QPMPA Journal September 2011 - Qualified Private Medical ...

state president’s page
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corruption: india’s billion
rupee industry
“Corruption is worse than
prostitution; the latter
endangers morals of an
individual, but the former
invariably endangers morals
of an entire country.”
Corruption is a term with many meanings,
but generally, it entails misusing
one’s office for private gains. It involves
both monetary and nonmonetary benefits.
Bribery, extortion, influence peddling,
nepotism, scams, fraud, ‘grease
money’, opportunism and many such
unpleasant things readily spring to mind.
The crime of corruption is always viewed
with distaste. It is no coincidence that
the word itself is used in the phrase ‘corruption
of the flesh’, to indicate
death, decay and mal-odour.
In 1887, Lord Acton wrote a letter
about corruption in churches to Bishop
Creighton. It had a sentence that soon
became a world famous quotation:
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute
power tends to corrupt absolutely.”
What it implies is that, human
nature being what it is, no country or
system is immune from corruption.
Nations had gone to war, governments
were toppled, companies made bankrupt
and whole kingdoms lost due to corruption
scandals.
Corruption is India’s foremost industry
now. Since independence, the money generated
in corruption alone is a staggering
91,000 billion Rupees. All sections of society
are engaged in it. In this massive
industry, bribery is the chart topper and
given its origin at grass root levels, it is
even more difficult to control. Government
Officials demand about half of the
bribes. However, politicians are the real
‘stars’ of the industry. Often as an eye
wash, petty officials are caught while the
real sharks laugh all the way to Swiss
Banks.
The most obvious effect is the loss of esteem
for political life. The opinion that
‘politics is dirty’ is now a reality –
people join politics not from any sense of
duty to public service, but in pursuit of
personal gratification. People have come
to think of corruption yet another government
department, like the green channels
in airports, to get things done. If left
unchecked, corruption undermines law
dr. m. a. koya
and order, reduces public morale and
weakens the very foundations on which
a just society is built.
If it were only for officials filling their pockets,
this enormity of bribery might not be
there. Now corruption takes the shape of
a billion rupee behemoth with annual
turnover exceeding Rs. 250,000 Cr. It involves
the highest courts and highest offices
of our country. The total spending
for the 2009 elections is pegged at a whopping
Rs. 10,000 Cr. The break-up of this
un-mindful spending throws up some
interesting insight...
Rs. 1,300 Cr. (13 billion) by the Election
Commission; Rs. 700 Cr. (Rs. 7 billion)
by the Centre and State Governments;
Rs. 8,000 Cr. (80 billion) were spent by
candidates. 80 billion spent by candidates
and their by political parties! Where do
they earn this kind of money? It is attributed
to the Private Funding that political
parties attract from big industrialists in
exchange of favours. Given the risky nature
of investment, politicians will not
settle for less than 10 fold returns. Are
100 billion rupees needed to carry out
our elections?
contd. page 111
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108
QPMPA.JMS . Vol. XXV . No. 3 . June-Sept. 2011