Corruption

"Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery." - Oxford Dictionary

I looked up the definition of the word 'corruption' in several dictionaries. I think the Oxford Dictionary definition seems to be the best. There are three critical aspects in this definition:

1. Dishonest or fraudulent conduct
2. People in power
3. Bribery

This is a very precise definition. It is important to realise that all forms of illegal activity are not corruption. Only those which specifically involve misuse of a powerful or official position.

In addition to this stream of thought, there is another aspect that merits understanding. Corruption is of basically two types in my view:

1. Transactional corruption - This could also be referred to as the sort of corruption that a common man or even a company encounters in daily life. For example, this could refer to a petty matter such as bribing a traffic policeman to avoid a challan, paying 'speed money' to get a driving license or paying a bribe to get a government department to do their job. It could also involve paying money to get building plans sanctioned by a builder or to get a completion certificate. This kind of corruption is all pervasive and we all face it on a daily basis. Are we guilty of giving bribes? I am, for one. There have been innumerable instances where we condone transactional corruption as otherwise it would be well nigh impossible to get anything done.
2. Institutional corruption - This refers to matters such as the 2G scam or the Bofors deal or the purchase of the Rafaele fighters (I do not wish to get into a political debate or controversy here. These are merely illustrative examples). The beneficiary in such cases may be political parties with some collateral flow into individual pockets. These would also include scamsters like Vijay Mallaya or Nirav Modi who are driven by simple venal greed. Typically, the sums involved are mind boggling and average people are not really able to comprehend the modus operandi or the issues involved. The normal reaction is one of anger and frustration but for most ordinary people there is no clarity on how these scams happened or how they can be prevented.

The third aspect which comes up when you try to analyse corruption is, "What is the public perception of those who are corrupt?" In my view this is a real conundrum. Successful business men may be idolised, even though we all know that their business empires may be built on questionable ethics and practices. Corrupt politicians command a major fan following and are repeatedly elected.A related matter that often comes up is of election funding. The deliberate ambiguity that surrounds this area benefits all political parties and taints a large swathe of politicians and common people.  One may conclude that the thin line between sharp business practices, governance and corruption is not clearly defined, at least in the eyes of the common man. Until this definition is sharply etched, largely by proper enforcement, legislation aimed at tightening controls on political funding, a watchful independent media and the judiciary, there is little or no incentive for Institutional corruption to be curbed. Frankly, I see little hope for significant change in this area going forward.

Unfortunately, public attention is largely focused on Institutional corruption as it involves glamorous public figures and huge sums of money. The common man and the problems he faces are of little interest to anyone. In reality the common man is most impacted by transactional corruption. If the political parties could see beyond their noses they would realise that curbing transactional corruption is low hanging fruit as it covers a vast number of people and provides a nice little halo for them. How does one tackle transactional corruption? I have the following ideas:

1. The leader (whether he is a PM or a CM) should publicly and strongly repudiate transactional corruption. He should make examples of bureaucrats, policemen and politicians who are caught with their hands in the till.
2. IT - by providing IT solutions to small issues like driving licenses, Direct Transfer of Benefits and other similar matters corruption and the role of touts can be significantly reduced.
3. Oversight - for example CC TV proliferation would bring down examples of corruption in traffic policemen as there is risk that illegal transactions would be captured on camera.

I could go on with the list, but the objective of this blog is not to provide a primer on how to curb transactional corruption. The authorities are far more capable than this blogger to formulate such a strategy. I may be cynical here, but by curbing transactional corruption the government does not lose anything. Instead, it gains significantly in brownie points. If that glory refurbishes their tainted halos they may be eventually motivated to actually tackle the hydra headed spectre of Institutional corruption that is consuming our country.