another person or an entity. A variation of this manifestation occurs where a political party or government is offered, promised or given a benefit that improperly affects the actions or decisions of the political party or government. In its most extreme manifestation this is referred to as State Capture, or the sale of Parliamentary votes, Presidential decrees, criminal court decisions and commercial decisions.
b.    Embezzlement: This involves theft of resources by persons entrusted with the authority and control of such resources.
c.    Fraud: This involves actions or behaviours by a public servant, other person or entity that fools others into providing a benefit that would not normally accrue to the public servant, other persons or entity.
d.    Extortion: This involves coercing a person or entity to provide a benefit to a public servant, another person or an entity in exchange for acting (or failing to act) in a particular manner.
e.    Abuse of power: This involves a public servant using his/her vested authority to improperly benefit another public servant, person or entity (or using the vested authority to improperly discriminate against another public servant, person or entity).
f.    Conflict of interest: This involves a public servant acting or failing to act on a matter where the public servant has an interest or another person or entity that stands in a relationship with the public servant has an interest.
g.    Insider trading/ Abuse of privileged information: This involves the use of privileged information and knowledge that public servant posses as a result of his/her office to provide unfair advantage to another person or entity to obtain a benefit, or to accrue a benefit himself/herself.
h.    Favouritism: This involves the provision of services or resources according to personal affiliations (for example ethnic, religious, party political affiliations, etc.) of a public servant.
i.    Nepotism: This involves a public servant ensuring that family members are appointed to public service positions or those family members receive contracts from State resources. This manifestation is similar to conflict of interests and favouritism.

The above illustration of the manifestations of corruption is by no means complete or exhaustive. Corruption appears in permutations and in degrees of intensity. Degrees of intensity vary from the occasional acceptance of bribes to systemic corruption where bribery is the accepted way of “doing business” and large-scale looting of a country’s resources take place. Thus corruption also manifests as personal and political corruption. Corruption increases if left unattended and once this has culminated in systemic corruption it creates an even bigger challenge to address.
Socio-economic conditions, the political-institutional infrastructure, cultural heritage and other factors influence the way in which corruption is perceived and addressed. Whilst corruption seems easily identifiable, the varying perspectives makes it particularly difficult to define corruption and develop appropriate remedies. Such perspectives vary from the Moralist-Normative perspective (corruption is inherently bad), the Functionalist perspective (corruption is ever present in society and not always unwanted), the Public Office-Legalist perspective (legal institutions independent from government is required to combat corruption), the Public Interest-Institutionalist perspective (institutions shape individual corrupt behaviour), the Interest-maximizing perspective (a market centred perspective that accuses officials of converting political resources into goods needed to initiate and maintain corrupt relations) and the Political Economy perspective (State is the mechanism for the accumulation of wealth, especially where indigenous people lack independent access to the economy outside of the State.)
Understanding the dimensions of corruption entails also understanding, what is not corruption? Corruption is often described interchangeably with maladministration, incapacity and inefficiency, especially because public resources are being used.
The deficiency of approaching corruption in this manner is that corruption becomes indefinable and thus impossible to address. Though corruption seems easily identifiable, it is of paramount importance to establish a workable legal definition of corruption, in order to maximize preventative and combating efforts, including the proper arrangement of responsibilities between institutions.
Large-scale corruption by high-level public officials – “Kleptocracy” - is a particular threat for democracy and rule of law in developing countries. Such corruption undermines financial accountability, discourages foreign investment, stifles economic performance, and diminishes trust in legal and judicial systems.
According to the World Bank, $1 trillion is paid every year in bribes, and according to the United Nations, more than $400 billion has been looted from Africa alone and stashed away in foreign countries. Kleptocracy is a development issue, because high-level corruption undermines economic development and renders important issues, such as the fight against poverty, ineffective. In many parts of the world, kleptocrats have lined their own pockets instead of funding development, such as new roads, schools, and hospitals.
In recent years, the United States and its international partners have been developing new ways to deny corrupt officials access to the wealth they have accumulated through corrupt activities, and they have been employing new ways to target their assets.
In 2006, to combat high-level corruption, the United States implemented the National Strategy to Internationalize Efforts Against Kleptocracy. The strategy takes the fight against high-level corruption to a new level by involving U.S. foreign partners and financial institutions in more robust efforts to develop best practices for uncovering and seizing stolen funds, enhance information sharing, and ensure greater accountability for development assistance.
Two crucial aspects of the fight against Kleptocracy are the denial of safe haven to corrupt officials and recovery and proper dispersion of the proceeds of corrupt acts. This is also known as “Assets tracing” where Commonwealth countries have banded together to co-operate and to assist in exposing such hidden assets in their countries.
India as a nation is also concerned with corruption that has pervaded the government as well as the private institution.  It has gone a step ahead in its relentless fight against corruption by passing the Right to Information Act, 2005. This Act is a powerful weapon if used in its proper perspective. It can however be misused to gain certain information to settle scores. However, the merits of the Act simply far out weights the demerits as people have become conscious of their rights about information’s which have  often been cloaked in secrecy as their queries are often stonewalled.   
The Prime Minister of India in his inaugural address in the 17th Biennial Conference of State Anti-Corruption Bureaux and CBI held on 26 & 27.8.2009 at Vigyan Bhawan New Delhi has said “…High-level corruption should be pursued aggressively. There is a pervasive feeling today in our country that while petty cases get tackled quickly, the big fish often escape punishment. This has to change. Rapid, fair and accurate investigation of allegations of corruption in high places should remain your utmost priority. The nation expects you to act firmly, swiftly and without fear or favour. And you have the constitutional and legal protection and safeguards to do so.” In the same line he has further added that;
“…The need is to stay one step ahead of the corrupt. For this, acquisition of new skills, through intensive and regular training, is an absolute pre-requisite. I hope all the agencies present here have already put in place a system of learning and disseminating new ideas and skills for their personnel. It is only a well-trained, well-equipped and well-motivated set of officers who can be equal to the task assigned to them.”
In consideration of the deliberations which focused on such aspects, the following 8 (eight) Resolutions were adopted in the 17th Biennial Conference of State Anti-Corruption Bureaux and CBI held on 26 & 27.8.2009 at Vigyan Bhawan :-

1.    To set up a National Mission against Corruption.
i.    Ministry of Personnel to become the nodal ministry for formulation of recommendations of the Mission and modernization of the State/UTs ACBx and Vigilance Bureaux.
ii.    This mission will focus on the preventive as well as punitive aspect.
iii. A budget of Rs.100 crores to be earmarked for this purpose.

2.    The Govt. of India (GOI) should take measures to ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
3.    Whistle Blower Act to be passed by the Parliament as recommended by the UN Convention against Corruption and directed by the Supreme Court of India. Till the legislation comes up, the present resolution of GOI should be considered for adoption by the State Governments and UTs.
4.    Setting up of a committee at national level under the aegis of DoPT with representatives from State ACBx/ Vigilance Bureaux and CBI to evolve norms for standardization of organizational set up and processes of ACBx/Vigilance Bureaux.
5.    All States to establish adequate number of special courts for the trial of PC Act cases investigated by State ACBx.
6.    Enhanced cooperation between CBI and the State/UTs ACBx/Vigilance Bureaux.
7.    At least 25% Special Incentive Allowance on the lines of CBI is recommended for State and UTs ACBx, Vigilance Bureaux.
8.    Annual Meeting in the Judicial Academy of the three wings (Judiciary, Prosecution, Police and Forensics Science) to enhance sensitivity on the issues of corruption.

 The delegates in the Biennial Conference further adopted a working mechanism between the CBI and the States’s Anti-corruption bureaux & Vigilance Bureaux against corruption in the following fields:   

Enhanced cooperation between CBI & State ACBx (Resolution No. 6)
Evolution of a system of 6 monthly meetings between Heads of State ACBx and Heads of Zones/Branches of CBI to inter alia discuss the following issues:-

 

“ …..In the final analysis, however, there is no better protection against corruption in public life and in public services than an alert civil society. Our Government has empowered civil society through the Right to Information Act. However, it is public minded individuals, NGOs, and the media who have to take the initiative to mobilize people against corruption.”
Dr. ManMohan Singh,
Prime Minister of India. (i)     Sharing of information relating to reputation and integrity of officers working for the Central/State governments.
(ii)        Establishing a mechanism of information sharing regarding Economic       Crimes/Corporate frauds/Regular Bodies.
(iii) Mutually beneficial exchange of information on innovations, standard    operating procedures and best practices on anti-corruption works as well as  various aspects of functioning of vigilance mechanism.
(iv) Creation of a system of sharing of resources and expertise in the field of    training.
(v)    Exchange of knowledge relating to latest scientific aids in investigation of anti-   Corruption cases.
(vi) Exchange of knowledge with regard to advancement made in the digital  analysis, brain mapping, narco analysis, voice spectrography and other related    fields.
(vii) To pursue with the respective Governments to send more and more   Investigating officers on deputation to the CBI.
(viii) Programme of anti-corruption and vigilance work which includes  preparation    of Agreed List of suspected officers, officers of Doubtful Integrity and                Undesirable Contact men.
(ix) Scrutiny of Annual Property Returns of suspected officers and vigilance clearance before appointment to crucial posts.
(x)    Identification of legal hurdles, if any, to drive against the corrupt and to suggest possible remedies.

 

 The investigating agencies is not the sole agency to tackle corruption in public life, it’s action is more of a punitive in nature. In fact the civil society has an even more responsible role to play in exposing the misdeeds indulged in by corrupt elements, which is nakedly destroying the society. The Prime Minister of India has called upon the citizens of India to wake up to this internal threat and fight this menace called corruption, which is gradually eroding the society with its tentacles.