Introduction

It is not easy to define corruption. But in a narrow sense, corruption is mostly concerned with bribery
and it takes several forms. Corruption is a global phenomenon and it is omnipresent. Corruption has
progressively increased and is now rampant in our society.

National scenario
Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between Bureaucracy, politics and criminals. India is
now no longer considered a soft state. It has now become a consideration state where everything can be
had for a consideration. Today, the number of ministers with an honest image can be counted on fingers.
At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now bribe is paid for getting right things
done at right time.

Effects of corruption
Indian administration is tainted with scandals. India is among 55 of the 106 countries where corruption
is rampant, according to the Corruption Perception Index 2004 Report released by Transparency
International India. Corruption in India leads to promotion not prison. It is very difficult to catch big sharks.
Corruption in India has wings not wheels. As nation grows, the corrupt also grow to invent new methods
of cheating the government and public.

Causes of corruption
The causes of corruption are many and complex. Following are some of the causes of corruption :

· Emergence of political elite who believe in interest-oriented rather than nation-oriented programmes and
policies.

· Artificial scarcity created by the people with malevolent intentions wrecks the fabric of the economy.

· Corruption is caused as well as increased because of the change in the value system and ethical
qualities of men who administer. The old ideals of morality, service and honesty are regarded as an
achronistic.

· Tolerance of people towards corruption, complete lack of intense public outcry against corruption and
the absence of strong public forum to oppose corruption allow corruption to reign over people.

· Vast size of population coupled with widespread illiteracy and the poor economic infrastructure lead to
endemic corruption in public life.

· In a highly inflationary economy, low salaries of government officials compel them to resort to the road of
corruption. Graduates from IIMs with no experience draw a far handsome salary than what government
secretaries draw.

· Complex laws and procedures alienate common people to ask for any help from government.

· Election time is a time when corruption is at its peak level. Big industrialist fund politicians to meet high
cost of election and ultimately to seek personal favour. Bribery to politicians buys influence, and bribery
by politicians buys votes. In order to get elected, politicians bribe poor illiterate people, who are slogging
for two times meal.
Measures to combat corruption
Is it possible to contain corruption in our society? Corruption is a cancer, which every Indian must
strive to cure. Many new leaders when come into power declare their determination to eradicate
corruption but soon they themselves become corrupt and start amassing huge wealth.

There are many myths about corruption, which have to be exploded if we really want to combat it.
Some of these myths are: Corruption is a way of life and nothing can be done about it. Only people from
underdeveloped or developing countries are prone to corruption. We will have to guard against all these
crude fallacies while planning measures to fight corruption.

· Foolproof laws should be made so that there is no room for discretion for politicians and bureaucrats.
The role of the politician should be minimized. Application of the evolved policies should be left in the
hands of independent commission or authority in each area of public interest. Decision of the commission
or authority should be challengeable only in the courts.

· Cooperation of the people has to be obtained for successfully containing corruption. People should have
a right to recall the elected representatives if they see them becoming indifferent to the electorate.

· Funding of elections is at the core of political corruption. Electoral reforms are crucial in this regard.
Several reforms like: State funding of election expenses for candidates; strict enforcement of statutory
requirements like holding in-party elections, making political parties get their accounts audited regularly
and filing income-tax returns; denying persons with criminal records a chance to contest elections, should
be brought in.

· Responsiveness, accountability and transparency are a must for a clean system. Bureaucracy, the
backbone of good governance, should be made more citizen friendly, accountable, ethical and
transparent.

· More and more courts should be opened for speedy & inexpensive justice so that cases dont linger in
courts for years and justice is delivered on time.

· Local bodies, Independent of the government, like Lokpals, Lokadalats, CVCs and Vigilance
Commissions should be formed to provide speedy justice with low expenses.

· A new Fundamental Right viz. Right to Information should be introduced, which will empower the
citizens to ask for the information they want. Barring some confidential information, which concerns
national and international security, other information should be made available to general public as and
when required. Stringent actions against corrupt officials will certainly have a deterrent impact.

Conclusion
Corruption is an intractable problem. It is like diabetes, can only be controlled, but not totally
eliminated. It may not be possible to root out corruption completely at all levels but it is possible to contain
it within tolerable limits. Honest and dedicated persons in public life, control over electoral expenses could
be the most important prescriptions to combat corruption. Corruption has a corrosive impact on our
economy. It worsens our image in international market and leads to loss of overseas opportunities.
Corruption is a global problem that all countries of the world have to confront, solutions, however, can
only be home grown. We have tolerated corruption for so long. The time has now come to root it out from
its roots.

Political corruption in India is a major concern. A 2005 study done by Transparency International in India
found that more than 75% of the people had firsthand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to
get any type of job done in a public office.[1][2] However, according to Transparency International's
Corruption Perception Index (CPI), India is one of the least corrupt governments in South Asia. It has a
CPI score of 3.3 (rank 87th), compared to Pakistan (2.3, rank 143th), Bangladesh (2.4, rank 134th), Nepal
(2.2, rank 146th), and Sri Lanka (3.2, rank 92nd) in 2010[3]. Taxes and bribes are a daily life fact,
common between state borders; Transparency International estimates that truckers pay annually US$5
billion in bribes.[4] For 2010, India was ranked 87th of 178 countries in Transparency International's
Corruption Perceptions Index, with a CPI score of 3.3, which is a slight worsening of its 2009 score of 3.4
(rank 84th)[5]. India compares favorably with other BRIC countries, with China having a CPI score of 3.5
(decreasing from 3.6 in 2009) rank 78th, Brazil 3.7 (rank 69th), and Russia 2.1 (rank 154th, the worst of
the BRICs) [6].

Criminalization of Indian politics is a major setback as well as a serious problem.[7][8] 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".[9] An
international watchdog conducted a study on the illicit flight of money from India, perhaps the first ever
attempt at shedding light on a subject steeped in secrecy, concludes that India has been drained of $462
billion (over Rs 20 lakh crore) between 1948 and 2008. The amount is nearly 40% of India's gross
domestic product.[10].

Overview of the index of perception of corruption, 2010Contents [hide]

1 History
1.1 Politics
1.2 Bureaucracy
1.2.1 Land and property
1.2.2 Tendering processes and awarding contracts
1.2.3 Medicine
1.2.4 Death Certificates
1.2.5 Transport
1.2.6 Income tax
1.2.7 Preferential award of public resources
1.3 Judiciary

1.4 Armed forces

1.5 Police
1.6 Religious institutions
2 Anti-corruption efforts
2.1 Right to information act
2.2 Ombudsmen
2.3 Whistleblowers
2.4 Creation of Anti-Corruption Police and Courts
2.5 Private sector initiatives
3 See also
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links
6.1 Indian government

[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 subject to extensive regulation, protectionism, and public ownership,
leading to pervasive corruption and slow growth.[11][12][13][14] License Raj was often at the core of
corruption.

The Vohra Report was submitted by the former Indian Union Home Secretary, N.N. Vohra, in October
1993. It 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
CWG scam|Commonwealth Games Probe|CBI case against AM Films|Am Cars
CBI registers two cases in CWG scam
NEW DELHI: The CBI on Monday registered two cases in connection with alleged irregularities during the
Queen's Baton's Relay in London and carried out searches at CWG Organising Committee's office and at
residences of some of its former officials.

The two cases were registered against London-based AM Films and AM Car, which had been given
contracts for the Baton Relay, official sources said.

The searches were conducted at the residence of T S Darbari, joint director general of the
Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, Sanjay Mahendroo, OC deputy director-general, and Raj
Singh, a Director level officer in the OC, they said.
CVC confirms corruption in 2G Spectrum allocations to Telecom companies.

The Chief Vigilance Commissioner has confirmed large-scale irregularities by the Telecom department in
awarding licences for 2G spectrum services, and said it would soon fix responsibility for the lapses. In an
exclusive interview to The Pioneer, CVC Pratyush Sinha said his organisation had found “gross violation”
in the “non-transparent” methods adopted in licence allotments.
The Pioneer had through a series of reports recently exposed violation of rules and regulations in the 2G
issue and the role allegedly played by the Telecom Ministry headed by the DMK’s A Raja.“We have found
that there were gross violations and non-transparent activities in the allocation of 2G spectrum. Basically,
the violations are: Granting licences on first-come- first-serve basis; licences being issued in 2008 at
prices fixed in 2001, companies such as Swan and Unitech offloading their shares at whopping prices to
foreign companies soon after the licences were awarded to them,” said the CVC. He said these steps had
led to heavy losses for the national exchequer.

Sinha wondered why the Telecom department had not opted for the auction route. “The Telecom
department says they had adhered to the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) guidelines. We
found this version totally wrong. The department had used cherry-picking or pick-and-choose theory suit
to their intentions. They selectively picked TRAI recommendations that suited them,” he said.

“We had already sent our findings to the department for clarification and fixing responsibility. We are not
at all satisfied with their clarification and justification on the allocation 2G spectrum,” said the CVC, adding
that they were in the process of “fixing responsibility”. The CVC also blamed the department for not
insisting on a ‘lock-in period’ for the licence-holders to prevent speculative sales. In its report, the CVC
blamed the department for exclusion of clauses in the licence agreement that would have prevented
‘offloading' of shares by the company.

The controversy over 2G spectrum allocation broke out when the Telecom department gave licences to
new players like Swan and Unitech in October last year. These two real estate developers bagged the
licences at throwaway prices. Swan got the licence for Rs1,537 crore for starting telecom operations in 13
circles in mid-2008. Within months, Swan offloaded its 45 per cent of the share to UAE-based Etisalat for
Rs 4,500 crore, making a whopping profit.