“If we cannot make India corruption-free, then the vision of making the nation developed by 2020 would remain as a dream”[1] – Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
The word corrupt literally means "utterly broken". It is derived from the Latin word corruptus. Corruption is the abuse of power by a public official for private gains. Corruption has progressively increased and is now rampant in our society.
Corruption is a type of strategic action in which two or more actors undertake an exchange relation by a way of successful transfer of money (material) or power (Political or status) or promoting of gene (genetic), which sidesteps legality or morality or civility to regulate the wrong action.[2] It is a strategic act or an art of non-violent negotiation. As mentioned before, social action is strategic when it is aimed at the successful realization of personality defined goals.
Every affected person comments that he/she does not like corruption and wants to remove the corruption from the society. But society is also corrupt in itself. Demand for dowry, prostitution, illegal constructions in front of houses or shops, illegal possession of someone’s property are such examples. If every man in society (victim of other types of corruption) becomes corrupt, then who will prevent the corruption prevalent in society?
Corruption is no more an issue in Indian society rather it has become a way of life. Be it Diwali or New Year, in general, and birthdays, marriage celebrations and wedding anniversaries in particular, lavish gifts comes one’s way and accepted willingly. These are no more just a token affair but an advance payment to be claimed in future. It is pertinent to narrate an episode which appeared in one of the daily newspapers, The Sunday Tribune. In this episode:
An officer of a state government who was gifted nearly three dozen suit lengths on Diwali eve, asked a leading Cloth merchant to sell them and give him the cash. After few days, the trader gave him a few lac of Rupees with a remark that none of the pieces had been sold but the money was found in the fold of suit lengths along with visiting cards.[3]
Robert Klitgaard through his equation defines corruption as follows: Corruption comes into existence when some authority is in monopoly and people by their discretion gives bribe to these authority holders for specific benefits and in this whole process accountability of authority holder is neglected.
C = M + D - A[4]
Where, C=Corruption, M=Monopoly, D=Discretion, A=Accountability
The players of M (monopoly) and A (accountability) are the public officials and the player of D (discretion) is public. When public by its ability or power to decide responsibly decides to give bribe to someone, and then corruption comes into existence. Media’s role in this whole context is to ensure the accountability of public officials and if they are moving away from their accountability and common people ignores it then media raises the issue of corruption and fulfills its duty as fourth pillar of democracy to ensure the accountability of officer’s.
In this context, we can say that Monopoly arises due to Doctrine of Separation of Powers, Discretion arises due to Independence of Power and Accountability is the outcome of Doctrine of Checks and Balances. So, as per the above equation, it can be commented that more is the separation and independence of power, greater will be the corruption and more are the checks and balances, lesser will be the corruption. Hence, it can be summarised in the words of British Historian, Lord Acton who said:
“All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”[5]
A complementary scheme, focusing on knowledge and data as a prerequisite for anti-corruption strategies, has been proposed by Kaufmann (1999), who states that:
AC (Anti-corruption Efforts) = KI (Knowledge & Information) + LE (Leadership) + CA (Collective Action[6])
In his words, successful anti-corruption programs (AC) are dependent on knowledge and information (KI) plus leadership (LE) plus collective action (AC). Here again, the importance of information and the involvement of civil society, including the media, is central.
If we relate this equation with Team Anna, then we see that Knowledge & Information part was held by its Think-Tanks such as KiranBedi, Arvind Kejriwal, etc and Leadership part rested with Anna Hazare and Collective Action was made by thousands and thousands of people marching towards RamlilaMaidaan. So, the Team Anna had all three ingredients of a successful Anti-Corruption Movement.
-Jatin Garg, Executive Director, Alexis Foundation
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[1] J. Venkatesan, Kalam calls for corruption-free society, The hindu, April 27, 2003.
[2]Subhash C. Bansal, Invisible wound, http://www.invisiblewound.com/book.htm (last updated March 28, 2012).
[3] T.K. Ramasamy, Politics and Corruption: Then and Now, The Sunday Tribune, March 18, 2001.
[4] Robert Klitgaard, Strategies against Corruption, http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/clad/clad0035403.pdf (last updated March 28, 2012).
[5] H. A. Macdougall, Lord Acton: A Frustrated Liberal Catholic, http://www.cchahistory.ca/journal/CCHA1964/MacDougall.pdf (last updated March 28, 2012).
[6] Red Batario, The Media and Public Sector Corruption: Role, Challenges and Some Practical Steps Forward, http://www.transparencyreporting.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53:the-media-and-public-sector-corruption-role-challenges-and-some-practical-steps-forward&catid=44:stories&Itemid=79 (last updated March 29, 2012).
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