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write a note on corruption ,its causes, consequences, ways of eradicating ,etc.
Corruption is not a new phenomenon in India. It has been prevalent in society since ancient times. History reveals that it was present even in the Mauryan period. Great scholar Kautilya mentions the pressure of forty types of corruption in his contemporary society. It was practised even in Mughal and Sultanate period. When the East India Company took control of the country, corruption reached new height. Corruption in India has become so common that people now are averse to thinking of public life with it. Corruption has been defined variously by scholars. But the simple meaning of it is that corruption implies perversion of morality, integrity, character or duty out of mercenary motives, i.e. bribery, without any regard to honour, right and justice. In other words, undue favour for any one for some monetary or other gains is corruption. Simultaneously, depriving the genuinely deserving from their right or privilege is also a corrupt practice. Shrinking from one’s duty or dereliction of duty are also forms of corruption. Besides, thefts, wastage of public property constitute varieties of corruption. Dishonesty, exploitation, malpractices, scams and scandals are various manifestations of corruption.

Corruption is not a uniquely Indian phenomenon. It is witnessed all over the world in developing as well as developed countries. It has spread its tentacles in every sphere of life, namely business administration, politics, officialdom, and services. In fact, there is hardly any sector which can be characterised for not being infected with the vices of corruption. Corruption is rampant in every segment and every section of society, barring the social status attached to it. Nobody can be considered free from corruption from a high ranking officer.

The main causes of corruption in India are:

1. Continuation of confused Nehruvian Socialism for the last a few decades and hypocrisy of current Liberalism when large scale leaking subsidies still continue.
 
2. Weak and ineffective Local governments inspite of Amendments 73 and 74 to Constitution of India
 
3. Fixed and purchased vote bank with manipulated Voters lists.
 
4. Rusted and fargile steel frame of outdated colonial model of IAS Bureaucracy.
 
5. Our fundamental rules in governance, Police, Co-operative and other welfare Societies etc are still based on 1860 Act as amended but not implemented.
 
6. Our private schools/colleges obtain signatures for higher UGC scale salary but pay nearly 50% of the amount. Thus Corrupt teachers/Professors/ management etc are running the schools/colleges.

7. In I.A.S officers Training Academy (LBSNAA) corruption is prevailing and brought to the notice of Cabinet Scy, Prime Minister etc.They are all closing their eyes to save their IAS colleague in LBSNAA.
 
8. The subsidised domestic LPG  cylinders are sold to commercial organisation/hotels etc at much higher rate in the presence of law enforcing agencies, no one stops this for their corrupt material gain. All the Deputy Commissioners of major districts know about it but are helpless.
 
9. First the government recovers TDS at much higher percentage and when question of Refund comes, for years Refund is not given unless some fixed% is given to Income Tax officials. If you complain there is more harassment in future to make you run from pillar to post.  
 
10. Our spiritual gururs openly accept donation of Black money. Neither the donor want receipt nor Gurus are keen to give receipts.

Corruption is believed to have a detrimental effect on economic development and hence social welfare. Many studies examine the relationship between corruption and economic growth since there is indeed a debate on the effect of corruption on economic growth. Some scholars argue that corruption may improve efficiency and hence promote economic growth by allowing enterprisers to circumvent cumbersome regulations with bribes especially in developing countries. However, the majority of literature insists that corruption lowers economic growth because it may reduce the incentive of private investment (Bardhan, 1997), distort public investment decisions and induce talented people into rent-seeking activities (Murphy, Shleifer and Vishny, 1991). Most empirical studies indeed support the fact that corruption impedes economic growth mainly through channels of investment, openness and political instability.

Specifically, corruption is found to reduce foreign direct investment  because high corruption in host countries may imply high expropriation risk. On the other hand, corruption may distort public investment. According to Mauro , corrupt politicians may increase public expenditure easy to collect bribes, while decreasing expenditure providing fewer bribery opportunities. Furthermore he empirically observes that corruption significantly reduces public expenditure on education.

Eradicating corruption

The first tool is ‘education’. With the help of education we can reduce corruption. According to a survey conducted by India today the least corrupt state is Kerala, the reason being that in Kerala literacy rate is highest in India. So we can see how education effects education. In most of the states, normally a fairly large number of people are uneducated. Those who are uneducated do not know about the process, provisions and procedures through which they can get justice. Corrupt public servants try to make fool of them and often demands for bribe. It is due to unawareness in the field of law, public rights and procedures thereof that a common and an uneducated suffer out of the corrupt society. This suggests that if we are educated, we can understand our rights well.
We need to change the government processes. If the members of the governing body are government officials, there will certainly be less reports of the criminal cases. The reverse may be possible only when there are no more criminal politician in our government. The provision is that, if there is any case filed against a person then he would not be eligible for election. But if we see hundred politicians then about sixty percent of them would be criminal in nature. If these criminal politicians command us and make laws, what types of law would be formed, we can guess! Thus during election, we should keep in mind the person for whom we shall not vote. In India there is a provision that no person as a criminal shall be allowed as a Member of Parliament or member of legislative. Unfortunately a fairly large number of them are a part of it.

We can reduce corruption by increasing direct contact between government and the governed. E-governance could help a lot towards this direction. In a conference on, ”Effects of Good Governance and Human Rights” organized by National Human Right Commission, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam gave an example of Delhi metro rail system and online railway reservation as good governance and said that all the lower courts should follow the explanation of the Supreme Court and High Court and make the judgments online. Similarly, Sivraj Patil said that the Right to information should be used for transparency. We have legal rights to know any information. According to this act, (Right to Information act 2005), generally people should follow the procedure of law given to then when their work is not being implemented in a proper way in public services. This act is a great help in the order to control corruption.
Lack of effective corruption treatment is another reason. That means, instruments which are in use, are not running properly. For example Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 came into force on 9th September, 1988. But corruption is still flourishing. Why? Because of weak actions and proceedings towards corrupt people. People don’t have any fear of this act and the court. The act may thus be revised for its better implementation.
Lack of transparency and professional accountability is yet another big reason. We should be honest to ourselves. Until and unless we will not be honest, we can’t control corruption. If each of us is honest towards our profession, then corruption will automatically decrease. We need to pay attention towards professional accountability i.e., how much we are faithful and truthful towards our profession. Corruption may be controlled by handling five major professions: lekhpal, medical, revenue, police and judicial.


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