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` During the last few decades, the issue of

corruption - the abuse of public office for
private gain ² has attracted renewed
interest, both among academics and
policymakers.
 
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` mhere are many types of corruption:

 petty corruption, which may be called as survivalist

corruption; and
 grand corruption, which may be called as
consumerist corruption.

` Grand corruption includes political, bureaucratic

(or administrative) and judicial corruption.

` Petty corruption in various sectors of public

domain affects a large segment of the
population.
    
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` |orruption has often been associated with
bribery, but they are not synonymous. Bribery is
more direct and less subtle.

` mhere can be no bribe taker without a bribe

giver, but corruption can and often does exist
even when no bribery occurs.

` A bribe is generally defined as a valuable

consideration in cash or kind given to a person
occupying a position of trust with the intention
of influencing him or her to act in a way
favorable to the interest of the giver.
Ñ   
` Bribes can be given voluntarily ² that is, out of the
desire of the giver ² with the intention of influencing the
receiver to act in a way favorable to the interest of the
giver. Such bribes are invariably given before the
desired service is rendered.

` Bribes can be promised in cash or kinds to influence a

trustee to mis-perform his duties in anticipation of
benefiting from the offer. Such bribes are invariably
given after the desired service has been rendered.

` Sometimes, bribes are paid on demand ² usually

reluctantly for the first time or willingly but grudgingly
subsequently, in response to an informally established
norm - under the threat of the fear of losing access to some
benefit if the demand is not met. This type of bribe could be
labeled extortion.
` Yf all the ways through which a bribe can be given, a
bribe that is paid on demand is the worst form because a
large majority of ordinary people, most of whom cannot
afford to give bribes, suffer grave social injustices as a
result.

` A classic example for this form of bribery is government

hospitals.

` mhe government hospitals are the places where a large

majority of people from poor socio-economic
background seeks health services because they cannot
afford to the health services in private hospitals.

` Unfortunately, in the government hospitals, such people

have to give bribe on demand under the threat of fear of
losing access to some benefit if the demand is not met.
 
 

  
a. When salaries paid to workers are not adequate
to maintain their minimum standard or style of
life they believe they are entitled to, they are
predisposed to accept or extort bribes.
b. Illiteracy is another predisposing factor. In the
states/countries where there is a low literacy
rate, many customers or users of public or
bureaucratic facilities are not conversant with
the rules; therefore, they resort to paying
bribes voluntarily or on demand in order to get
things done for them.
c. Political corruption ² is a distinct category. |orruption
by politicians could be the outcome of the expensive
nature of the elections through which they obtain the
mandate of the people to govern. mhat is, when
elections are expensive, a government invariably starts
office with many of its key people in debt. mhe need to
pay back the huge loans taken to run their campaigns
often leads to extortion of bribes, often in the form of
kickbacks in return for awarding building or other
contracts.
` Yverall, while analyzing the studies on the causes of
corruption, it can be inferred that corruption tends to be
higher in countries:
 at lower levels of economic and human development,
 with lower levels of education,
 limited political rights,
 weak or non-existent political competition,
 a relatively large state role in the economy,
 lower levels of economic freedom and openness,
 ethno-linguistic factionalism,
 the lack of judicial independence and a free press,
 low civil service wages,
 abundant natural resource endowments,
 low levels of interpersonal trust, and
 high levels of permissiveness toward corruption and so on
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`mhis is threatened if there is corruption

`For example, the integrity of our country is threatened by

anti-national militants
 Kashmiri militants in Kashmir
 Agencies like ULFA in the North East.

`Itis the corruption that is creating the problem of security

for people in these areas.

`Areport in ¶mhe Pioneer· some time back said that in the

NorthEast corruption is the main reason for terrorism
mhe Hawala scam showed how Kashmir militants are
getting their funds from the same source namely Hawala
as corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen.

` In a debate of the continuing acts of terrorism in different parts of

the country in a program, ¶Big Fight· in Star m , Shri. K.
Subramanian, the defence expert opined that the main reason why
  
 
          

    
 
    
    


   
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` We can, therefore, see that the first  

 

  

  
     
  

 
  
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|orruption undercuts the macro-economic efficiency,
equity and institutional functions of the government.

G# $
%  &
 Lost revenues (from tax, customs duty etc) and excessively
high expenditure (through corruption loadings on the state
contract)

G#
 
  
    
:
 mhrough abuse of regulatory powers; misprocurements and
other costs imposed by corruption

  
     
   
  


    

  
        


       .
G# |
 
    
 


   

 ia higher taxes than necessary, bribe extraction in

delivery of services and poor quality of and access to
services

G# '


     
&

 |orruption can undermine the rule of law, tax

compliance, respect for contracts, civil order and
safety, and ultimately the legitimacy of the state itself.
 (
 
 






 
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` mhis will be obvious from the fact that according to the

 )*** 
 
+
 , if India·s |orruption
level comes down to that of, (Norway, Sweden etc.)
Scandinavian countries, the GDP will grow by 1.5% and
the FDI will go up by 12%.

` |orruption, therefore, suppress the economic

development of a country.

` |orruption is anti-poor
 Õ

  

   
 Õ

  
 
    
        



    
 


 
   !  !"
` When it comes to the health of the people, many a
time corrupt practices like adulteration of drugs
and food stuff leads to very negative
consequences.

` Some time back there were deaths caused by

adulteration in the mustard oil.

` In different places, there have been illicit liquor

deaths, which again is another form of corruption
in the society.
|

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` mransparency International, India commissioned Y
G
MA
G
esearch Private Limited to conduct a study in
order to assess the presence and extent of corruption in
various sectors of public domain and its impact on people
in India.

` men sectors that have direct bearing on the day-to-day life

of a common man in India were selected for the survey.

` For each of the public services, information was collected

directly from persons who have used the services in the
last one-year (prior to the study period from March-April
2002).

` A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. A

house-to-house survey was carried out for this study
` Some of the key findings of the study included:

 the police sector is perceived to be the most corrupt sector in the

country; and
 health and power sectors are perceived to have the maximum
impact on society taking into consideration their extent of
interaction with the public.

`
egarding the corruption in health sector, it was found

that payment of money through hospital staff is the
dominant irregular process encountered for admission,
followed by direct payments being made.

` Payments made for admission to hospitals are higher in

the South India; 25% of those who had interacted with
the health sector talk of money being demanded and it
was especially high in the South India (38%).
` mhe key actors leading corruption in this sector across
zones are allegedly doctors (77%), followed closely by
hospital staff (67%).

` mhe types of corrupt activities faced in the health sector

were:

 medicine was not supplied properly;

 doctors did not take care properly;
 nurse did not take care properly;
 food was not supplied properly;
 extra money had to be paid for getting medicine;
 medicine had to be bought from designated pharmacy;
 extra money had to be paid for the doctor;
 extra method (help of others) needed for admission in the hospital
and
 additional money had to be paid for admission
` In 2005, |entre for Media Studies in its report on India
|orruption Study 2005: |orruption in Government
Hospitals revealed certain significant findings.

` motal monetary value of petty corruption in Government

Hospitals in the country is estimated to be
s.2017 crore
per annum.

` It is also stated in the report that in addition to the

monetary value, there are various corrupt practices like
doctors asking patients to go to a particular diagnostic
center, over-prescription of drugs, prescribing diagnostic
tests, which may not be necessary etc., where the
monetary value of corruption cannot be directly
ascertained.
` Around 11.3 crore households sought the services of
government hospitals.

` Among those who interacted with government

hospitals, 26.5 per cent (3 crore households) paid bribe.

`
egarding the services for which bribe was paid, getting

admission in the hospital and getting medicines from
government dispensaries were the services for which
most people paid bribe.

` mhe report has also revealed that for all the services,
barring surgical operations, where doctors were paid
bribe directly, it is the hospital staff who were paid
bribes