Can India get rid of corruption?

India is the fourth most corrupt country after the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia, according to a ranking of 16 Asia- Pacific countries. The survey was done by the leading Hong Kong-based business consultancy firm PERC.

The Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd (PERC) has rated India at 8.67 on a scale of zero to 10, with the high end being the worst case of corruption scenario, just below the Philippines (8.9 points), Indonesia (9.25 points) and Cambodia (9.27 points).

Thailand was rated at 11 with a scale of 7.55, followed by China (7.93) and Vietnam (8.3). Singapore, on the other hand, was given a clean sheet with a score of 0.37, followed by Hong Kong (1.10), Australia (1.39), Japan (1.90) and the US (2.39), putting them in the top five.

According to the report, civil and other local-level political leaders in India were found more corrupt than the national-level political leaders, with the former getting a score of 9.25 and the latter a slightly better 8.97. Civil servants at the city level too were rated at 8.18, worst than the civil servants at the national level.

"The issue of corruption has grown and overshadowed the second term in office of the Congress-led coalition headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," PERC said in its Asian Intelligence report on Asian business and politics.

The report has also considered the serious allegations against the government like the 2G Spectrum allocation, scandals involving the sale of telecom licences, mismanagement of the Commonwealth Games, land scam involving high level military officers, and improper property loans made by state-owned financial institutions, among others.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh has put himself in a defensive position through his inaction in almost all cases of corruption, although he himself is considered above board. Meanwhile, the recent WikiLeaks report that the ruling Congress Party paid off parliamentarians back in 2008 to pass the US-India civil nuclear deal, has also helped dent the image of the UPA.

Due to frequent exposure of scams in public life, India is more and more known as a nation under the deadly tentacles of corruption. The survey has cited the image of present government as tainted and corrupt. It has said that public servants of the cities in India are more corrupt than their counterparts at the national level. Leaders, working at the rural and Panchayati Raj system are more corrupt than the leaders at national level.

History has proved time and again that corruption has been a fixture to the Indian system since the Congress government took to power. It is a scourge on any developing or developed nation and unless the people don’t fight it out, the politicians will ensure the nation goes to dumps while they fill their own coffers. I believe it has got to do a lot with the public psyche, with its ‘chalta hai’ attitude.

A lot would depend on the judiciary to do the clean up act. Expecting the people in power to do it themselves would be foolhardy. But thankfully we still have a sound judiciary, some hope there!

VRN