Er. Prabhat Kishore
Today corruption has taken its roots in the country. Honesty and morality have become like a deceitful deer. As a result, our work culture has contaminated and development projects have come to a standstill. To annihilate this incurable disease, the government should make a separate strict law at the national level. The law for eradicating corruption will be completely effective and corruption will be uprooted, it cannot be guaranteed.
It is not that corruption takes place only by escaping the law; corruption also takes place under the guise of law. In this circumstance, if such a law is made, then care has to be taken that no such hole should be left in it so that the corrupt can escape. Although there are already many sections in the Indian Penal Code,1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended from time to time) to deal with the corrupt, but they are not proving to be as effective.
It is proved by experience that this infectious disease is not going to be completely destroyed by only making laws or shouting “corruption-corruption”. It requires determination, fair initiative and strict enforcement of the law. There is no doubt that the disease of corruption runs from top to bottom. So, keeping a close vigil on the bureaucracy alone will not be sufficient. Just as the cleaning of Gangotri is necessary for cleaning the Ganges, in the same way it is not possible to curb corruption without the purification of democracy.
In the elections, instead of social service, the emergence of money power and lathi system has given corruption the form of unbridled horse and loose half. Power and corruption have become two sides of the same coin. Is it hidden from anyone that how the person who used to walk on foot till yesterday, becomes the owner of wealth and immense opulence as he establishes his steps in the corridor of the power politics?
For the eradication of corruption, numerous commissions headed by Saryu Prasad, S. R. Das, M. C. Chagla, T. L. Venkatram, Justice Dutta and others were formed from time to time in the country. All of them in their reports brought many of the then heavyweight leaders in the dock of horrific allegations of corruption, but political gains and self-interest were given priority and those people were left free. Instead of being punished, such people were made participants of the power and were placed on high rugs.
It is not that any particular party has done this work. Whichever party came to power, even if it stemmed from the struggle and mass revolution against corruption, unemployment and dictatorship, it also did the same thing. In such a situation, the morale of the corrupt increased instead of decreasing. As a result the disease, which was limited to certain pockets earlier, has spread from top to bottom like the Amarbel today. From the smallest to highest positions of the state, the hands of most are engulfed in corruption.
There is an urgent need to create a nationwide environment to eradicate corruption completely. Political leaderships should declare without discrimination that there will be no place in their party for the corrupt or its patrons. What is happening today ? The people of the ruling party, whom the opposition did not get tired of calling the ‘corrupt' today; the saga of their penance and sacrifice is being sung by inducting the same people in the opposition parties. As long as this obscene policy is in place, neither corruption will be curbed nor anything will happen to the oppressors.
Only government efforts towards eradicating corruption cannot be trusted, because corruption is in every sphere of the society. The responsibility of its abolition cannot be left to the government institutions alone. Unless the common man of the nation will stand against this sin and crime, it is not possible to get rid of it. Just as the oppressor as well as the victim of atrocities is equally guilty, in the same way the person who helps in corruption is no less guilty.
Today, along with the law, there is a need not only to awaken the public consciousness at the social level against the corruption prevailing in the society and system, but to create a group of such dedicated people who can do this sacred work like a mission.
The Central Government should also organize such fair and effective agencies which are capable of bringing punishment to the corrupt without any discrimination. It cannot be expected from the agencies of the State Governments alone that they can take from lowest to highest positions within the ambit of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
(Author is a technocrat & educationist. He holds Master in Engineering from M.N. Regional Engineering College, Allahabad/Prayagraj)
