Broadly speaking there are two types of corruption - one is extortionary corruption , in which the citizen has no choice: If he doesn't pay up he will end up losing time and money on a much bigger scale. And this is what bothers us most on a day-to-day basis. If I go to a government office to obtain a birth certificate and the clerk demands a bribe of 50 rupees and if I don't pay up, I will end up going to the office some twenty times in the next one month and I may miss a dead line to apply for my child's admission or face some other problem.
The other type is collusive corruption , where the person who is paying up is in collusion with the public authority to fleece the general public. This is the case in contracts, tenders and projects etc. Money often changes hands and ultimately the loser is neither the public servant nor the person who pays but the general public, because in a different form the cost of public service goes up or the efficiency goes down.
When it comes to day-to-day corruption, the extortionary type , there is no choice but to assert collectively with knowledge. For this to happen the citizens must be mobilized at the local level and they must understand in what manner the public services are supposed to be delivered. They should then learn to assert in a very creative and constructive manner to change the situation. A lot of improvisation in procedures, for instance computerization of railway and airline reservations and certain procedural changes like queue system properly implemented with transparency - all these will certainly help.
When it comes to the grand corruption i.e. the collusive type, you need to have right to information and also strong instruments to ensure accountability like an independent anti-corruption mechanism, speedy justice mechanism and transparency in most public decision making, instead of the very obscure and complicated procedures that are being followed now.
Ultimately corruption thrives as long as people are ignorant or apathetic. And only when ignorance and apathy are combated can corruption be effectively controlled.
A highly centralized government breeds corruption and inefficiency. When we decentralize government, we know exactly where our tax money is going, and we understand who is responsible for what service. Then we can curb corruption more easily. At the local level, we can also resist abuse of power and corruption much better. |
