One of the biggest challenges in improving governance is to act against corruption, which is widely seen as having seeped into the administrative fabric. This is a stupendous task but if a nation wishes to move forward rapidly , provide efficient services to all its citizens and especially aim at inclusive growth, it must address this question quickly and seriously. Some international agencies have rated India among nations with a high degree corruption. Corruption in public services today has assumed serious dimensions. Different levels of government have become implicated in corrupt practices in mutually reinforcing ways. At each of this level corruption has tarnished the image of government functionaries. Serious introspection and decisions are required to meet the challenge.
It is necessary to act on two fronts. First the punitive approach of identifying those guilty and punishing them must be strengthened. Second, and as important , is the need to make concerted efforts to develop system which are less vulnerable to corruption. Reduced administrative discretion of greater transparency at all levels, combined with a vigilant civil society and press can make a substantial difference.
Corruption not only undermines the moral fibre of the society but can have serious and irreversible practical consequences for politics, economic development and social welfare. In an overwhelmingly corrupt society , value based politics loses its meaning. The legitimacy of government based on impartial application of the rule of law no longer holds. Resources which ought to be available to the exchequer for welfare and development are diverted into the private coffers of certain individuals. Honest public servants are demoralized while the corrupt are rewarded. Corruption is a major factor in the wastefulness , inefficiency and inequities we find in public administration today. It particularly effects the poor who cannot afford to pay. The burden of corruption saddles the private sector, and ultimately the consumer, with high cost and an inefficient infrastructure. Many more ramifications of corruption can be identified, but what is important to appreciate is that as corruption intensifies and accelerates, it tends to perpetuate itself in even widening and deeper forms. No time can ,therefore , be lost in efforts to arrest and to roll back this pernicious process.
