The endemic corruption in India has made many a commoner throw up her/his hands in complete despair, again. At the AICC session today, absolutely no mention was made of the huge corruption and mismanagement scams that have hit the Congress at the center and the states, especially in Maharashtra – and the spokespersons even went on to say the “no one needs any reminder” of the endemic corruption!
How can you blame the common man from being completely disgusted with the Congress or its Governments in the last 63 years?
But the subject of endemic corruption is the least understood by the common man who is also its most affected victim. This total ignorance of how such endemic corruption works is at the root of peoples’ despair and disgust, instead of driving them to an action oriented public campaign. Instead, they are diverted to discussing completely ineffective remedies, like they have been doing, for some six decades now. To understand the basis of this assertion, you need to have some basic idea of how and why this is a self-perpetuating snowballing phenomenon.
Jayaprakash Narayan, the National Convener of Lok Satta, after due research on the SOURCE of corruption reportedly said this:
@“The estimated expenditure* of candidates and parties in elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies in a cycle of five years is about Rs. 10,000 Crores [100,000,000,000]. Most of it is illegitimate and unaccounted. The system can be sustained only if there is a ten-fold return to politicians to cover risk, return on investment, provisioning for the next election, upkeep of an army of political ‘workers’, and private gain. In return, politicians created a system of rent-seeking, with corruption proceeds shared with the bureaucracy. Given that the employees exhorting money vastly outnumber politicians, the actual corruption over a five year period to sustain this corruption chain is of the order of Rs. 10,00,000 Crore [10,000,000,000,000] or Rs. 2,00,000 Crore [2,000,000,000,000] per annum.”
* If these figures are mind boggling, then please note that they pertain to the system some YEARS ago! Now imagine what it is in 2010 !!!
BTW you need to DWELL on this statement to really comprehend and assimilate its far reaching impact.
Now, you may have some idea why the Municipal Engineer or the Electrical Dept Engineer asks for a bribe to give you a normal sanction letter!
The next item needs you the reader to closely study and understand as to why corruption is essential to the existing system of governance in India. This is a chart from the same study by Jayaprakash Narayan / Lok Satta:
You can start anywhere preferably at the top circle and follow the logic and the ‘flow’.
Once you realise that the existing ‘system’ requires huge ‘investments’ for people in the profession of politics and political office, you will reach the logical conclusion that the @ first quote postulates above on how corruption starts.
Once these two concepts are clear, then the natural question arises as to “how can the politicians keep at it without being caught?” The answer to THAT question is embedded in the Indian constitution! of the Indian Constitution states that “(1) No person who is a member of a civil service of the Union or an all-India service or a civil service of a State or holds a civil post under the Union or a State shall be dismissed or removed by an authority subordinate to that by which he was appointed.”
Now who is the person’s superior? Another civil servant, and who’s above that? Another civil servant and so on all the way up to the President of India. Since the politician sits way above the civil servant, ultimately even the permission to prosecute a civil servant must come from the politician in charge! And who is at the source of the corruption? That same politician! So, the Constitution says, to prosecute a civil servant (who holds all operational powers on the ground and is thus “collecting” from the public) you must first get permission from the very person who initiates the corruption. Colloquially you must get permission from the criminal to prosecute him!
Fat chance that will happen. That’s why NO inquiry against anyone who belongs to a sitting government’s party has ever got successfully prosecuted. Simple.
This is the reason I wrote about the ONE magic pill that will bring down (over time) this house of cards. The amendment or scrapping of Article 311 in a dirty and shabbily drafted Constitution of India. It ENSHRINES corruption – far thinking Jawaharlal Nehru!
A constitution written in 1950 has been amended 94 times as of June 2006. What marks would you give a Board Exam Paper with 94 corrections in 56 years? Pass Marks??!! I stopped calling it a ‘great’ document as I think it is not. Yes, our democracy is truly the greatest; but that piece of paper? #Fail.
BTW I think we got democracy only because Nehru knew a dictatorship wouldn’t work and Mahatma Gandhi wouldn’t let him.
Back to article 311.
Even a SMALL amendment will make a BIG difference. Instead of the criminal having the power to allow himself to be prosecuted, let that power be in the hands of the Courts. If anyone can make a prima facie case to the courts, then a case must be allowed to be registered against the particular person (civil servant) and all existing laws should apply to the individual.
How will this help? Once the INDIVIDUAL civil servant becomes vulnerable to being taken to court if a prima facie case can be established, one or more of these will follow:
1. Rent-seeking won’t be a profession immune to the law
2. The civil servant will refuse to do things that the politician wants when he (the civil servant) thinks he can be caught and has no ‘protection’ from the politician
3. Honest civil servants can remain honest
4. The public becomes responsible for protecting their own rights
and
5. The vicious circle can be broken.
The next time you are confronted with having to pay a bribe, STOP wailing and bemoaning and think of the one thing you CAN do to eradicate corruption: Join the campaign to SCRAP ARTICLE 311
Twitter: @jsvasan
Tailpiece: Do you still think a Constitution that’s “needed” 94 amendments in 56 years and enshrines protection of the corrupt is a great piece of work? Tweet me!
Tail on Tailpiece: If you can’t fight ‘em then join ‘em. That’s what seems to have happened to Lok Satta – became a political party to get a share of the cake instead of fuelling a public movement to stop corruption!