India has become slightly more corrupt since last year. It was ranked 72 in the Corruption Perception Index 2007 and slipped to 85 in the same index for 2008.
What this means is that India's integrity score on a scale of 10 has gone down marginally from 3.5 in 2007 to 3.4 this year. The higher the integrity score, the lower the extent of corruption in a country, says a worldwide report on corruption in 180 nations prepared by the non-profit group Transparency International.
The police, the political establishment and the lower judiciary are the most corrupt institutions in the country. If India wanted to gloat over the fact that it is less corrupt than its neighbours Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, then the sobering news is that Bhutan is ranked 45 and has an integrity score of 5.2.
India and China shared the same rank in 2007 but the communist nation has retained its position of 72 with a slightly higher integrity score of 3.6.
But then did Indians really need Transparency International to tell them that there is corruption in the nation? As one IBNLive reader said: “corruption in India is like common cold, everyone suffers from it and everyone spreads it.”
Is corruption second nature for Indians? CNN-IBN’s Sagarika Ghose asked this on Face The Nation to former central vigilance commissioner N Vittal, senior Supreme Court lawyer Ashok H Desai, and Anupama Jha, executive director of Transparency International.
It pays to be corrupt
"It is very advantageous to be corrupt in India," said Vittal. "Our conviction rate in criminal courts is hardly six per cent. Therefore, corruption is a low-risk and high-profit business."
Corruption is no longer a scandal in the country, said Desai. "Corruption is increasing because we are tolerating corruption. In the old days people would be much more indignant about it (but) today there is a systemic change," he said. “Indians follow the law if it is convenient but not if it is inconvenient and they can get away with it.”
Surely petty corruption—bribing the railway clerk for reserving a train berth, or getting a telephone connection—has decreased in India because of modernisation and privatisation. "No, petty corruption is not declining. Touts at queues in cities have decreased but not in villages," said Jha.
Greasing police, politicians
Police is regarded as the most corrupt government organisation—a grim piece of news at a time when the country is battling terrorism. "There has always been a close link between terrorist activities and corruption,” said Vittal.
“When the hawala case came out it was seen that Kashmiri militants were getting money through the hawala route. In that corruption cycle there were politicians, bureaucrats and terrorists involved. The 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai were helped by corruption in the Customs department," he said.
The sight of three BJP MPs waving wads of currency notes in Parliament and claiming that they had been bribed to vote for the Government played out on national television on July 22. It created a furore but two months later India seems to have forgotten the scandal. Is Indian politics impossible without bribes and black money?
Dirty money is the "contingency fund" of politicians, said Desai. "Most politicians need contingency fund. They require this fund to get themselves and their flock elected, to keep their flock in discipline and lastly to win confidence votes."
Transparency International reckons Indians living below the poverty line paid Rs 9,000 million as bribes in 2007 to avail need-based services. "These services were related to the police, land records, housing, banking, hospitals, PDS, school education, water and so on," said Jha.
That means the poorest of the poor pay have to pay bribes just to survive. Are Indians naturally corrupt or is it just failure of the law?
Don't blame the law but the attitude of the nation, said Desai. "The same laws were applicable to the same people 40-50 years ago. There were role models then who didn't flaunt their wealth. There was a concept of simple life then. Today the collection of money has become a pursuit in itself. If you get into politics, law or medicine the role models are people who earn the most and not necessarily people who show character," he said.
Indians are corrupt because they know the system in their country doesn’t work. "Indians will throw rubbish anywhere in India but not in Singapore because we know that the system works in that country,” said Vittal.
Corruption doesn’t shame Indians, so corruption won’t end.
Source: IBNLive
What this means is that India's integrity score on a scale of 10 has gone down marginally from 3.5 in 2007 to 3.4 this year. The higher the integrity score, the lower the extent of corruption in a country, says a worldwide report on corruption in 180 nations prepared by the non-profit group Transparency International.
The police, the political establishment and the lower judiciary are the most corrupt institutions in the country. If India wanted to gloat over the fact that it is less corrupt than its neighbours Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, then the sobering news is that Bhutan is ranked 45 and has an integrity score of 5.2.
India and China shared the same rank in 2007 but the communist nation has retained its position of 72 with a slightly higher integrity score of 3.6.
But then did Indians really need Transparency International to tell them that there is corruption in the nation? As one IBNLive reader said: “corruption in India is like common cold, everyone suffers from it and everyone spreads it.”
Is corruption second nature for Indians? CNN-IBN’s Sagarika Ghose asked this on Face The Nation to former central vigilance commissioner N Vittal, senior Supreme Court lawyer Ashok H Desai, and Anupama Jha, executive director of Transparency International.
It pays to be corrupt
"It is very advantageous to be corrupt in India," said Vittal. "Our conviction rate in criminal courts is hardly six per cent. Therefore, corruption is a low-risk and high-profit business."
Corruption is no longer a scandal in the country, said Desai. "Corruption is increasing because we are tolerating corruption. In the old days people would be much more indignant about it (but) today there is a systemic change," he said. “Indians follow the law if it is convenient but not if it is inconvenient and they can get away with it.”
Surely petty corruption—bribing the railway clerk for reserving a train berth, or getting a telephone connection—has decreased in India because of modernisation and privatisation. "No, petty corruption is not declining. Touts at queues in cities have decreased but not in villages," said Jha.
Greasing police, politicians
Police is regarded as the most corrupt government organisation—a grim piece of news at a time when the country is battling terrorism. "There has always been a close link between terrorist activities and corruption,” said Vittal.
“When the hawala case came out it was seen that Kashmiri militants were getting money through the hawala route. In that corruption cycle there were politicians, bureaucrats and terrorists involved. The 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai were helped by corruption in the Customs department," he said.
The sight of three BJP MPs waving wads of currency notes in Parliament and claiming that they had been bribed to vote for the Government played out on national television on July 22. It created a furore but two months later India seems to have forgotten the scandal. Is Indian politics impossible without bribes and black money?
Dirty money is the "contingency fund" of politicians, said Desai. "Most politicians need contingency fund. They require this fund to get themselves and their flock elected, to keep their flock in discipline and lastly to win confidence votes."
Transparency International reckons Indians living below the poverty line paid Rs 9,000 million as bribes in 2007 to avail need-based services. "These services were related to the police, land records, housing, banking, hospitals, PDS, school education, water and so on," said Jha.
That means the poorest of the poor pay have to pay bribes just to survive. Are Indians naturally corrupt or is it just failure of the law?
Don't blame the law but the attitude of the nation, said Desai. "The same laws were applicable to the same people 40-50 years ago. There were role models then who didn't flaunt their wealth. There was a concept of simple life then. Today the collection of money has become a pursuit in itself. If you get into politics, law or medicine the role models are people who earn the most and not necessarily people who show character," he said.
Indians are corrupt because they know the system in their country doesn’t work. "Indians will throw rubbish anywhere in India but not in Singapore because we know that the system works in that country,” said Vittal.
Corruption doesn’t shame Indians, so corruption won’t end.
Source: IBNLive
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