Chapter 8 Crime, Corruption and Economic Growth — A Study in Indian Perspective

Chapter 8

Crime, Corruption and Economic Growth — A Study in Indian Perspective

Gautam M. Chakrabarti, IPS

Former Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, India

Abstract

Corruption has existed in every country in some form of the other since time immemorial and India has been no exception. But until the Second World War (1939–1945), corruption in India was confined within a few departments like police, roads and so on, but the huge amount of money pumped into the war efforts changed the entire scenario and corruption became widespread in all government sectors. On the recommendation of the Santhanam committee, formed under the noted educationist and parliamentarian Professor Santhanam, the government of India set up five-fold Anti-corruption machineries during the early 60s to fight corruption in Public life, but it appears that there is a huge gap between anti-corruption policies and practice. Although India has been achieving record growth reaching almost 9% during the last few years, its position in the Global Corruption Index is rather low. During 2008, it slipped further to a rank of 85. An estimated amount of Rs. 21,000 crores is lost every year just from petty corruption. The fight against corruption has been declared a high priority by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and some recent measures including RTI Act, 2005 and WHISTLEBLOWER Resolution have been adopted in recent years.

India has a decentralized Federal system in which state governments possess broad regulatory powers. Several reports indicate important

regional variations in the level and impact of corruption. In this study, we have attempted to study these regional variations by studying action taken by various anti-corruption agencies vis-à-vis the economic indicators in those states. We have also conducted a representative sample survey to study public perception of corruption in India and suggested measures to combat it effectively. An analysis of the sample survey has been made to understand the impact of corruption in those states.

Keywords: Crimes in India, corruption in India, impact of crime and corruption on economic growth in India, measures to combat corruption in India, punishment for crime and corruption in India.

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian Nation once said that in this world there is enough for man’s need but not for man’s greed. Kautilya in his Arthshastra stated that “Just as it is impossible not to taste honey or poison that one may find at the tip of one’s tongue, so it is also impossible for one dealing with Government funds not to taste, at least a little bit, of the King’s wealth. Just as fish moving under water cannot possibly be found out either as drinking or not drinking water, so Government servants employed in the Government work cannot be found out (while) taking money (for themselves)”. He further mentioned as many as forty ways of embezzlement which are equally applicable in the present time. Kautilya’s forty ways of embezzlement included:

a. What was accrued first is realized afterwards, what is to be accrued later is realized first. b. What is to be paid is not paid and what is not to be paid is paid. c. What is paid to one is made out as paid to another. d. What is delivered is made out as not delivered and what is not delivered is made out as delivered.

2. In fact corruption exists in every country in some form or the other since time immemorial and India is no exception. Corruption is not culture specific. As Peter Ustinov once stated “Corruption is nature’s way of restoring our faith in Democracy”. It is thus only natural that corruption exists in fair measure in the largest

democracy in the world. But till the Second World War, Corruption in India remained confined within a few Government Departments like Police, Roads, etc. But the huge amount of money pumped into the war efforts changed the entire scenario and corruption became widespread in most of the Government Departments. The

Government of India became so alarmed with the situation that it constituted a commission under the well-known educationist

Professor Santhanam to make a study on the actual state of corruption that existed in the country. The report of Professor Santhanam, which was published in 1963 revealed two very important things: that corruption was no longer confined to only a few departments but had pervaded almost all the Government Departments and that more alarmingly, it was not practised by only the lower level functionaries but even the senior Government officers were often found involved in corrupt practices. 3. Alarmed at this report Government of India decided to set up five-fold machineries to tackle the increasing corruption scenario in the country:

a. Administrative Vigilance Division (AVD) in the Home Ministry (MHA) which is primarily responsible for formulation and implementation of Government policies in the field of Vigilance and

Anti-corruption work. b. Vigilance units headed by a senior officer termed as CVO in every

Government Department for intensive anti-corruption work in the

Department. c. The Disciplinary authorities to take Departmental Action against corrupt Public Servants in the concerned Department. d. The Delhi Special Police Establishment subsequently renamed as the CBI which is the primary Investigating agency to investigate all cases of corruption involving Public Servants. and e. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which is the apex organization for exercising general superintendence and control over vigilance matters in administration and probity in public life.

4. Government of India publishes Annual Crime Statistics every year in a compendium called “Crime in India”. If we examine the crime and