Corruption in India

Introduction
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
It is not easy to define corruption. But in a narrow sense, corruption is mostly concerned
with "bribery" and it takes several forms. Corruption is a global phenomenon and it is
omnipresent. Corruption has progressively increased and is now rampant in our
society.National scenario. Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between
Bureaucracy, politics and criminals. India is now no longer considered a soft state. It has
now become a consideration state where everything can be had for a consideration.
Today, the number of ministers with an honest image can be counted on fingers. At one
time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now bribe is paid for getting right
things done at right time.

Effects of corruption
Indian administration is tainted with scandals. India is among 55 of the 106 countries
where corruption is rampant, according to the Corruption Perception Index 2004 Report
released by Transparency International India. Corruption in India leads to promotion not
prison. It is very difficult to catch big sharks. Corruption in India has wings not
wheels. As nation grows, the corrupt also grow to invent new methods of cheating the
government and public.

Causes of corruption
The causes of corruption are many and complex. Following are some of the causes of
corruption.
Emergence of political elite who believe in interest-oriented rather than nation-oriented
programmes and policies.
Artificial scarcity created by the people with malevolent intentions wrecks the fabric of

the economy.
Corruption is caused as well as increased because of the change in the value system
and ethical qualities of men who administer. The old ideals of morality, service and
honesty are regarded as an achronistic.
Tolerance of people towards corruption, complete lack of intense public outcry against
corruption and the absence of strong public forum to oppose corruption allow corruption
to reign over people.
Vast size of population coupled with widespread illiteracy and the poor economic
infrastructure lead to endemic corruption in public life.
In a highly inflationary economy, low salaries of government officials compel them to
resort to the road of corruption. Graduates from IIMs with no experience draw a far
handsome salary than what government secretaries draw.
Complex laws and procedures alienate common people to ask for any help from
government.
Election time is a time when corruption is at its peak level. Big industrialist fund
politicians to meet high cost of election and ultimately to seek personal favour. Bribery
to politicians buys influence, and bribery by politicians buys votes. In order to get
elected, politicians bribe poor illiterate people, who are slogging for two times meal.

Measures to combat corruption

Is it possible to contain corruption in our society? Corruption is a cancer, which every
Indian must strive to cure. Many new leaders when come into power declare their
determination to eradicate corruption but soon they themselves become corrupt and
start amassing huge wealth.
There are many myths about corruption, which have to be exploded if we really want to
combat it. Some of these myths are: Corruption is a way of life and nothing can be done
about it. Only people from underdeveloped or developing countries are prone to
corruption. We will have to guard against all these crude fallacies while planning

measures to fight corruption.

Foolproof laws should be made so that there is no room for discretion for politicians and
bureaucrats. The role of the politician should be minimized. Application of the evolved
policies should be left in the hands of independent commission or authority in each area
of public interest. Decision of the commission or authority should be challengeable only
in the courts.
Cooperation of the people has to be obtained for successfully containing corruption.
People should have a right to recall the elected representatives if they see them
becoming indifferent to the electorate.
Funding of elections is at the core of political corruption. Electoral reforms are crucial in
this regard. Several reforms like: State funding of election expenses for candidates;
strict enforcement of statutory requirements like holding in-party elections, making
political parties get their accounts audited regularly and filing income-tax returns;
denying persons with criminal records a chance to contest elections, should be brought
in.
Responsiveness, accountability and transparency are a must for a clean system.
Bureaucracy, the backbone of good governance, should be made more citizen friendly,
accountable, ethical and transparent.
More and more courts should be opened for speedy & inexpensive justice so that cases
dont linger in courts for years and justice is delivered on time.
Local bodies, Independent of the government, like Lokpals, Lokadalats, CVCs and
Vigilance Commissions should be formed to provide speedy
justice with low expenses.
A new Fundamental Right viz. Right to Information should be introduced, which will
empower the citizens to ask for the information they want. Barring some confidential
information, which concerns national and international security, other information should
be made available to general public as and when required. Stringent actions against

corrupt officials will certainly have a deterrent impact.

Conclusion
Corruption is an intractable problem. It is like diabetes, can only be controlled, but not
totally eliminated. It may not be possible to root out corruption completely at all levels
but it is possible to contain it within tolerable limits. Honest and dedicated persons in
public life, control over electoral expenses could be the most important prescriptions to
combat corruption. Corruption has a corrosive impact on our economy. It worsens our
image in international market and leads to loss of overseas opportunities. Corruption is
a global problem that all countries of the world have to confront, solutions, however, can
only be home grown. We have tolerated corruption for so long. The time has now come
to root it out from its roots.

Tackling Hunger Globally

Hunger is one of the indicators of the magnitude of social injustices that exist in the
world. Its existence can be traced back very many years back. The French Revolution in
the 18th Century was driven not only by demands for political freedom, but also by the
lack of bread in Paris. Food has been the cause and effect of many riots occurring
whenever government policies caused severe economic hardship and clashed with the
basic human right to food. Tea was a non-edible food item that was used as a protest
tool by a group of Boston citizens, to protest the British tax on tea imported to the
colonies. The food crises around the world prompted the establishment of the World
Food Programme. In addition, many other United Nations agencies have included
hunger or food security in their work programmes. These include: The United Nations
Children Education Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, the World
Health Organisation and the different United Nations missions to war torn countries. The
term 'hunger' is loosely defined and the meaning is often adapted to serve the purposes
of those who may be experiencing it. For many, especially in affluent countries, hunger
is the gnawing pain in the stomach when a meal is missed. On the other extreme,
hunger is the physical depletion of those suffering from chronic under-nutrition. Hunger
is, however, multi-dimensional, encompassing the emotional and political aspects of the
society. It includes the anguish of a farmer faced with the choice of selling the produce
from his farm, to pay rent for the land or feeding his family with the food. It involves the
grief of watching in helplessness as loved ones die for breaking the practices and
policies set by a handful of elites. Restrictions and laws are put in place to ensure that
the poor and hungry are forced to provide their labour in exchange for low wages or
small portions of food. In order to maintain the status quo, regulations are in place to
reduce the chances of self-sufficiency for the poor. Even the Indian government's
schemes of rice and wheat at extremely subsidized rates is a no-go-either that grain
finds its way to the black market or the quality is too poor to be consumed by any

human being. Population growth has been believed to be the cause of hunger in some
parts of the world, as there is pressure on the world's limited resources. Thomas
Malthus, an English economist, argued that population growth would inevitably outstrip
the food and water supply at some point, since productive land and safe drinking water
are finite resources. Mass starvation and anarchy would, therefore, be a consequence
of a high rate of population growth. This belief and the problem of addressing the needs
of a growing population led to drastic measures to reduce the rate of population growth.
Hunger is a cause and effect of poverty. It is responsible for the debilitation of people
physically, physiologically and psychologically. The most abundant asset available to the
poor is labour, which could be used to earn a living. However, hunger means that this
labour is ineffective, entrapping the poor in hunger and poverty. For the abjectly poor,
the daily struggle of finding food for the family pushes aside any consideration of longterm development. While modern technology and medical research have discovered
many innovative ways of fighting many pests and diseases, famines has been a source
of serious distress for many years. The pressure to feed the world's population has
resulted in the use of marginal, erosion-prone lands and deforestation. This makes the
environment more prone to famine situations and the fertility of the land is undermined.
Natural disasters are indiscriminate and affect the poor and rich alike. An option to the
hunger in present day is to reconstruct agriculture to be more self-reliant and
discourage specialization. Help from aid agencies has to be reduced by increasing selfreliance, for that is a long-term measure. The development of farm cooperatives should
be encouraged to facilitate and support farming activities among farm workers and
urban migrants wishing to return to their rural homes. Increasing the amount of arable
land under cultivation can also enhance food security.Reduction or cancellation of debts
owed by farmers would be an incentive for their increased contribution towards ensuring
food security. The exploitation of farm workers and small farmers is mainly because of
their inability to exact a fair price for their labour and the goods they produce in a
monopoly-controlled market. No wonder the suicides have become a regular feature in

the rural districts. Unless the work is taken up on a war footing across the world, we will
be put to shame repeatedly by skeletal expressions of people in places like Somalia,
Ethiopia, and closer home in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh etc.

ALL OF US LEARN FROM OUR FAILURES AS WELL AS SUCCESS

There is no finality about failure, said Jawaharlal Nehru. Perhaps, that is why learning
from failure is easier than learning from success, as success often appears to be the
last step of the ladder. Possibilities of life, however, are endless and there are worlds
beyond the stars-which is literally true. What appears as success in one moment may
turn out to be a failure or even worse in the next moment.We often do not know what is
failure

and

what

is

success

ultimately.

There are examples of people who became wealthy but renounced all their wealth
achieved after a lifetime's effort. The kings like Bharthrihari gave up their kingdoms
because of their failure in love. The Duke of Windsor abdicated the throne of England
for marrying an American divorcee Miss Simpson.While we can see our failures clearly,
success is prone to blind our vision. Yet, the time-world that we live in is a mixture of
pain and pleasure, sorrow and delight, light and darkness, success and failure! Success
as well as failure are parts of our life and experience. We gain from both and also lose
from both. Failure dejects us, success delights us, but experience accretes them both.
After a while, success also loses its shine just as failure loses its sting. An aware person
learns from both successes and failures of life and begins to see life what it is. Most
people try to achieve what they want. They either fail or succeed in getting what they
want.In a difficult world trial and error become our way of solving life's problems. Yet
there are escapists who avoid undertaking the trial because they are scared of meeting
failure

or

committing

the

error.

They, perhaps, consider making mistake as wrong and harmful but the fact is that, for
most of us, trial and error are both helpful and necessary.Error provides the feedback

for building the ladder to success. Error pushes one to put together a new and better
trial, leading through more errors and trials, hopefully, finding ultimately a workable and
creative solution. To meet with an error is only a temporary, and often necessary part of
the process that leads to success or well-earned achievement. No errors or failures,
often, means no success either. This is more true in business and while handling an ongoing project.According some business training programmes, an early partial success is
not commended. In fact, early success in a long-term project is regarded as a
premature outcome of good efforts that is likely to cause complaisance and slackening
of effort to achieve the ultimate objective of the project. Early success might tempt one
to get fixed on to what seemed to have worked so quickly and easily and stop from
looking up any further. Later, maybe, a competitor will learn from the slackened
'achiever' to further explore for larger possibilities and push on to find a much better
solution that will push the earlier achiever out of the competition. Yet, there are many
organisations who believe in what they call 'culture of perfection: a set of organisational
beliefs that any failure is unacceptable'. Only a hundred per cent, untainted success will
be acceptable. "To retain your reputation as an achiever, you must reach every goal and
never, ever make a mistake that you can't hide or blame on someone else".But this is a
flawed strategy because the stress and terror in such an organisation, at some point,
become unbearable and lead to attrition. The ceaseless covering up of small blemishes,
finger-pointing and shifting the blame result into rapid turnover, as people rise high, then
fall

abruptly

from

grace.

Meanwhile, lying, cheating, falsifying of data, and hiding of problems goes on and
swings and shakes the organisation from crisis to crisis and, ultimately, weakens it
irreparably.Some ego-driven, 'experienced' achievers forget that time and environment
have changed and demand other kinds of inputs. A senior lecturer of ten years' standing
was rejected and one with only one-year experience was selected. When the senior
protested, selectors told him: "You too have only one year of experience-only repeated

ten times. The selected lecturer has fresher and more relevant experience." Balance
counts and a little failure may help preserve one's perspective on success. Finally, life is
more than a count of failures and successes, as a humorist said: "try and try-only twice,
the third time let some one else try" is yet another way of looking at life's struggle

Jan Lokpal Bill

The Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's ombudsman Bill) is a draft anti-corruption bill drawn up by
prominent civil society activists seeking the appointment of a Jan Lokpal, an
independent body that would investigate corruption cases, complete the investigation
within a year and envisages trial in the case getting over in the next one year. Drafted
by Justice Santosh Hegde (former Supreme Court Judge and present Lokayukta of
Karnataka), Prashant Bhushan (Supreme Court Lawyer) and Arvind Kejriwal (RTI
activist), the draft Bill envisages a system where a corrupt person found guilty would go
to jail within two years of the complaint being made and his ill-gotten wealth being
confiscated. It also seeks power to the Jan Lokpal to prosecute politicians and
bureaucrats without government permission. Retired IPS officer Kiran Bedi and other
known people like Swami Agnivesh, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Anna Hazare and Mallika
Sarabhai are also part of the movement, called India Against Corruption. Its website
describes the movement as "an expression of collective anger of people of India against
corruption. We have all come together to force/request/persuade/pressurize the
Government to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill. We feel that if this Bill were enacted it would
create an effective deterrence against corruption."Anna Hazare, anti-corruption
crusader, began a fast-unto-death today, demanding that this bill, drafted by the civil
society, be adopted. The website of the India Against Corruption movement calls the
Lokpal Bill of the government an "eyewash" and has on it a critique of that government

Bill. It also lists the difference between the Bills drafted by the government and civil
society.
A look at the salient features of Jan Lokpal Bill:
1.

An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be

setup

2.

Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely

independent

of

the

governments.

No

minister

or

bureaucrat

will

be

able to influence their investigations.

3.
any

Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in
case

will

have

to

be

completed

in

one

year.

Trial

should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is
sent

4.

to

jail

two

years.

The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the

time

5.

within

of

conviction.

How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in

prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty
officers,

6.

which

will

be

given

as

compensation

to

the

complainant.

So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not

being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done
in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month's time. You could also
report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads

been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete
its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail
within

7.

two

years.

But won't the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members?

That

won't

be

possible

because

its

members

will

be

selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through
a

8.

completely

transparent

and

participatory

process.

What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/

Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal
shall

9.

be

investigated

and

the

officer

dismissed

within

two

months.

What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental

vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have
complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer,
judge

10.

or

politician.

It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide protection to those who are being

victimized for raising their voice against corruption.

Role of media in a democracy

Introduction
Democracy means "A system of government in which all the people of a country can
vote to elect their representatives". Media came into existence in 1780 with the
introduction of a newspaper namely "The Bengal Gazette" and since then it has
matured leaps and bounds. It has been playing a very important role in shaping human
minds.

Role

of

media

Media plays a crucial role in shaping a healthy democracy. It is the backbone of a

democracy. Media makes us aware of various social, political and economical activities
happening around the world. It is like a mirror, which shows us or strives to show us the
bare truth and harsh realities of life.The media has undoubtedly evolved and become
more active over the years. It is the media only who reminds politicians about their
unfulfilled promises at the time of elections. T.V news channels excessive coverage
during elections helps people, especially illiterates, in electing the right person to the
power. This reminder compels politicians to be upto their promises in order to remain in
power.Television and radio have made a significant achievement in educating rural
illiterate masses in making them aware of all the events in their language. Coverage of
exploitative malpractices of village heads and moneylenders has helped in taking
stringent actions against them by attracting governments attention.The media also
exposes loopholes in the democratic system, which ultimately helps government in
filling the vacuums of loopholes and making a system more accountable, responsive
and citizen-friendly. A democracy without media is like a vehicle without wheels.In the
age of information technology we are bombarded with information. We get the pulse of
the world events with just a click of a mouse. The flow of information has increased
manifolds. The perfect blend of technology and human resources (journalist) has not left
a single stone unturned in unearthing rampant corruption in politics and society. We all
are well aware of what tehelka did. Thanks to technology that has brought a kind of

revolution

in

Impact

journalism.

of

media

The impact of media is really noteworthy. Excessive coverage or hype of sensitive news
has led to communal riots at times. The illiterates are more prone to provocations than
the literates. Constant repetition of the news, especially sensational news, breeds
apathy and insensitivity. For instance, In Dhananjoy Chatterjee case, the overloaded
hype led to death of quite a few children who imitated the hanging procedure which was
repeatedly shown in most of the T.V. news channels. There is a plethora of such
negative impacts. Media should take utmost care in airing or publishing such
sensational news. Commercialization has created a stiff competition in media. In order
to outdo each other print media has often gone one step further in publishing articles,
cover stories, etc. on sex.Media experts say this is one of the means of attracting
readers who are glued to T.V. news channels, which have cropped up swiftly in a recent
past

and

they

believe

this

is

cheap

form

of

journalism.

Conclusion
No one is perfect in this world and so is the media. Here I am not degrading the media,
rather I would say there is still a lot of scope for improvement by which media can raise
upto the aspirations of the people for which it is meant. I cannot think of a democracy
without

active

and

neutral

media.

Media is like a watchdog in a democracy that keeps government active. From being just
an

informer

it

has

become

an

integral

part

of

our

daily

lives.

With the passage of time it has become a more matured and a more responsible entity.
The present media revolution has helped people in making an informed decisions and
this has led to beginning of a new era in a democracy.

India created space history by becoming the first country in the world to enter
Mars orbit in its maiden attempt, an event that Prime Minister Narendra
Modi described as achieving the near impossible.
Indias Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) glided over 650 million km through deep
space for over nine months to reach the red planets orbit.
The spacecraft (Orbiter) successfully entered the Martian orbit at 7.55 a.m. and
is located at about 515 km from its surface.., a senior space official told IANS at
the mission control centre here.
Radars at the earth stations of NASA at Goldstone in the US, Madrid in Spain,
Canberra in Australia and Indias own deep space network at Baylalu near
Bangalore received the radio signals from the Orbiter, confirming its insertion in
the Mars orbit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who keenly witnessed the event, exhorted that
the successful Mars mission must become a base for challenging the next
frontier. The success will go down as landmark in history, said a visible
delighted Modi.
The prime minister said that the MOM was built indigenously, in a pan-Indian
effort and added that India is the only country to . Of the 51 missions,
attempted across the world so far, a mere 21 had succeeded. But we have
prevailed, he said.
The final orbiting exercise began in the early hours at 4.17 a.m. when the
spacecraft switched over to the medium gain antenna to emit and receive radio
signals.
After rotating the Orbiter towards Mars at 6.57 a.m., the main engine was ignited
at 7.17 a.m. for enabling the spacecraft enter its orbit from the sun orbit, where it

cruised for over nine months and 24 days during its voyage to the red planet from
the Earth.
During the crucial operation, when a solar eclipse occurred on Mars from 7.12
a.m., the 440 Newton liquid apogee motor (LAM) of the main engine started its
burn at 7.30 a.m. and lasted for 24 minutes till 7.54 a.m. to swing the spacecraft
into the Martian orbit.
The speed of the spacecraft was also reduced by 2.14 metre per second from
22.2 km per second for entering the Martian orbit from the sun orbit.
The five scientific instruments onboard the 475kg (dry mass) Orbiter will study
the red planets surface, its mineral composition and scan its atmosphere for
methane gas in search of life-sustaining elements.
Facts of Mars Orbiter Mission
The Rs.450-crore ($70 million) ambitious mission was launched on November 5,
2013 on board a polar rocket from spaceport Sriharikota off Bay of Bengal, about
80 km northeast of Chennai.
The success of the Mars mission has made India join the elite club of the US,
Europe and Russia, which reached the red planet after initial failures.
The state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) became the fourth
international space agency after National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) of the US, Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA) and European Space
Agency to have undertaken successful missions to Mars.
India also became the first Asian country to have entered the Mars sphere of
influence (gravity) Tuesday, as a similar mission by China failed in 2011.
As the fourth planet away from sun, Mars is the second smallest celestial body in
the solar system. Named after Roman god of war, it is also known as red planet
due to the presence of iron oxide in abundance, giving it a reddish appearance.

Though both the planets have equal period of revolution around their axis, Mars
takes 24 hours and 37 minutes to complete a revolution. Earth takes 365 days to
orbit sun while Mars 687 days to move around sun.
We have demonstrated and proved our technological capabilities in undertaking
outer space missions with an indigenous rocket and our own spacecraft, a
beaming ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan said on the occasion.
MOM is a major step towards our future missions in the inter-planetary space,
he added.