PREVENTIVE VIGILANCE TO REDUCE CORRUPTION
UNDERSTANDING “CORRUPTION”
or “CORRUPT PRACTICES”
First of all, we should understand
as to what is the correct meaning of “Corruption” before trying to
find out reasons for the same. The
corruption in the ordinary sense means “taking a bribe for an illegal favour or for
expediting a service”. In the
former case, the party giving bribe is also a beneficiary and he is trying to
defraud the State for his own benefits.
In the later case, it is for getting a proper service which ought to
have been the duty of the person giving and right of the person entitled to get
it. With most of the enforcement agencies it is mostly the first type of favours
and for other service sectors of the Government departments it is for getting
expeditious service.
FURTHER ANALYSIS OF MEANING OF CORRUPTION:
Before going into the
reasons for corruption and methods to tackle the same, the corruption has to be
understood in its true sense and not a simplistic view as above. The corruption is reflection of the
Conscience. There is corruption in
the mind of every human being, in so far as every one tries to maneuver
/ manipulate others for their own need or greed. It is the “ego” of one mind which tries to
rule over every other person for its individual gain. This may sound little spiritual but the
practical thing is that the basic instinct of a human being is that of
“survival of the fittest”. After
satisfying the self, then comes his kith and kin, friends and relatives and so
on. It is this mental attitude which
tries to promote oneself at the cost of other human beings, giving rise to a
tendency to dominate / rule. In the
whole process, the human mind is corrupted to get whatever it wants for himself
and for its own persons by using all possible
means whether correct or not.
BASIC
CAUSE FOR CORRUPTION
The root of corruption is therefore, lies in the character
of a person which is degenerated over a period of time due to the overwhelming greed
of satisfying one’s own self at the cost of others. The moral values of integrity
and compassion for others gets diluted at the cost of sub serving
nature of “survival of fittest” leading to a situation where the man loses his
basic character. A child may try to get
what it wants by means of crying or telling a lie to its parents. The seeds of corrupted mind can be seen at
that stage itself and only when a proper seed in the form of Honesty is sown in
the young minds, there can be a true solution to the problems posed by today’s
Corruption. In short, imbibing values at a tender age and a conscious effort to
preserve the same till they grow up is the requirement of the day.
HOW TO
CURB CORRUPTION / CORRUPT PRACTICES ??? A BIG QUESTION.?
By addressing the root problem of character building at the
proper age, major part of corruption can
be tackled in the long run. It however
requires certain institutional mechanism viz., Clean & efficient administration,
transparency and accountability for the acts done by the Officers of the State,
general awareness among public about their rights and duties etc., A system needs to be in place for addressing
all these issues at the appropriate levels.
In the context of government machinery, there should be an in
house control systems in place, which
acts as an effective PREVENTIVE
VIGILANCE MECHANISM, in the form of
a)
accurate and timely reporting of the tasks carried out
by Government officials while discharging their duties
a)
Inbuilt checking procedures and mechanism to fix
responsibility
b)
periodical monitoring and review of the same at various levels.
c)
Impartial and speedy enquiry process to book the erring
/ culprit officers, which serves a deterrent purpose should be in place.
The
vigilance mechanism needs to be speedy and effective in order to create an
atmosphere of mutual trust between the administration and the employees. In built
checking procedures and mechanism to fix responsibility amongst all level of
officers and staff is the need of the hour.
The corruption is a collective phenomenon and no single class of
officers / staff can be blamed for the same.
A demanding boss (both in terms of work and expectations for personal
gains) would be both a trigger and cause for increasing corruption index of the
subordinates. Proper checks and balances for routine work, reporting and
reviewing mechanism needs to be effectively implemented to fix responsibilities
both on the doer and also on the person who monitors the doer, so that no one
is singled out in the functioning of the department.
PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITY
Apart
from in house mechanism as above, it is very important to have an elite
and vigilant public which can act as a Watch dog of the public functionaries. Through various redressal forums and
effective use of beneficial legislations like RTI, Consumer Protection Act
etc., it is possible to keep check on corrupt practices. Mere over enthusiasm
for popularity and show off concern for the genuine problems cannot solve the
issue. In the modern world, the proper knowledge about “information” is the
essence for enforcing public rights and duties of public servants. A citizen aware of his rights and duties can
play a vital role in cleansing the system and various NGOs with a self less
vision can do miracle in this regard.
However, proper care needs to be taken to see that it is not mis used /
misdirected with a vested interest.
A multi pronged effort
in the form of i) character building measures, ii) institutional mechanism and iii) a
focused civil movement to create awareness is required to eradicate the
menace of corruption. A few specific suggestions for achieving the same are summarized
below:
a) Free education system from corrupt practices in order to have
honest and patriotic younger generation to take care of this great democracy
b) Public awareness about their rights and obligations towards fellow citizens and
country as a whole – Ethics in public life.
c) Effective utilization of in house mechanism to monitor,
control and punish corrupt practices
d) Proper utilization of beneficial legislations to achieve
transparency and accountability in the system through Right to Information Act, 2005, Consumer
Protection Laws, Machinery provisions to enforce rights and duties.
It
is indeed true that a long drawn battle has to be waged to curtail corruption,
if not to end the same. Every one should
join hands, since corruption is the single most evil which is the greatest
impediment for development of Society in general and growth of Economy in
particular. The success of any democracy
entirely depends on free and fair dispensation of justice for masses and a
corruption free society. In this sense,
it is every body’s compulsion to curb corruption for a great and vibrant India.
Jai Hind.
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