Corruption (‘private gain at public expense’) has always been a matter of concern for the mankind since time immemorial. Many people love to eliminate this completely; but this is a disease which we may never be able to eradicate totally.
We see wide disparity in the level of corruption across the countries. Transparency international undertakes an annual survey and publishes Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of countries. No single country has ever got the perfect score of 10. Only five countries out of 182 get score above nine, 23 above seven and 47 above 5. India with a score of 3.3 has a rank of 87 which falls in the middle.
One of the interesting revelations of the CPI is the strong correlation between human development, economic progress and CPI. Is it that the economic progress reduces the incentive for corruption or the low corruption facilitates economic progress? It is both. There is a strong mutual dependency between economic progress and CPI. Chile is one of the few countries that has managed to move from being a developing country to an almost developed country in the last few decades. Chile is also one of the very few developing countries with a high CPI score (7.2) giving it a rank of 21, which a level USA.
Corruption is a part of human nature. What can control it are the mechanisms in place to restrict it. The legal infrastructure and the strength of enforcement determine how easy it is to get away with corruption. (I don’t deny the influence of culture in corruption. But I strongly believe that this culture of corruption is not hardwired into the brain of certain class of people making them more corruption prone. Some people may find it easy in comparison to others to behave with less civic sense and in more socially unacceptable manner. Strong enforcement and an environment that is conducive can limit this cultural bias and bring about better discipline. Denmark today with a CPI score of 9.3 is the world topper. Remember the famous quote from Hamlet "there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark". Another example from home is the extent of cleanliness and efficiency Delhi metro has managed in its trains and stations which is significantly of higher degree compared to any other public utilities)
We in India have been struggling to manage this high level of corruption. The Anti Defection Law and the Right to Information (RTI) Act definitely help in this direction. The Jan Lokpal Bill has been struggling to get acceptance by the parliament for more than four decades (The recent high profile initiative by Anna Hazare of Civil Society was an attempt to force the government to take a definite action on this) We still don’t have a proper whistle blower protection act.
Legal enablement is definitely a necessary requirement; but, it is not a sufficient condition. Strong Judiciary can ensure justice; but, today we have a serious problem of a large number of pending cases blocking the judicial machinery. “Justice thus delayed is Justice denied”. RTI is an excellent tool to bring about transparency. But the resource constraints can prevent this from scaling up.
When we look at the disparity in the level of corruption across countries, the major differentiator is the extent of corruption and inefficiencies in the areas that affect day-to-day life of the citizens, whether it is to get some clearance, approval or certificate or to run their business. Corruption in high places and in areas with high stakes is the most difficult to control anywhere in the world. But if we manage the former, 90% of the irritant value may be removed for the society as a whole. When we take care of this petty corruption, it may also help to bring to open high-end corruption because the dealing hands have all the incentive to blow whistle as they do not benefit from corruption anymore and thus no more are they partners in crime.
Today the progress in information Technology provides us with significant opportunities to improve governance processes. IT enabled Governance (IteG) can help improve process efficiency, it can help in bringing about better transparency, it can measure performance efficiency and publish the same, it can provide analytical support for risk management, it can reduce leakage and so on which are all elements that can bring about improvement in governance and reduce opportunities for corruption.
It will also help easy outsourcing of service delivery without loss of control enabling government to focus on policy making and policy administration. The income Tax Department’s outsourcing of PAN issuance, the Ministry Company Affairs online initiative and the Ministry of External Affairs initiative of Passport Processing etc are examples of successful implementation of this model. In each of these case we have witnessed significant improvement in turnaround time and elimination of petty corruption.
The IT enabled Governance (ITeG) is still in its early stage. It was not so far away when we could observe the PCs in a typical government department placed at the boss’s cabin with secretary using this as a word processor. Those days are gone. But we still have a long way ahead. Even when a catalytic role is played by some central authorities, it is often limited to budgetary control by purse holders with limited appreciation of the larger role of technology enablement. This is akin to what happens in the corporate sector when the controller (Finance and Administration) is in the driver’s seat as far as computerisation is concerned. What we need is to evolve a nationwide strategy for ITeG and develop a framework for managing ITeG Projects with respect to people, process and technology.
The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference ~ Bess Myerson
Related reading
Amateur’s tips on e-Governance
Give us the Facts
To be or not to be (Part 1) - The Art of Cooking
The art and ethics of lying - Part II
If you like this post, share it with your friends
We see wide disparity in the level of corruption across the countries. Transparency international undertakes an annual survey and publishes Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of countries. No single country has ever got the perfect score of 10. Only five countries out of 182 get score above nine, 23 above seven and 47 above 5. India with a score of 3.3 has a rank of 87 which falls in the middle.
One of the interesting revelations of the CPI is the strong correlation between human development, economic progress and CPI. Is it that the economic progress reduces the incentive for corruption or the low corruption facilitates economic progress? It is both. There is a strong mutual dependency between economic progress and CPI. Chile is one of the few countries that has managed to move from being a developing country to an almost developed country in the last few decades. Chile is also one of the very few developing countries with a high CPI score (7.2) giving it a rank of 21, which a level USA.
Corruption is a part of human nature. What can control it are the mechanisms in place to restrict it. The legal infrastructure and the strength of enforcement determine how easy it is to get away with corruption. (I don’t deny the influence of culture in corruption. But I strongly believe that this culture of corruption is not hardwired into the brain of certain class of people making them more corruption prone. Some people may find it easy in comparison to others to behave with less civic sense and in more socially unacceptable manner. Strong enforcement and an environment that is conducive can limit this cultural bias and bring about better discipline. Denmark today with a CPI score of 9.3 is the world topper. Remember the famous quote from Hamlet "there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark". Another example from home is the extent of cleanliness and efficiency Delhi metro has managed in its trains and stations which is significantly of higher degree compared to any other public utilities)
We in India have been struggling to manage this high level of corruption. The Anti Defection Law and the Right to Information (RTI) Act definitely help in this direction. The Jan Lokpal Bill has been struggling to get acceptance by the parliament for more than four decades (The recent high profile initiative by Anna Hazare of Civil Society was an attempt to force the government to take a definite action on this) We still don’t have a proper whistle blower protection act.
Legal enablement is definitely a necessary requirement; but, it is not a sufficient condition. Strong Judiciary can ensure justice; but, today we have a serious problem of a large number of pending cases blocking the judicial machinery. “Justice thus delayed is Justice denied”. RTI is an excellent tool to bring about transparency. But the resource constraints can prevent this from scaling up.
When we look at the disparity in the level of corruption across countries, the major differentiator is the extent of corruption and inefficiencies in the areas that affect day-to-day life of the citizens, whether it is to get some clearance, approval or certificate or to run their business. Corruption in high places and in areas with high stakes is the most difficult to control anywhere in the world. But if we manage the former, 90% of the irritant value may be removed for the society as a whole. When we take care of this petty corruption, it may also help to bring to open high-end corruption because the dealing hands have all the incentive to blow whistle as they do not benefit from corruption anymore and thus no more are they partners in crime.
Today the progress in information Technology provides us with significant opportunities to improve governance processes. IT enabled Governance (IteG) can help improve process efficiency, it can help in bringing about better transparency, it can measure performance efficiency and publish the same, it can provide analytical support for risk management, it can reduce leakage and so on which are all elements that can bring about improvement in governance and reduce opportunities for corruption.
It will also help easy outsourcing of service delivery without loss of control enabling government to focus on policy making and policy administration. The income Tax Department’s outsourcing of PAN issuance, the Ministry Company Affairs online initiative and the Ministry of External Affairs initiative of Passport Processing etc are examples of successful implementation of this model. In each of these case we have witnessed significant improvement in turnaround time and elimination of petty corruption.
The IT enabled Governance (ITeG) is still in its early stage. It was not so far away when we could observe the PCs in a typical government department placed at the boss’s cabin with secretary using this as a word processor. Those days are gone. But we still have a long way ahead. Even when a catalytic role is played by some central authorities, it is often limited to budgetary control by purse holders with limited appreciation of the larger role of technology enablement. This is akin to what happens in the corporate sector when the controller (Finance and Administration) is in the driver’s seat as far as computerisation is concerned. What we need is to evolve a nationwide strategy for ITeG and develop a framework for managing ITeG Projects with respect to people, process and technology.
The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference ~ Bess Myerson
Related reading
Amateur’s tips on e-Governance
Give us the Facts
To be or not to be (Part 1) - The Art of Cooking
The art and ethics of lying - Part II
If you like this post, share it with your friends
Koshy - one factor - economic development is certainly true. If the basic incomes are higher then a lot of everyday corruption will reduce. Or again related to funding. I have heard cops of cops taking in petrol money because their 'official quota' is insufficient to function. Or again policy related to economic growth. Customs used to be one hotbed. Now with virtually everything being free from duty, there is less corruption there too.
ReplyDeleteSadly in Indian Bureaucracy, it pays to be Corrupt and be part of the System and being honest means falling foul of the powers that be and probably a transfer to an insignificant post and/or a god forsaken place. We have to change the system to reward the Honest Officer/ Politician. Kerala almost did it in the recently concluded Election
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