Today's morning news broke the arrival of new scam – food scam in UP and Land allotment irregularities in Tamilnadu. The news reader referred to the UP Food Scam as “Mother of all Scams”. I am not sure whether the news reader recollects that the same term was used for 2G Spectrum allotment irregularities about a week ago in the same news channel.
Two weeks ago, there was 2G, before that Commonwealth and Adarsh. In about 10 secs, I was able to note down the following scams; Satyam Computer Services Fraud; Justice Dinakaran – land grabbing case; Mining Scam – Jharkand; Mining Scam – Bellary; IPL ; Karnataka Land Allotment; Adarsh ; Commonwealth Games; 2G Spectrum Scam; Food Scam in UP; Land Allotment Scam in TN….It Never Ends.
Gone are the days when a person involved in corruption was looked down upon. Instead of social stigma, there is a wide spread social acceptance.
After seeing these scams, I myself realize as to how we are used to ‘palm greasing’ even for basic things – Gas connection, Drivers License, and many more things for which we have the Right to access and demand, still we need to go the extra 'penny' to get things done.
Transparency International, the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption, ranks India at 87th position in Corruption Perception Index with 3.3 points.
The case of despair becomes even stark when the ex-boss of an anti-graft commission, Pratyush Sinha, threw his hands up in despair, saying his job was thankless and lamenting that increasingly materialistic Indians were becoming “utterly corrupt”.
From 1948 through 2008 India lost a total of $213 billion in illicit financial flows (or illegal capital flight). These illicit financial flows were generally the product of: corruption, bribery and kickbacks, criminal activities, and efforts to shelter wealth from a country's tax authorities.
Two points that need attention in the report are related to growth of economy and income distribution.
In the post-reform period of 1991-2008, deregulation and trade liberalization accelerated the outflow of illicit money from the Indian economy. Opportunities for trade mispricing grew and expansion of the global shadow financial system—particularly island tax havens—accommodated the increased outflow of India's illicit capital flight.
There is a statistical correlation between larger volumes of illicit flows and deteriorating income distribution.
There is a lot of simmering in the public on this raging issue of scams. These scams could plague the nation’s development. There are some NGOs formed to fight for anti-corruption. I for one believe, it is not for an NGO or any group to stop corruption (I am not demeaning the work done by them).
It is for the people to take collective responsibility. Most importantly, offenders should get punishment and this will bring in a sense of social correction. Judiciary and other Government agencies should bite and not merely bark.
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