Corruption in India

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Overview of the index of perception of corruption, 2010.

Political corruption

Corruption Perceptions Index, 2010

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Political, bureaucratic, corporate and individual corruption in India are major concerns. A 2005 study conducted by Transparency International in India found that more than 45% of Indians had first-hand experience of paying bribes or influence peddling to get jobs done in public offices successfully.[1][2] Transparency International estimates that truckers pay US$5 billion in bribes annually.[3] In 2010 India was ranked 87th out of 178 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

Contents
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1 Overview 2 History 3 Politics 4 Bureaucracy o 4.1 Land and property o 4.2 Tendering processes and awarding contracts o 4.3 Medicine o 4.4 Income tax Department o 4.5 Preferential award of public resources 5 Corporate Corruption 6 Fake Papers 7 Judiciary 8 Armed forces 9 Right to information act 10 Ombudsmen 11 Whistleblowers 12 Anti-corruption police and courts 13 Anti-corruption organizations 14 Effects of corruption 15 See also 16 References 17 Further reading 18 External links

[edit] Overview
The year 2011 has proved to be a watershed in the public tolerance of political corruption in India, with widespread public protests and movements led by social activists against corruption and for the return of illegal wealth stashed by politicians and businessmen in foreign banks over the six decades since independence.

Criminalization is also a serious problem in contemporary Indian politics.[4] In July 2008 The Washington Post reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, "including human trafficking, immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder".[5] India tops the list for black money in the entire world with almost US$1456 billion in Swiss banks (approximately USD 1.4 trillion) in the form of black money.[6] According to the data provided by the Swiss Banking Association Report (2006), India has more black money than the rest of the world combined.[7][8] Indian-owned Swiss bank account assets are worth 13 times the countrys national debt.[9] The recent scams involving unimaginably big amounts of money, such as the 2G spectrum scam, are well known. It is estimated that more than trillion dollars are stashed away in foreign havens, while 80% of Indians earn less than 2$ per day and every second child is malnourished. It seems as if only the honest people are poor in India and want to get rid of their poverty by education, emigration to cities, and immigration, whereas all the corrupt ones, like Hasan Ali Khan are getting rich through scams and crime. It seems as if India is a rich country filled with poor people",[10] the organisers of Dandi March II in the United States said.[11] The Comptroller and Auditor General of India said, As on March 31, 2010, unutilised committed external assistance was of the order of Rs.1,05,339 crore.[12] The chief economic consequences of corruption are the loss to the economy an unhealthy climate for investment and an increase in the cost of government-subsidized services. The Transparency International India study estimates the monetary value of petty corruption in 11 basic services provided by the government, like education, healthcare, judiciary, police, etc., to be around 21,068 crore (US$4.7 billion). India still ranks in the bottom quartile of developing nations in terms of the ease of doing business, and compared to China and other lower developed Asian nations, the average time taken to secure the clearances for a startup or to invoke bankruptcy is much greater.

[edit] History
The economy of India was under socialist-inspired policies for an entire generation from the 1950s until the late 1980s. The economy was characterized by extensive regulation, protectionism, and public ownership, policies vulnerable to pervasive corruption and slow growth.[13][14][15][16] License Raj was often at the core of corruption. The Vohra Report, submitted by the former Indian Union Home Secretary, N.N. Vohra, in October 1993, studied the problem of the criminalisation of politics and of the nexus among criminals, politicians and bureaucrats in India. The report contained several observations made by official agencies on the criminal network which was virtually running a parallel government. It also discussed criminal gangs who enjoyed the patronage of politicians of all political parties and the

protection of government functionaries. It revealed that political leaders had become the leaders of gangs. They were connected to the military. Over the years criminals had been elected to local bodies, State Assemblies, and even the Parliament. The unpublished annexures to the Vohra Report are believed to contain highly explosive material. According to Jitendra Singh, "in the bad old days, particularly pre-1991, when the License Raj held sway, and by design, all kinds of free market mechanisms were hobbled or stymied, and corruption emerged almost as an illegitimate price mechanism, a shadowy quasi-market, such that scarce resources could still be allocated within the economy, and decisions could get made. ... These were largely distortions created by the politico-economic regime. While a sea change has occurred in the years following 1991, some of the distorted cultural norms that took hold during the earlier period are slowly being repaired by the sheer forces of competition. The process will be long and slow, however. It will not change overnight."[17] One of the major problems and obstacles to development that many developing countries face is corruption by greedy, power-hungry politicians, which is endemic in certain parts of the world.

[edit] Politics
As of December 2008, 120 of India's 522 parliament members were facing criminal charges.[4] Many of the biggest scandals since 2010 have involved very high levels of government, including Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers, such as in the 2G spectrum scam, the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam and the Adarsh Housing Society scam,mining scandal in Karnataka and cash for vote scam.

[edit] Bureaucracy
A 2005 study done by Transparency International (TI) in India found that more than 50% of the people had firsthand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office.[2] Taxes and bribes are common between state borders; Transparency International estimates that truckers pay annually US$5 billion in bribes.[3] A 2009 survey of the leading economies of Asia, revealed Indian bureaucracy to be not just least efficient out of Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines and Indonesia; further it was also found that working with India's civil servants was a "slow and painful" process.[18]

[edit] Land and property

Officials often steal state property. In cities and villages throughout India, consisting of municipal and other government officials, elected politicians, judicial officers, real estate developers and law enforcement officials, acquire, develop and sell land in illegal ways.
[19]

[edit] Tendering processes and awarding contracts

Government officials having discretionary powers in awarding contracts engage in preferential treatment for selected bidders and display negligence in quality control processes[citation needed]. Many state-funded construction activities in India, such as road building, are dominated by construction mafias, which are groupings of corrupt public works officials, materials suppliers, politicians and construction contractors.[20] Shoddy construction and material substitution (e.g. mixing sand in cement while submitting expenses for cement) result in roads and highways being dangerous, and sometimes simply washed away when India's heavy monsoon season arrives.[21]

[edit] Medicine
In Government Hospitals, corruption is associated with non availability of medicines (or duplicate/fake medicines), getting admission, consultations with doctors and availing diagnostic services.[2] There have been cases of diversion of medical supplies from government hospitals and clinics[citation needed] as well as supply and distribution of medicines of inferior quality[citation needed]

[edit] Income tax Department

There have been several cases of collusion of officials of the income tax department of India for a favorable tax treatment in return for bribes[22][23]

[edit] Preferential award of public resources

See also: Illegal mining in India As detailed earlier, land in areas with short supply is relatively common with government entities awarding public land to private concerns at negligible rates. Other examples include the award of mining leases to private companies without a levy of taxes that is proportionate to the market value of the ore[citation needed].

[edit] Corporate Corruption

Less stressed, but no less important, is the supply side of corruption (in which the payer of the bribe gets to evade regulation and taxation). Business owners often bribe public officials to sabotage processes (while keeping most of the proceeds thereof with themselves), and at other times to evade prosecution for illegal acts. Also noteworthy are stock market scams, fleecing of consumers, adulterated and sub-standard products by businesses, fake medicines, environmental damage by industries via evasion of environmental regulation, and so on.

[edit] Fake Papers

There is a widespread use of fake documents for getting privileges which are otherwise unavailable to an individual or a business. Indian visa applications to foreign embassies

are routinely hauled up for using fake educational degrees, fake financial statements, etc. Indians routinely lie about their date of birth to comply with school admission guidelines or to evade the statutory retirement age.

[edit] Judiciary
According to Transparency International, judicial corruption in India is attributable to factors such as "delays in the disposal of cases, shortage of judges and complex procedures, all of which are exacerbated by a preponderance of new laws".[24]

[edit] Armed forces

The Indian Armed Forces have frequently witnessed corruption involving senior armed forces officers from the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. Many officers have been caught for allegedly selling defence stores in the black market in the border districts of Indian states and territories. Recent sukhna land scandal involving four Indian Lieutenant Generals has shaken public faith in the country's growing military at a time when large sums are being spent on modernising the armed forces. A string of eyepopping fraud cases has damaged the institution in recent years.[25][26][27] The latest Adarsh land scam is another example of the nexus between the armed forces , bureaucracy and the politicians in the embezzlement of government property.

[edit] Right to information act

Main article: Right to Information Act The Right to Information Act (2005) and equivalent acts in the states, that require government officials to furnish information requested by citizens or face punitive action, computerization of services and various central and state government acts that established vigilance commissions have considerably reduced corruption or at least have opened up avenues to redress grievances.[2][28] The 2006 report by Transparency International puts India at the 70th place and states that significant improvements were made by India in reducing corruption.[29][30]

[edit] Ombudsmen
Main article: 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement The Lokayukta is an anti- corruption organization in the Indian states.[31][32] These institutions are based on the Ombudsman in Scandinavian countries. An amendment to the Constitution has been proposed to implement the Lokayukta uniformly across Indian States as a three-member body, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or high court chief justice, and comprise of the state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator as other members.[33]

Social welfare worker Anna Hazare has led a movement to compel the Indian Government to notify the Committee for the implementation of the Lokayukta against corruption as an independent body and also giving enough powers to the Lokayukta to also receive corruption complaints against politicians, bureaucrats and even sitting judges. Anna Hazare is currently pursuing an agenda to pass a bill called Jan Lokpal bill, and he has gathered the support of many citizens residing in metropolitan cities of India. He was on an indefinite fast at the Ramlila Grounds, Delhi, in order to campaign for the cause.[34]

[edit] Whistleblowers
See also: Whistleblower protection in India and Whistleblower protection act (India) Whistleblowers play a major role in the fight against corruption. India currently does not have a law to protect whistleblowers, which was highlighted by the assassination of Satyendra Dubey. Indian courts are regularly ordering probe in cases of murders or socalled suicide of several whistle blowers. One of the latest case of such murder is of V Sasindran Company Secretary of Palakkad based Malabar Cement Limited, a Government company in Kerala and his two minor children, Kerala High Court ordered CBI probe on 18 February 2011. Initially, CBI showed its unwillingness for probing into such cases citing over-burden as a reason.

[edit] Anti-corruption police and courts

The income tax department of India, Central Vigilance Commission and Central Bureau of Investigation all deal with anti-corruption initiatives. There have been calls for the Indian government to create an anti-theft law enforcement agency that investigates and prosecutes corruption in government at national, state and local levels.[citation needed] Special courts that are more efficient than the traditional Indian courts with traveling judges and law enforcement agents are being proposed.[citation needed] The proposal has not yet been acted upon by the Indian government.[citation needed] Certain states such as Andhra Pradesh (Andhra Pradesh Anti-corruption Bureau) and Karnataka (Lokayukta) have similar agencies and courts.[35][31]

[edit] Anti-corruption organizations

A variety of organizations have been created in India to actively fight against corrupt government and business practices. Notable organizations include:

5th Pillar is most known for the creation of the zero rupee note, a valueless note designed to be given to corrupt officials when they request bribes. India Against Corruption is a movement created by a citizens from a variety of professions and statuses to work against corruption in India. It is currently headed by Anna Hazare.[36]

Jaago Re! One Billion Votes is an organization originally founded by Tata Tea and Janaagraha to increase youth voter registration.[37] They have since expanded their work to include other social issues, including corruption.[38] Association for Social Transparency, Rights And Action (ASTRA) is an NGO focused on grass-roots work to fight corruption in Karnataka.

One organization, the Lok Satta Movement, has transformed itself from a civil organization to a full-fledged political party, the Lok Satta Party. The party has fielded candidates in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Bangalore. In 2008, it obtained its first elected post, when Jayaprakash Narayan won the election for the Kukatpally Assembly Constituency in Andrha Pradesh.

[edit] Effects of corruption

According to a report by KPMG, "high-level corruption and scams are now threatening to derail the country's credibility and [its] economic boom".[39]