By K Raveendran
It does not matter if Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the mandarins in North Block agree or not, it is official that India is in recession. Data released by the National Statistical Office revealed that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted 7.5 percent in the July-September period, a major contraction for the second consecutive quarter, which makes it a recession technically and otherwise. The conclusion is only confirmation as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had earlier estimated that the economy will contract by 9.5 percent for the full fiscal year.
But there is one Indian industry that has flourished—even in the height of Covid pandemic and the national lockdown, which devastated the entire economy. And that is corruption. More interestingly, it turns out that corruption as an industry has an inversely proportional relationship with economic progress. As such, when the economy does badly, corruption increases.
This is what bears out in the findings of the latest report of Transparency International for Asia, named Global Corruption Barometer Asia 2020. The conclusions were based on a survey conducted between June and September this year, when the impact of the lockdown was perhaps at the peak. The survey covered 20,000 participants.
The results showed that India has the highest bribery rate of 39 per cent in the region. Nearly one in in five citizens –19 per cent — who came into contact with the police, identity papers and document offices or utilities, used their personal connections to receive a service.
The report identified slow and complicated bureaucratic process, unnecessary red tape and unclear regulatory frameworks as the primary reason forcing citizens to seek out alternate solutions to access basic services through networks of familiarity and petty corruption. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they had no option but to pay bribe as it was demanded.
There are a few highly disturbing findings in the survey, which showed how deeply entrenched this great bane is into the Indian society. A majority — 63 per cent — thought that if they reported corruption, they would suffer retaliation. Another equally disturbing finding is that young people aged 18 to 34 are considerably more likely than people aged 55 or over to pay a bribe or use personal connections to get their things done. This shows that the new generation is getting sucked into the black hole of corruption, leaving no scope for hope even in the future.
Corruption is a cancer that is eating into the vitals of the Indian nation and people are paying a heavy price in terms of a huge opportunity loss and the fruits of freedom that have been denied to them for ever. Policy planners would do well to take a serious look at our ability to deal with this dangerous affliction, which is much worse than coronavirus or anything similar.
It is not bullet trains or Martian missions that the country needs right now, it is basic solutions to the vices that are retarding our progress as a nation. Technology is a great asset, but it becomes meaningful only when it can transform the lives of common people. Otherwise, it will remain the preserve of the privileged few, leaving only the crumbs for people at large.
It may be time for the revival of a national movement against corruption, an instance of which went awry in the previous decade. Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare’s agitation that began in 2011 was a watershed event in contemporary history as it provided a channel for people’s frustration to find expression. The response to Anna’s call had gone much beyond his own expectations and the single event snowballed into a national movement against corruption, nepotism and government apathy towards people’s grievances. It was as though all the pent-up frustrations were waiting for a vent and Anna’s agitation provided an ideal opportunity.
The biggest irony of the agitation is that the BJP, the biggest beneficiary of the agitation, helping it to be swept power in 2014, and now for a second term, has turned the perpetrator that it was supposed to fight.
The NDA’s priorities are on a tangent and meant to drive the saffron agenda, but without any bearing on the life of common people. National security and patriotism are no doubt emotional issues, but when life becomes miserable to lead, there are other more important things. And the BJP government has been a complete failure on this front. (IPA Service)