Thursday, November 25, 2010

corruption: (Indian context essay)

There is no doubt that corruption is one of the biggest obstacles to the country's growth since independence. Corruption , over the last 60 odd years has deeply entrenched itself in every segment of Indian society.Earlier corruption was more synonymous with Government departments and officials.But today even their private sector has joined the race .

Dictionary definitions for corruption range from "lack of integrity or honesty" to "use of a position of trust for dishonest gain".For the Indian common man,corruption for decades was symbolized by the 'babu' of a government office.For any kind of work that needed to be got done from him, he had to be bribed.It did not matter whether the job was perfectly legal and part of his duty, or whether it was an illegal action that that required him to flout the laws.
The 'Babu' then went on to amass a large amount of wealth and lead a luxurious lifestyle.This model of corruption was seen in every sphere of activity, right from the sanctioning of loans to giving licenses, even for the booking of railway tickets. This was the story of the past.


Arrive 21st century. In the new age of globalization, where India has become an aspiring superpower with the second fastest growing economy in the world,Indian companies are raking in millions.Indian firms have globalized their operations and expanded their businesses to unprecedented levels. Sadly , this has led to a more devastating  form of corruption called 'corporate corruption'.While the old corrupt babu of the olden days dealt with thousands of lakhs of rupees, these high-flying modern corporates eat away millions.The most shocking case of recent times was that of the scam in the IT major Satyam.The corporates breed in many ways like tampering with their account books, evading taxes, showing inflated profit margins, bribing government officials to obtain permits and licenses  and manipulating the share market.Further by bribing  government officials for each of their needs the have also taken government level corruption to new level.The Cancer has now spread from the ministers to the bureaucrats ,the armed forces and even the judiciary. The latest corruption case like the 2G telecom scam, the commonwealth games scam and the housing society scams would put even the most backward militarist African nations to shame.
If all this money is put to use for developments purposes, we could easily feed our poor, treat our sick children build houses, roads and what not?




Some promising steps to root out corruption have come from successive governments recently.The CBI, Enforcement directorate, and Vigilance department have been given extra powers to tackle this menace.Government departments have put in place processes to ensure transparency in their work. Officials are much more fearful than before about getting caught for corruption.The Media's role in highlighting corruption needs to be praised.A number of Investigative journalists through thier sting operations and reports have nailed down quite a few high profile individuals indulging in corruption.They have helped in instilling the fear factor among everyone.But still a lot more needs to  be done, especially to nab the officials at the higher levels and the corporate scamsters.




Each one of us can help in rooting out corruption by simply refusing to pay bribes to anyone, no matter how urgent our need is.With earnest efforts from the government  along with public cooperation , we can hope to drive out corruption from our country one day and ensure a better future for the coming generations.

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