Corrupt Practices in India: Areas, Methods and Solutions

Beware India team proposes to provide here the common and uncommon practices of corruption that are prevalent in India. Those practicing corruption many times feel that the public is not aware of these. They are like cats drinking milk-closing their eyes to the surroundings make them feel that they are not watched. It is not true always. The public most often recognize their acts and perceive them in their acts of corruption. But the Indian public at large lacks the moral strength to act against those indulging against corruption or voice their concerns. Perhaps, deep in their minds they could be like the one who is corrupt and they are not on it now due to lack of opportunity (?) But most likely, it is the lack of knowledge and competence in the Indian Public for fighting or preventing corruption that causes corruption to spread in India at an alarming rate. For prevention of corruption knowledge and competence to strike at the root cause is a must. Unfortunately this is what is lacking in the Indian minds. Besides, the moment corrupt individuals gain power and access in leadership positions or occupy such positions, they try to promote cadres of authority down below them who are weak and charaterless with no capacity to stop corruption but to be complacent or amenable to corruption. Such is the case in India and this trend is increasing day by day leading to situations that could turn disastrous for this country in the near future!

A. SOME OF THE COMMON AREAS OF CORRUPTION CAUSED DUE TO LEADERSHIP APATHY OR CONNIVANCE

1. CORRUPTION IN INDIAN POLICE

By Er Rajan C Mathew FIE

In India law and order is a state subject. At least that is the common perception. In simple words the Police administration is a matter coming under the control of the state governments in India, under its Federal governmental system. However, the selection and training of senior officers coming under the Indian Police Service (IPS) is a subject under the Central government control. Besides, the Courts also have a say in the functioning of the Police in many occassions. As such the Police has multiple controls and bosses, virtually making them with no control or controls which are of their own choosing for reasons well understood by them.

For all practical purposes a complaint to the police has legal validity after the concerned Police Station registers the citizen's complaint by registering what is called the FIR or First Information Report. Absence of a proper FIR or a flawed FIR can create innumerable problems to the compainants to get justice. More than that, an FIR is also a minimum requirement for even minor matters like getting a duplicate driving licence or passport or any such legal documents incase of loss of those documents by any means.

Normally it should be the basic minimum facility for any citizen to go to a police station and make his grievance or complaint recorded there and get a copy of the said FIR from the police station. But in India, this doesnot happen that way. The police authorities quite often refuses to register an FIR and give a valid copy to the citizen, unless the latter puts in influence or grease the palms of the concernd police personnel. In certain cases, and FIR is made where the same is going to be of some leverage or benefit to the police or the administration in some way to be used against some one with some vested interests.

There are instances when citizens in India had to approach higher authorities or courts to get an order to the police to make an FIR.

Now this is a very common thing and can be solved very easily if the government wants this to be resolved. But the problem here lies with the top authorities in the government who indirectly wants the system to continue as such and not resolved with the blame going to individual police men and not to the top leadership. The top leadership in the government indirectly causes the following conditions wherein the FIR registration is turned into a matter of individual choice at the police station level:

a. The police 'writer' responsible for preparing the FIR is selected and posted in such a way that the concernde individual lacks basic and essential skills in language, law and error free document preparation. Quite often the police station writer is not in an officer rank competent to make the recording in the most desired manner and he or she could be a lower cadre personnel with no standing of his or her own. The government can resolve this problem if they want by appointing suitably competent and trained personnel for this purpose with a uniform competency level throughout, instead of posting someone from the constabulary for that purpose randomly or whimsically.

b. The police writer office at the police stations are not provided with office documentation facilities as a matter of standardisation and it is a matter of choice from place to place and individual to individual. If the government at the top level wants, this could be resolved very easily. It is not a question of funds or budget, but a question of will or desire!

This example of the police station record making can be extrapolated to any government office entrusted with the simple function of record making or official document making, such as land registration, court registries, Vehicle registration offices, etc. As long as the government keep these offices with bare minimum facilites and with untrained and unprofessional staff with no standard operating procedure, staff motivation is impossible to be inculcated for prevention of corruption in these fronts. Under such conditions, the concerned staff will work only when they are motivated by extraneous considerations. Even when they do the work they are supposed to do, they will not do it properly and honestly, making the whole purpose of the system fail in the beginning itself.

2. PROPAGATING CORRUPTION THROUGH ATM MACHINES AND PREVENTING IT TOO !!

By Er Rajan C Mathew FIE

Have you ever thought of the common sense in which our banks have been forced by the top policy makers to spend millions or perhaps billions of rupees in installing and maintaining ATM machines across the nook and corner of the country?

If you observe carefully, you can see that these machines are not installed for the convenience of the common people at all.

One can see that these machines are installed by the banks concerned as if for the sake of installing those and making those higher authorities satisfied on the numbers and targets.  

Otherwise how will you explain the location of most of these machines? Most of these machines in India are located in such places and locations where there is no approach, parking space or are in isolated places where cash transactions are absolutely unsafe. You hardly find any ATM machines in commercial market places where one needs the cash!

Again a good number of machines are not maintained well or do not have the connectivity or the cash. If that was the case then why did they spend the money to install it? Was it for the commission that the ATM machine vendors were offering?

Now coming to the currency those working machines are distributing. You hardly find any ATM machines in India distributing cash of lower denominations of Rs 5, 10, 20 or 50.

If you request Rs1000, the machine will most likely give you a 500 rupee note and 5 hundred rupee notes. Getting two 500 rupee notes or one 1000 rupee note is also quite possible.

If you want to make those grocery and small payments for which cash is essential, ATM is of no use. But incidentally, the change that you need from the grocer is available with him. From where does the shop keeper get his small denomination notes, if it is never distributed by the ATMs?

Some years ago, the government of India made a rule that all payments above say Rs20,000/- to any one has to be made by cheque or similar instruments and not in hard cash. But no one ever follows this rule, making circulation of unaccounted cash a reality.

Why do the banks refuse to enter all the details of the cheques in their ledgers? Why cann’t the reserve bank or the government insist on this making the banks do this without fail? Those insisting for cash payments take shelter on this simple excuse that payments made through cheques are difficult to be accounted. Is it really so? So, most of our educational institutions insist that the lacks of rupees that they demand from the students as fees to be paid in cash rather than in cheques. No one really wants a trace or link in their huge transactions of money. They all want it in hard cash, without the possibility of any records anywhere.

So from where these large amounts of cash come from? Obviously, it is through the ATMs.

If the government is serious of ending corruption and also inflation on account of large cash black-money circulation in the economy, they only have to do a few simple things:

First, ensure that the ATMs give out only smaller denomination cash that too not more than say rupees 5000 at a time and not more than 20,000 in a month.

Second, ensure that all transactions of amounts greater that Rs 20000 for whatsoever reason for whoever concerned are either through cheque, draft  or through any of the electronic transfer means.

Those who need cash in huge quantities should be required to take it from the banks with after recording the reasons.

Higher denomination currency notes should be withdrawn from circulation. Let the wealth of the people in currency should be kept only in the bank accounts.

Are these steps any difficult to implement?

If the authorities want, it could be done overnight. Just as they implement the price rise of the petroleum products!

But then, how can you expect the beneficiaries of the system work against it?