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society

er two specific examples and leave out Researchers at Carnegie Mellon Uni- that seeks to combat corruption and
routine corruption and bribery cases versity (CMU) in the US. The study car- bribery.
for the time being. ried out in several settings, including Sadly enough, often, grandiose
Cash-for-vote case: According to a India suggests that when incentives are statements by the policy makers about
recent report, after losing in the gram dependent on choices, people accept the importance of anti-corruption
panchayat elections in Telangana’s and reward bribes. measures do not translate into com-
Suryapet district on January 25, a can- mitment at government level to tackle
didate’s husband asked people to return Online National Survey: key findings the institutional problems that sustain
cash paid for vote. The spouse appar- A few months back LocalCircles in corruption.
ently gave every voter 800, along with collaboration with Transparency This world is not, and can never be,
liquor as per prevalent ‘cash per voter’ International India conducted an ideal; but, as some say parliamentary
tradition that ranged from 800 to Online National Survey to find out the democracy is no guarantee against
1, 500. level of corruption in the country and corruption, but it is the only one that
Election campaign funding mecha- check the citizen awareness. In its has a chance of vanquishing it. And, it’s
nism: The Mahatma Gandhi National October 2018 report following are the another matter that India never had
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme key findings: a transformational leader like Singa-
(MGNREGS), aimed at easing rural 56 per cent Indians admit to paying pore’s Lee Kuan Yew to stamp out insti-
poverty, smacked of alleged corrup- bribes for citizen services as most states tutionalised corruption.
tion time and again. Upasak Das and failed to put redressal mechanisms in Singapore, granted independence in
Diego Mairano in their article ‘Post- place 1965 was beset by corruption but when
clientelistic initiatives in a patronage 91 per cent unaware about their Lee Kuan Yew became prime minister,
democracy: The distributive politics of state anti-corruption helpline he pledged to rid Singapore of graft.
India’s MGNREGA’ published in World Cash remains the primary mode for And, by the time Lee stepped down as
Development, explain that while there bribery Prime Minister, in 1990, Singapore had
is little evidence to prove that elected Only 13 per cent of the surveyed citi- gone from being one of the more cor-
politicians use MGNREGS to buy votes zens paid a bribe to government offices rupt countries on the planet to one of
directly, the ruling party does award which had CCTVs installed the least.
more contracts to a select network of An increase of 11 per cent in bribery In essence, therefore, the key ques-
contractors, who in turn fund the elec- from 2017 to 2018 tion now is not whether combating
tion campaign of those politicians. Top 3 corruption prone departments corruption and bribery is important—
According to Transparency Interna- are property registration, police and but how can we effectively combat
tional, India ranked 78 out of 180 coun- municipal corporations it? In other words, what our country
tries in Corruption Perception Index Matter-of-factly, corruption has al- needs most to achieve considerable
2018 scoring 41 out of 100. The score ways been a part of human nature and successes in the fights against corrup-
was 38 in 2015 and 40 in both 2016 and will continue to contaminate society at tion. The short answer is: unwavering
2017. varying levels, but, the silver lining is commitment.
There is little doubt that money and that by and large people now are opti- Uncovering corruption systems
greed are powerful forces that become mistic about government’s any effort and punishing those involved is
corrupting influences on people and essential, but not enough. The country
their environment. Interestingly, cor- needs to implement medium and
ruption has been a major issue in the According to a long-term measures that demonstrate
country for decades and it has been recent report, after the country’s serious commitment
taken up by almost all the political par- to eliminate the structural causes of
ties in their election manifestos prom- losing in the gram corruption.
ising to eradicate corruption. And, it’s panchayat elections Silvia Saccardo, an assistant profes-
primarily because corruption has a sor at CMU and a key member of the
disproportionate impact on the poor in Telangana’s research team had once said, “Our
and most vulnerable, increasing costs results suggest that policy interven-
and reducing access to various services. Suryapet district on tions that focus on increasing the moral
Therefore, in a country rife with cor- Jan 25, a candidate’s costs of distortion and limit the scope
ruption the issue of eliminating cor- for self-serving biases may provide a
ruption sells. husband asked successful way to reduce the effective-
Greed, and not the willingness to people to return cash ness of bribes”.
return the favour, is the main reason
people give in to bribery, according to paid for votes letters@tehelka.com

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