Corruption is a phenomena that affects almost all countries in the world. But in India corruption has a different connotation as it affects all walks of life and and work. It is entrenched most in the lower echelons of the government and state beurocracy. in most countries in the west the lower beurocracy is generally immune to corruption, but in India it is different. Here the lower beurocracy is infected so badly that no work is done till the palm of the concerned clerk or official is greased.
The reason for this twofold. Firstly the wages and living standards of the
working staff is low and the desire to make extra money is basically an avenue to make some extra money to live life more comfortably. The second concerns the lax laws that prevail in the land and a person indulging in corruption invariably gets away and is not punished.An examination of the convictions for corruption since India became free shows that barely the tip of the iceberg is touched and worse the conviction rate is very low and that also mostly takes decades. Thus the deterrent to commit an act of corruption by accepting money is just not there.The organization that is supposed to be the watchdog ofthe nation the police in India is a corrupt force. This is not an understatement, but a fact. Sometime back a supreme court judge had referred to the Indian police force as the epitome of corruption in uniform. This is a sad commentary on the working of a uniform wearing force. One has only to see the traffic constable pocketinga hundered ruppee note openly to realize that the men who are to police the nation are themselves corrupt. Thus the entire fight against corruption becomes a non-starter.
What is the solution? Anna hazare has suggested aLok Pal bill with the lower beurocracy included in it. This is just one part othe solution, but corruption will not go away, till the IPC and the criminal procedure code are also amended. It is a boiling cauldron and I am afraid as things stand the common Indian citizen will continue to have to shell out crisp notes to get any job done.
