Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Fighting corruption

It is not the absence of effective laws that is the cause of pervasive corruption in India (“Fighting the cancer of corruption,” Jan. 25). We have a department to handle public grievance, a vigilance wing in every government department, a special cell in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, and information commissioners in the Centre and the States to intervene in matters taken up by the citizens. It is the tardy and lukewarm response of bureaucrats handling grievances that is responsible for corruption persisting in every sphere of activity.

Our dishonest political leadership and its comrades in the bureaucracy act in concert and ensure that no probe against their shady activities ever ends in exposure of their true colours. Transparency, a word uttered by our netas, is mere rhetoric that is never meant to be put in practice.

M.P. Padmanabhan,

Chennai

The article rightly says the globalisation of vices has outpaced that of virtue. There is an urgent need to balance the situation. This can become possible, particularly in developing countries, only if the educational standards go up and those who are engaged in politics show appreciable erudition.

Pranav Ramaswamy,

Boston

Corruption thrives in many government departments mainly due to lack of accountability. Officials, from top-to-bottom, share the booty, with low-paid officials serving as conduits. For eliminating corruption, dealings with government departments should be made transparent. To ensure accountability, there should be a time-frame for the issue of licences and permits. It should be indicated in the application forms, besides being prominently displayed on office notice boards. Awareness of rights and entitlements is a pre-requisite for the people to prefer complaints against erring officials.

K.D. Viswanaathan,

Coimbatore

Corruption in the five World Bank-funded projects should serve as a wake-up call to us. The malady is increasing at an alarming rate and has eaten into the country’s vitals. True, society has an important role to play in tackling corruption. Sadly, society perpetrates corruption by assuming the role of the giver, who is to blame as much as the receiver, of bribe.

K.S. Thampi,

Chennai

As the article points out, corruption is an assault on human rights and a threat to democracy. The media should expose corruption boldly, even at the highest level. There should be teaching in schools and places of worship reinforcing that bribe-giving and bribe-taking are condemnable.

T.R.S. Rangan,

Bangalore

Corruption is so firmly entrenched in our body politic that it is well nigh impossible to mitigate its menace, let alone eliminate the scourge. It is all the more difficult to grapple with institutionalised corruption. As corruption and terrorism are inextricably intertwined, the need has become greater than ever before to exorcise this pervasive ghost sooner than later. The media should take upon themselves the task of exposing corrupt officials, enlisting the services of civil society, without sensationalising news.

P.K. Varadarajan,

Chennai

Corruption has become so rampant that it is no longer considered a crime or sin. Right from politicians to class-four employees, it is practised as if it is one’s birthright. The employees do it because they have the backing of political parties and politicians indulge in corruption by spending the government money lavishly on populist measures. But war against corruption can be waged by some committed and patriotic youngsters in anticipation of large-scale support from the people. The question is: who will bell the cat?

P.U. Krishnan,

Udhagamandalam

Only two kinds of corruption are spoken about in India due to their high visibility — the political kind like Bofors and the kind demanded by government office clerks from the common man. In the former, the accused resorts to every trick under the sun, including making accusations of political vendetta and threatening the stability of the government, to break free of charges of corruption. Impartial investigating agencies suddenly discover that there is no case and close the cases against the accused.

Administrative corruption is routine, where the spoils are shared at all levels. “Exemplary” punishment to the higher ups is a myth. It is not hard to find evidence but the issue is the lack of will to do it. The protests against the RTI Act from almost all government departments is a classic case of bureaucrats using the system to insulate themselves. Politicians have to worry at least once in five years. But the more serious cancer is insured for life.

K. Chandrasekar,

Chennai

To my mind, the root cause of all that ails our country is the decline in moral standards resulting from the erosion of national character. Corruption has not only assumed dangerous proportions but also debased all ethical norms. Sadly, it has now become more or less institutionalised.

K. Gopakumar Menon,

Mukkatukara

Like cancer, corruption too is an inert, onerous and painful experience. The unearthing of corruption in World Bank-aided projects is only a concrete expression of the rampant corruption that latently exists in public life.

Till such time as an electoral system, which makes responsibility a practical inevitability for the people’s representatives, is evolved, we have to bear the brunt of corruption bravely.

R.K. Divakara,

Bangalore

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