Indian Corruption

What is it about India that makes it a fertile ground for the graft hungry? Why do we tolerate corruption?

Once a labourer in iron-ore mines, Madhu Koda, former Jharkhand CM, stands accused of laundering over Rs 4,000 crore—almost a fifth of the annual budget of the state he once lorded over. This is nothing new, or much.

Transparency International (TI), the global corruption tracking watchdog, slots India at 85 in the list of world’s most corrupt countries. To most of us in the country, this may come as a bit of a surprise—a pleasant one. According to TI, most of our neighbours are no better. Bangladesh is at number 147, Pakistan at 134, Nepal at 121, Myanmar at 178, Sri Lanka at 92. (There are 180 countries, in all, on the list.) India could pat itself on the back for its performance in South Asia, except for the fact that that tiny monarchy Bhutan stands tall at number 45. So much for the corrective powers of free and fair (?) elections!

Thanks to democracy and the questionable characters it unquestionably puts in Parliament, hundreds of politicians have appropriated crores of rupees through corrupt practices and gotten away with it. Besides the current favourite Koda, some famous names include Chhagan Bhujbal (Telgi scam), Lalu Yadav (fodder scam), A Raja (spectrum allocation scam) and Sukh Ram (suitcases-filled-with-money scam).

Allegations of corruption surrounding the Bofors deal, Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor, Bihar fodder scam, Telgi stamp paper scandal and Spectrum Allocation licenses, to name just four, are estimated to have cost the country nearly Rs 120,000 crore. (Yawn.)

What is it about India that makes it a fertile ground for the graft hungry? Why do we tolerate widespread corruption? Is there nothing we can do about it? Liberalisation, its many proponents said, would weed out the corrupt and foster (apart from other wondrous things) economic growth on the back of a culture of efficiency. Maybe it has.

And yet, the last two decades—corresponding, roughly, with the period after the Indian economy was ‘unshackled’ from the corrupt influences of the ‘License Raj’—have been witness to the biggest of big-ticket scams.

About The Author

Avinash Subramaniam