Eradicating Corruption In India Now: The Most Gigantic Challenge Ever

Although India is a democratic country, it struggles daily to fight corruption on a political, economic, and socioeconomic basis at national and local levels. In the broadest sense, corruption refers to unethical or dishonest behaviour and is primarily experienced in public office for personal benefits at the expense of the public. One of the leading causes of corruption in India is the lack of transparency in the law on corruption. According to the Bhatnagar (2019) report, the anti-corruption authority, such as Lokpal, was supposed to stop corruption in India, but the official ended up squandering public funds without accountability. Hence, people have stopped filing their complaints about corruption due to a lack of trust. Another factor leading to increased corruption is the monopoly of government-controlled institutions over public goods and services. For the increasing population to access these products, they must offer a bribe to officials for things to be done. The government’s tax and licencing systems seem to be quite confusing to people, which adds to the complications of some misusing them to their advantage. The intermediaries in the licencing system cause the people to pay extra money, such as taxes, due to complicated laws that keep adding unnecessary fees that go to the officials only.

Eradicating corruption in India requires more than the laws established as anti-corruption policies. These policies are implemented, but they rarely work for people in powerful positions since they have the power to influence the judiciary. Siddiqui (2019) indicates that one of the ways to fight corruption is to identify the root cause of the corruption practice, whether it be government public fund embezzlements, acquiring black money, offering bribes, or using unlawful means to establish their enterprises. These people should be severely punished. In addition, the media and the government should collaborate and work together to organise sting operations to help expose corrupt individuals or enterprises in various industries. Thus, these sting operations will expose the corrupt parties and act as deterrents for others with similar behaviors. Another way is to restructure and revise anti-corruption laws, such as reinforcing the Right to Service Act, which aims to eliminate government official corruption and emphasises openness and accountability practises (Katyal 2022). The Money Laundering Transaction Act, Income Tax Act, and Indian Anti-Corruption Act should have strict rules and an agency to follow up established to ensure that those who fail to observe these laws receive legal punishment. Hence, it will help people understand the danger of corruption and the threat it poses to the development and progress of a society.

Finally, each Indian may play a part in exposing corrupt organisations and individuals. According to Katyal (2022), every citizen should accept the obligation to follow the proper procedure when obtaining their desires, such as employment or public services, to refuse to pay bribes, and to report the incident to the authorities. In most cases, people tend to pay bribes to evade the consequences of their actions, such as traffic violations. If the people agree to take responsibility legally, corruption can be eliminated. The public should have programmes to educate others on the importance of refusing bribery or favours to ensure that corrupt people fear being exposed.

Dr Tara shajan RN MSN MBA PhDH PMH-BC

References

Bhatnagar, G. V. (2019). As complaints with Lokpal drop sharply, campaign urges it to ‘perform or quit’. The Wire. Retrieved from https://thewire.in/government/as-complaints-with-lokpal-drop-sharply-campaign-urges-it-to-perform-or-quit

Katyal , S. (2022, January 14). Corruption in India. Times of India Blog. Retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/corruption-of-india/corruption-in-india-40567/

Siddiqui, K. A. L. I. M. (2019). Corruption and economic mismanagement in developing countries. The World Financial Review, 1(1).