Initiatives and Movements against Corruption in India
In the wake of alarming corruption rate, India certainly has witnessed a few initiatives and movements that attempted to redeem the lost faith of Indians on the integrity of the political system. The Prevention of Corruption Act (1988) was one such vital government initiative that emerged to check corruption. One among the biggest in the country that came under the scanner was the 2G spectrum scam in 2009.
Realizing the importance of open data, the Right to Information Act was enacted in 2005. This is a major enactment that gives citizens the rights to access government records. This reform was followed by an independent movement such as Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption that marked the beginning of an agitation exclusively focussed against corruption in India. Anna, a former freedom fighter, emerged as the leader of a collective force to battle this menace. Following this movement, the Jan Lok Pal Bill was proposed by team Anna crusaders and this drew a lot of support and approval from the citizens of India. This bill which is still on hold in parliament, if approved will promise a better and transparent future to the country. The ombudsman will then play a key role in reforming the system as additional back up can be provided by the reports by the Comptroller Auditor General and Central Vigilance Commission.
Apart from India Against Corruption campaign, many other anti-corruption movements emerged in India. ipaidabribe.com, brainchild of Janaagraha (civil service organisation), was one such kind initiative launched in 2010 that gave a comprehensive proof on the rate of corruption in India. One of the first initiatives in the world, ipaidabribe.com exposed retail corruption to public through random sampling of its readers. The portal provided a platform to complain against any form of bribery that an individual faced. With the awareness of various types of bribe-related situations that an individual can possibly face, the online site gave a whole gamut of options to post bribe-related complaints. It’s obvious that there is no ‘official’ tracker for corruption. ipaidabribe.com is one such attempt to track the steps of the menace through common man.
Whistle-Blower Protection Act, introduced in 2011, is aimed to protect the safety of those who report fraud and abuse in the system which has finally been made as a law after a prolonged period. Likewise, Citizens Charter Bill, introduced in 2011, presses for accountability in service-level agreements by the government. Sakala is a case in point recently enforced by Karnataka state government that guarantees zero-tolerance to corruption and assures services without a bribe.
Directly establishing a link present in the above question seems far from reality as corruption itself is an entity that hasn’t witnessed a decline since it saw the light of the day. An additional observation could be substantiating the inverse relation of the question as evidences prove that corruption has a direct negative impact on the economy. Another derivation is that a direct proportion can be drawn between both as corruption and economic growth mutually influences each other.
Corruption that envelops every system no doubt is emerging as a default programme that operates as per codes (bribe deals) to work through the government operations. So at an internal level, these initiatives against corruption will help the country to control rather than eliminate corruption as this is too much idealistic to aspire for. These initiatives are likely to make the right impact that the country has been longing for.
By Manisha Yadav