heartwinner09: 2010

How to eradicate bribing system and burgulary in Indian doen by all government officials?

The main reason in india for delay in all kind of government work is the JOB SECURITY which the take it for granteed they do not have any tension for his future life and enjoy the jop position and make wrong use of it and lots of money by harassing the genral public of all levels.if the job security is removed the officials have to work to be marked himself for good work and the system of working will be more faster.The genral public of india will not have to pay bribe bcoz at that time it will be need of the officials to complete the work on time and look towards the problems of the public and if they fail to do their ascertain work they will be thrown out as their would not be any jobsecurity.

Why the government officials are more rich than the common people?

Bcoz of in appropriate accounting transparency in income tax and various other departments. All the departments work in collaboration for cheating and helping each other in making money. Even they do not provide the accounting of funds which they receive for general development. If a project of a crore is recived its for sure that the project will be completed only during the time of elections and the completed work is not upto the mark as more than 70% of the funds are used by the officials for their own private use and rest 30% is only invested in the given work.

Why India has so many corrupt leaders?

Corruption in the political world is not a new thing for India and from the time of independence our political leaders has remained involved in various scams and frauds. Moreover with the time, the intensity of corruption by the political class has even become more rampant. The major reason behind this wide spread corruption by the political class is no check on our leaders and mostly, they safely come out of these scandals without any punishments. Hardly, there is any big leader of India who has got punishment for his frauds or scandals in last 60 years.

We only see certain allegations and some cases running in the courts for years but never any justice. All these things only make our leaders more strong and above judicial restrictions. Prof of most of these corruptions is easily available in front of us, as how these politicians become millionaires or billionaires in just few years? From where this whole money comes from, nobody has answers to these questions.

Neither income tax department is able to take any action against these leaders because they behave like more powerful than Indian judiciary or laws. Even now Indian public has accepted all these truths as routine works by our beloved politicians, however we people never realize this fact that this is our hard earned money which we pay to the government in the form of taxes. Unless, we Indian people will realize this fact and start asking back for our money from these corrupt leaders, corrupt leaders will go on emerging again and again in India?
History
The economy of India was under socialist-inspired policies for an entire generation from the 1950s until the 1980s. The economy was subject to extensive regulation, protectionism, and public ownership, leading to pervasive corruption and slow growth.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] License Raj was often at the core of corruption.
The Vohra Report was submitted by the former Indian Union Home Secretary, N.N. Vohra, in October 1993. It studied the problem of the criminalisation of politics and of the nexus among criminals, politicians and bureaucrats in India.
The report contained several observations made by official agencies on the criminal network which was virtually running a parallel government. It also discussed criminal gangs who enjoyed the patronage of politicians, of all parties, and the protection of government functionaries. It revealed that political leaders had become the leaders of gangs. They were connected to the military. Over the years criminals had been elected to local bodies, State Assemblies and Parliament. The unpublished annexures to the Vohra Report were believed to contain highly explosive material.
According to Jitendra Singh, "in the bad old days, particularly pre-1991, when the License Raj held sway, and by design, all kinds of free market mechanisms were hobbled or stymied, and corruption emerged almost as an illegitimate price mechanism, a shadowy quasi-market, such that scarce resources could still be allocated within the economy, and decisions could get made. [...] These were largely distortions created by the politico-economic regime. While a sea change has occurred in the years following 1991, some of the distorted cultural norms that took hold during the earlier period are slowly being repaired by the sheer forces of competition. The process will be long and slow, however. It will not change overnight."^[7] One of the major problems and obstacles to development that many developing countries face is corruption by greedy, power-hungry politicians, which is endemic in certain parts of the world.
[edit]Politics
Main article: Indian political scandals
Criminalization of Indian politics is a problem.^[8]^[9]
In July 2008 The Washington Post reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, "including human trafficking, immigration rackets,embezzlement, rape and even murder".^[10] At state level, things are often worse. In Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2002, candidates with criminal records won the majority of seats.
[edit]Bureaucracy
A 2005 study done by Transparency International (TI) in India found that more than 50% of the people had firsthand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office.^[11] Taxes and bribes are common between state borders; Transparency International estimates that truckers pay annually $5 billion in bribes.^[12]. A 2009 survey of the leading economies of Asia, revealed Indian bureaucracy to be not just least efficient out of Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China, Philippines and Indonesia; further it was also found that working with the India's civil servants was a "slow and painful" process.^[13].
Officials often steal state property. In Bihar, more than 80% of the subsidized food aid to poor is stolen.^[7]
In cities and villages throughout India, Mafia Raj consisting of municipal and other government officials, elected politicians, judicial officers, real estate developers and law enforcement officials, acquire, develop and sell land in illegal ways.^[14] Many state-funded construction activities in India, such as road building, are dominated by construction mafias, which are groupings of corrupt public works officials, materials suppliers, politicians and construction contractors.^[15] Shoddy construction and material substitution (e.g. mixing sand in cement while submitting expenses for cement) result in roads and highways being dangerous, and sometimes simply washed away when India's heavy monsoon season arrives.^[16] More often than not , minorities and minority-dominated areas bear the brunt of bureaucratic corruption , especially at the lower levels.
In Government Hospitals, corruption is associated with non availability of medicines (or duplicate medicines), getting admission, consultations with doctors and availing diagnostic services.^[11]
Some airports, such as the Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala, are notorious for theft of valuables from bags checked on incoming flights. Such theft is a rude awakening to the state of corruption in Kerala to tourists and expatriates returning from vacations. http://www.thehindu.com/2009/09/30/stories/2009093058370300.htm> Corrupt officials and airport employees turn a blind eye to theft of passenger belongings often colluding in the theft.
[edit]Judiciary
Corruption is rampant in the judicial system of India. According to Transparency International, judicial corruption in India is attributable to factors such as "delays in the disposal of cases, shortage of judges and complex procedures, all of which are exacerbated by a preponderance of new laws".^[17]
[edit]Armed forces
The Indian Armed Forces have frequently witnessed corruption involving senior armed forces officers from the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. Many officers have been caught for allegedly selling weapons in the black market in the border districts of Indian states and territories. Recent sukhna land scandal involving four Indian lieutenant generals has shaken public faith in the country's massive military at a time when unprecedented sums are being spent on modernising the armed forces. A string of eye-popping fraud cases has damaged the institution in recent years.^[18]^[19]^[20]
[edit]Police
Despite State prohibitions against torture and custodial misconduct by the police, torture is widespread in police custody, which is a major reason behind deaths in custody.^[21]^[22] The police often torture innocent people until a 'confession' is obtained to save influential and wealthy offenders.^[23] G.P. Joshi, the programme coordinator of the Indian branch of theCommonwealth Human Rights Initiative in New Delhi comments that the main issue at hand concerning police violence is a lack of accountability of the police.^[24] Religious, ethnic and linguistic minorities bear the brunt of Police miscounduct and corruption.^{[citation needed]}
[edit]Religious institutions
In India, the corruption has also crept into religious institutions. Some deacons of the Church of North India are making money by selling Baptism certificates.^[25] A group of church leaders and activists has launched a campaign to combat the corruption within churches.^[26] Among Indian Muslims, the recent "cash for fatwas scandal" was a major affair that exposed theImams of the Islamic ulama accepting bribes for issuing random, often nonsensical fatwas [1].
The chief economic consequences of corruption are the loss to the economy an unhealthy climate for investment and an increase in the cost of government-subsidised services. The TI India study estimates the monetary value of petty corruption in 11 basic services provided by the government, like education, healthcare, judiciary, police, etc., to be around Rs.21,068crores. India still ranks in the bottom quartile of developing nations in terms of the ease of doing business, and compared to China and other lower developed Asian nations, the average time taken to secure the clearances for a startup or to invoke bankruptcy is much greater.
[edit]Anti-corruption efforts
[edit]Right to information act
Main article: Right to Information Act
The Right to Information Act (2005) and equivalent acts in the states, that require government officials to furnish information requested by citizens or face punitive action, computerisation of services and various central and state government acts that established vigilance commissions have considerably reduced corruption or at least have opened up avenues to redress grievances.^[11]^[27] The 2006 report by Transparency International puts India at the 70th place and states that significant improvements were made by India in reducing corruption.^[28]^[29]
[edit]Computerization
Bhoomi is a project jointly funded by the Government of India and the Government of Karnataka to digitize the paper land records and create a software mechanism to control changes to the land registry in Karnataka. The project was designed to eliminate the long-standing problem of inefficiency and corruption.

[edit]Whistleblowers
Whistleblowers play a major role in the fight against corruption (See the TI page here http://www.transparency.org/index.php/news_room/in_focus/2007/whistleblowers). India currently does not have a law to protect whistleblowers. However, subsequent to the murder of whistleblower Satyendra Dubey, the Government of India issued an order directing the Central Vigilance Commission to welcome and protect whistleblowers. The latest Administrative Reforms Commission also has suggested encouraging whistleblowing and protecting whistleblowers. However, this protection is not available to whistleblowers working under state governments. An ongoing effort can be seen here http://fightcorruption.wikidot.com .http://www.corruptioninindia.org is another "not for profit" website dedicated to increase awareness against corruption in India and contains comprehensive info of corruption in India.
[edit]Creation of Anti-Corruption Police and Courts
Some have called for the Central Government to create an anti-theft law enforcement agency that investigates and prosecutes corruption at all levels of government, including state and local level. Special courts that are more efficient than the traditional Indian courts with traveling judges and law enforcement agents are being proposed. The proposal has not yet been acted upon by the Indian government. Certain states such as Andrah Pradesh currently have similar agencies and courts. http://www.acbap.ap.gov.in/jsp/content/aboutus.htm. The creation of a central agency with specialized courts with broad powers, however, is likely to have greater impact in curbing corruption at all levels.
[edit]Private sector initiatives
Several new initiatives have come up in in the private sector to raise awareness about Corruption related issues and to build anti-corruption platforms. http://5thpillar.org is one such organisation that is promoting the use of Zero Rupee Notes (See ZRN page here http://5thpillar.org/~pillar/india/ZRN )to fight corruption by shaming the officials who ask for bribe. Another popular initiative Jaago Re!One Billion Votes from Tata Tea has now changed its focus from voter registration to fighting corruption.

Why Does India Have Such Terrible Politicians?- – 2

Filed under: Basic Questions, Politics, Regulatory reforms — Prashant @ 6:08 am

Caveat: This is a long-ish post. Recommend that you print it.

Many (all?) of us blame venal and mendacious politicians for India’s problems. Atanu’s sentiments in his series of posts on Lee Kuan Yew, that “when it comes to greed Indian politicians are a class apart” are echoed in any debate/ discussion about India’s problems.

I agree that many of India’s politicians are crooked and inept. However, just blaming them is simplistic. Or rather, it’s not the whole story. In my opinion, mendacious politicians are a proximate issue. It would be far more useful to figure out why India is saddled with such terrible politicians? After all, there’s no evidence that Indians are any more more crooked or inept than any other nation or race on earth. Then, how does one explain the terrible politicians?

T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan in a wonderful article in The Business Standard, titled The Rules Of The Empty Game, sums it up marvelously.

I’ve excerpted the rules below, but I’d encourage all of you to read the full piece — brilliant stuff.

Like academics and pickpockets, politicians too have rules which they can break only at great risk
Operation Duryodhana, in which some clever journalists secretly filmed as many as 11 MPs receiving money in return for asking questions in Parliament, has surprised only the naïve. This is because if you define honesty in the conventional, unqualified and non-contextual way, an honest politician is an oxymoron.
Clearly, there is something about the profession that induces even otherwise decent fellows to behave caddishly. It is the way the game is played. (emphasis mine) It is important to understand this because all callings have their own implicit rules which are very different from the formal explicit ones. If you want to get anywhere in your chosen profession, you simply have to observe these implicit rules.
Since this is as true of academics as it is of pickpockets, it is more useful to examine the rules, rather than the persons who play the game. (emphasis mine)
Rule No 1 is that only winning matters because the winner takes all. This zero-sum game characteristic of politics has two consequences.
First, the squeamish stay away. Second, the rules are made by those who regard honesty like people usually regard exercise or prayer—something to be admired in others but never emulated.

Apropos rule #1, a question for readers of this blog: How many of your classmates/ friends, who had other career options, went into politics? I’d be surprised if the answer is more than zero for the vast majority of answers.

Rule No 2 is that your political worth is directly proportional to how much money you can bring to the table.
[..]
Rule No 3 is that no one but you will be responsible for your day-to-day expenses.
[..]
Rule No 4 is that you must recoup your election expenses in the first two years and devote the next three years to generating the margin money for the next election.
[..]
Rule No 5 comes out of Rule No 2: the political parties need you to bring in more than money if they are to bank on you.
[..]
Rule No 6 is “No squealing”. If you rat on someone, you may be ratted on next. And since you need the money, it is not in your interest to rat. So there is no internal pressure to remain honest.
Rule No 7 is that in the current framework each MP must spend more than the other. This comes out of a Prisoners’ Dilemma sort of situation where, although each MP is best off spending as little as possible, in reality none of them can.
This is because whenever one MP realises that the other is not spending, he can achieve a higher individual payoff by spending more, and thereby hoping to extend his reach amongst potential voters. Given that each MP stands to gain by spending more if the other does not spend, what ends up happening is that they all spend as much as they can.

In other words, TCA says that wishful thinking of the Palkhivala school, in looking for politicians ofvision (sic) is not realistic. Nor, for that matter, are rants that blame everything on venal politicians.

I’ve long averred that it’s unrealistic to expect a fighter to adhere to the Marquess of Queensberry rules, when all his opponents are exponents of no-holds-barred fighting. With our current system, the search for honest politicians is a chimera. The solution lies in reforming the rules of the political game.

While I’d love to see idealists like Paritrana succeed without soiling their hands, I’m a tad skeptical. Perhaps they’ll prove me wrong.

Comments (37)

37 Comments »

The whole thing starts with election expenses.If we go back in history when first time congress took part in elctions in 1935,one of the criteria to select candidates was his ability to finance his expenditure.Various political memoirs of that time testify to this fact.As a result many time commited but honest workers were ignored in favour of criminal elements or at best people with vested interests. But the refrain at that time was if the top leadership is not corrupt then we can control base of the pyramids.
Second reason was that even a honest person when elctd found that he had lot of discretionary power to exercise in License /Quota Raj so temtation was great to become corrupt.In my own college ,though scope of discretion is small but even for that elections for Student council are fought on reggional/political pact lines without giving attention to suitability of candidates.
So th most important thing is reduce expenditure in elctions.So that even if a teacher/professor or doctor wants to contest elctions he can without worrying about expenses involved.Ban all sorts of banner,large cutouts,minless decorations.At bbbest only posters should be allowed and only at public palces in limited nos.
Next thing could be state financing.By this way all vested lobbies who finance election will lose their control.Today when television is everywhere ,make compulsory for every channel to give some time to people contesting elections.
Another point is make every Mp and MLA declare all his transaction/travels/endorsement/donation etc worth more than a 1000 rs during his tenure of five yrs.
These are a few steps which may be a good beginning.
Comment by Anshul — February 15, 2006 @ 1:05 pm
I would think rather than corruption being a problem, it is the type of corrutption that is a major problem. Politicians everywhere are corrupt. There is not a place in the world where you cannot get something illegal / dicey done by giving a decent amount of cash. That is one type of corruption – where people in power accept bribes to do something that is not expected of them.
The other kind os corruption — which plagues India a lot — and which we should be more concerned about at this stage — is where people in power demand bribes/perks to do things that they are expected to do and/or just dont perform their duties / fulfil their responsibilities due to a lack of incentive. That is what bogs us down.
Comment by anya — February 16, 2006 @ 12:27 am
Anya
Apropos your comments that ” people in power demand bribes/perks to do things that they are expected to do and/or just dont perform their duties / fulfil their responsibilities due to a lack of incentive. “
Yes, this is a problem that India faces — big-time. And very predictable, as TCA points out — see Rules #1 thru 5.
Comment by Prashant Kothari — February 16, 2006 @ 2:00 am
Perhaps one of the solutions to the Indian corrupt politicians problems I can think of is giving a chance to the new upcoming parties such as Paritrana(http://www.paritrana.org/). Only when people with sufficient moral strength and a strong sense of serving the Indian public get elected to the top most offices, can this problem of corruption be contained.
Comment by Braingler — February 16, 2006 @ 11:12 am
Hmmm…
John Fogerty once complained that his fans didn’t really bother with his lyrics — if I remember right, I think he was cheesed off at people dancing to “Bad Moon Rising”. Not
After reading some of the comments above, I can empathize with him.
How else can one explain Anya and Braingler’s comments — AFTER there’s a detailed post enumerating the reasons why
a) “politicians demand money for even quotidian tasks”, and
b) why “moral strength and a strong sense of serviing the Indian public” are not a recipe for success in Indian politics.
Wonder if my post is too long — perhaps people just glaze over it, and read only the headlines?
Comment by Prashant Kothari — February 18, 2006 @ 6:21 pm
Yes the rules of the political game is the one to blame. Its not that all the politicains are corrupt otherwise India Inc would have been in a bad condition now.
Apropos rule #1, a question for readers of this blog: How many of your classmates/ friends, who had other career options, went into politics? I’d be surprised if the answer is more than zero for the vast majority of answers.
This question generally sprouts up whenever the topic of corrupt politicians are discussed.
I believe that choosing any other profession is much easier than getting into politics for an average Indian. With an economics or political science major its more reasonable for them to become a professor or go for civil services which gives more returns.
The amount of money and network required to become a politician is huge. So unless you are a from a family with political background or rich and famous its difficult. For a normal educated person it takes years. And when they get there they are in such minority that they cannot influence or change the rules of poilitical game.
There are institutes which create engineers or doctors or economists but is there an institute which creates/coaches politicians??
So a very weird option is to make the election spending a state issue as stated in one of the comments and make the elected politicians attend classes in Eco-Political Sciene-International politics and law etc so that they have less time to think about doing scams and gain some knowledge on how to better run the country.
Comment by Swati — February 19, 2006 @ 6:55 pm
Prashat .. its probably to do with the fact that more often than not, only the content gets read and not the links.
Comment by anya — February 21, 2006 @ 1:27 am
Prashant,
TCA’s article is brilliant no doubt.
I was thinking of the ultimate causes of corruption- both administrative corruption(”speed-money” for everyday tasks that should be done) and discretionary corruption (for out of turn favours, be it a contract, a promotion, a jump in the queue, whatever). To my mind there are 5 causative factors for corruption (I am trying to be brief here) -
1. Discretion (remedy- get everything to be rule-based and avoid exceptions)
2. Transparency (remedy- get everyone to be well-informed and all transactions/ dealings in the open; invest in eudcation)
3. Shortages (remedy- eliminate queues- of all kinds; increase access, free markets)
4. Concentration of power (remedy- institutionalised mechanisms to prevent someone getting into a postion of absolute power)
5. Economic deprivation/ inequality (remedy- all-round growth growth opportunities as opposed to redistributive policies)
In the Indian context, addressing 1-4 would eliminate opportunities for corruption greatly. None of this is easy, but still worth striving for. Addressing 5, would eliminate the motivation.
Lastly, an economically stronger society with a large base of middle-class voters as well as a population that is well-educated will allow voters to focus on longer-term benefits than short-term measures leading to the erosion of the culture of corruption.
At one seminar I attended some weeks ago, there was this interesting observation that at the current rate of growth, in 15-20 years, we could see some basic changes in our polity that will result in a transformation of the politician as we know; for the better. We will need to be a bit patient!
To my mind, I do not believe that any society or nation incluidng India has any genetic pre-disposition to poor morals. I am sure that is nobody’s point. What we can do is to a. Recognize the causative factors and vote for/ canvas for policies that catalyse the remedies in every sphere of public life b. Be good parents oursleves!
Comment by S. Ramachandra — February 23, 2006 @ 9:29 pm
Ram
Hi! Nice exposition there… I agree with all you say.
However, even if we put in place all the remedies you suggest, there’s no getting around the overriding need for politicians to raise money for fighting elections — which TCA pinpoints as (one of) the primary causes of corruption.
The need to raise funds for fighting elections is the bane of the US as well — just as in India, the winners in the political fray are mostly those with the biggest war-chests. Of course, in the US, fund-raising is done “legally” via PACs, campaign contributions, and fund-raising dinners.
Comment by Prashant Kothari — February 24, 2006 @ 4:28 pm
Prashant,
Yes, I do get your point- especially the one about “legally” funded spends!
1. I was thinking more on the lines of how the internet has enabled even a small player to start up and do a lot of things that only large players could earlier. It has sort of levelled the playing field and made cost of start up, cost of research/ learning a
fraction of what it was. It is now doing the same for advertising- making TV advts. difficult to justify in some economies/ categories.
If the cost of reaching a message to voters and
getting your head and face/ PoV across could be made easy using technology; if all voters were educated and well-informed and had access to all the information.. …maybe then, you could see big spends becoming
redundant. What we need is a system that levels out
the odds (costs of communication) between the big
moneyed businessman and the humble small town teacher
in respect of running for public office.
2. I am sceptical about measures like getting elections to be state funded or banning any spend per-se.
Funding elections publicly does not address the
ability of an individual politician with the means
from making a bigger noise using private means. Also,
banning different forms of spend will only make it
harder for a newcomer to establish himself against
well-known politicians (party brands). It is akin to
the situation with cigarette advertising in this
country, where I believe an unintended consequence of
the ban helps existing brnads keep out competition and
earn more profits!
Hence my PoV that “social technology” needs to evolve
that makes election spending unnecessary or useless
(blogs are step in this direction?!).
2. I am also sceptical about wishing for Good persons to reach positions of power/ enter politics. I think
there are enough good people, there is enough goodness
going around- else we would have collapsed as a civil
society long ago.
Fundamental strain of thought underlying all of this is that- make it easy for someone to follow the law and real hard/ inconvenient to break it……… if you want a solution.
Goes back to someone’s view of economics- it is all about the incentives society has.
Indian politicians, as Indian bureaucrats and Govt. servants will remain corrupt so log as the right incetives are not in place.
Comment by S. Ramachandra — February 25, 2006 @ 9:06 pm
I forget who said this but it went something like this.
India is a democracy on crutches. But despite all the corruption and crookedness, every single politician (including known gangsters) or political party obeys the verdict of the janta. When was the last time, there was a coup in India because someone lost the election. Indira Gandhi tried something of that order … look what happened.
India’s poor have one weapon against the politicians and it is their vote. Compare the huge voter turnout in India with the dismal turnout here in the United States. It seems we immigrants care more about the United States than the locals.
Rayan Felix Coutinho
http://www.rcoutinho.com
Comment by Rayan Felix Coutinho — March 3, 2006 @ 4:05 am
“Yetho Raja Thatho Praja” if I have it down right is relevant in this context isnt it ? The politicians come from the same society that you and i are in.
We are apathetic to everything that should matter…I have been hunting for a blog on the April 1 deadline for all Mumbai households to reduce their energy consumption and i cannot find one — if any reader does – pl let me know!
We must ask ourselves why aren’t we more bothered that taxpayers money has been used to fund energy saving sensors in mantralaya because the GoMs ministers and babus are too lazy to conserve power but the same taxpayer has to curtail his consumption or face ” lights out ” ??
When we as a people stand up for ourselves , we can expect a better quality of politician.
Comment by Ila Bhat — March 3, 2006 @ 9:12 pm
Ila says “The politicians come from the same society that you and i are in.”
I agree. However, given the structure of the “political game” in India ie, the rules as cited by TCA, Indian politics rarely attracts stellar candidates — they’re turned off. Or even if they do venture forth, they don’t rise to the top, because they don’t play by the rules.
Going back to the question I raised above: How many of your classmates/ friends, who had other career options, went into politics? .
In other words, what exactly do you mean by “same society”"? For instance, Ila also says When we as a people stand up for ourselves , we can expect a better quality of politician.
I agree. Yes, we all are clear that we want democracy and freedom. And we want “better quality” of politicians. However, given the hugely heterogenous voting populace, where each group has different levels of information and often, hugely differing goals, suspect that “better quality” might have multiple definitions.
Comment by Prashant Kothari — March 4, 2006 @ 7:32 am
Prashant, to take this further – let us just look at this April 1 deadline – the voting population its going to affect will be homegenous in the sense its going to bother all of us equally- the slumdweller and the industrial galas drawing illegal power, the a/cd office goer of nariman point or the johri of zaveri bazaar , the dinks and the gujju joint family…why then do you find this strange silence – where are the RWAs , the AGNIs, the Kirit Somaiyas?
Is it because everyone feels such a diktat will be “unimplementable” or is it general apathy? Everyone i have been talking to just seems to shrug their shoulders and says ” dekh lenge” .
Do you think the Mumbai Mirror or Mid Day pictures of neta-babu profligacy is going to cause a groundswell of public opinion against this ? Or do we just expect the media to do our work for us ?
It took a media spotlight for Sonia Gandhis managers to realise that the Jessica case was a great opp. to increase the size of her halo..never mind that a parliamentary committee (notwithstanding their flawed reasoning) had struck down the needed changes in law.
How many of us vote at civic elections ? How many of us even care ? We need to find a way to change ourselves…
Comment by Ila Bhat — March 4, 2006 @ 5:27 pm
Ila
I agree with the broad thrust of what you say — that the Indian people have also some culpability — for our terrible politicians.
Think this is in line with your earlier plaint about the atrocious behavior of the passengers on Indian airlines http://indianeconomy.org/2005/11/23/incentives-for-good-behaviour/
You also ask “How many of us vote at civic elections ? How many of us even care ? We need to find a way to change ourselves…”
Suspect that so many of “us” don’t vote because we don’t think
a) our individual votes will make a difference and/ or
b) we don’t like any of the candidates and/ or
c) we’re too lazy
d) something else
Suspect many upper-class/ middle-class Indians don’t vote because the candidates don’t really speak to their problems — and from a candidate’s perspective, they’re better off focusing on the largest chunk of the voting populace…. and that ain’t the middle-class Indians.
Comment by Prashant Kothari — March 8, 2006 @ 10:14 pm
I have a take on this as follows.
Democracy, to show quick and appreciable results should be practiced at a small scale.
Let me explain. In a housing society, where the office bearers are elected, it is fairly easy and quick to throw out someone who is not performing. Simmilarly the case is for a village or city.
The other advantage of having smaller scale models is that two cities can adopt different models and they can compete for various resources. e.g. investment, people etc. Some cities can be more conservative, some can be more liberal. There will be more competition between the various cities and the better models will win out in the end.
This is happening to some extent, but at a state level. It should also happen at a city level.
Comment by Rishi — April 23, 2006 @ 5:04 pm
Why Does India Have Such Terrible Politicians? Because, the Indian people will not elect anybody else. Those people who analyse, talk, write articles like these and understand real picture about a politician, WILL NOT vote. Those people who don’t analyse and understand nothing just go and vote. I don’t see any reason to pull Chandrababu naidu from AP or SM Krishna from Karnataka or likes out of power? They are politicians, but they are visionaries too. They did lot of good to their respective states than any politician I knew at state level did. But no use. Instead of encouraging them to continue, people gave their verdict to others, who did almost nothing in the last 50 years.
Fundamentally, greed aspect is not just confined to Politicians, but it is in the blood of almost every indian, either out of survival instincts or ambitions. Hence, the question and the answer should and will start with ourselves. Why the politicians are terrible? Because, we are. We all are.
Comment by Murali — June 22, 2006 @ 11:27 pm
Murali (#17) says that Fundamentally, greed aspect is not just confined to Politicians, but it is in the blood of almost every indian, either out of survival instincts or ambitions. Hence, the question and the answer should and will start with ourselves. Why the politicians are terrible? Because, we are. We all are.
When you say “we all are”, does that “we” refer to Indians only? Are you saying that the Indian people are “more terrible” than others? IF, and that’s a big IF, that’s again a proximate response — what’s the ultimate causality for a “shoddy populace”, if that indeed is what you’re saying.
Those people who analyse, talk, write articles like these and understand real picture about a politician, WILL NOT vote. Again, why will these people not vote?
Sidebar: I’ve read Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs And Steel three times over, and rather taken by his framework of looking beyond proximate causes.
Comment by Prashant Kothari — June 23, 2006 @ 12:19 pm
“With our current system, the search for honest politicians is a chimera. The solution lies in reforming the rules of the political game”
“In other words, TCA says that wishful thinking of the Palkhivala school, in looking for politicians of vision (sic) is not realistic.”
Going with the zist of this article, if everyone else is corrupt around, you can not stay honest and not-corrupt. This is suggesting that you go with the flow, doesn’t matter right or wrong. Your conscience and your mind has no role in how you live. This is absolutely foolish, in my view. What it is suggesting is that, if everyone throw trash on the road, you blame them and then you also throw on the road. You have a choice of making your own rules and put the trash in a trash can at the corner of the street.
The implicit rules of politicians are ONCE made explicitly by some politicians. That means, if one politician make a new rule EXPLICITLY, over a long run, that rule becomes implicit. So if we elect one honest politician or a politician with a vision, it is possible that some day all politicians will become honest, as per the implicit rules in this article itself.
I have not studied so many books that try to backfit the behaviour of politicians in a nice so called framework or I do understand the verbatim in this article fully, but as an entrepreneur I have experienced the visions and committment of two chief ministes first hand, Chandrababu naidu of AP and SM Krishna of Karnataka. They really had vision and single handedly changed the course of development in their respective states. In their leadership, every politician really WORKED and every government employee DID their DUTY for they were paid, though may be out of compulsion and fear. If they continue for some time, as per the what-so-ever framework or implicit rules, new IMPLICIT rules should have been created and we should have seen politicians and govt employess working like passionate and ambitious people in other sectors.
I am specifically talking about Indians. I do not have much understanding about others. In my view, responsibility is on every India’s INACTION.
“While I’d love to see idealists like Paritrana succeed without soiling their hands, I’m a tad skeptical. Perhaps they’ll prove me wrong.” – Lots of people love to see that every thing will change. They wish that some framework or rules will change and that can change the world. But they hate to participate in making that change. This is the root cause of the whole issue. This is what I mean when I said, the people who talk about it, write about, have the ability to understand and take a better decision, are the SAME PEOPLE who never PARTICIPATE in the action. They hope somebody else will take the ACTION. They just love to see it happen. They seldom set themselves into ACTION.
Comment by Murali — June 23, 2006 @ 7:06 pm
Murali
Thanks for your comments, so far. I’d recommend that you read the blog post and the TCA article. Would love to hear your comments, after that.
Comment by Prashant Kothari — June 24, 2006 @ 7:19 am
In my opinion, TCA’s “analysis” is too vague to be meaningful. I suspect that one can invent any number of arbitrary analytical frameworks on this topic and get most people to nod in agreement.
What S. Ramachandra is more to the point. As the author of “Freakonomics” points out, given sufficient incentive, almost anyone will cheat. So the question reduces to this fundamental one: How do you make corruption less attrative? See Ramachandra’s post for how this can be done.
If you are looking for examples, there are at least two I can think of:
- The Delhi subway project is an example of how transparency can be used to cut through the maze of systemic corruption. The project was reported to have finished on budget and on time.
- In the Singapore government, people in the office are paid so well that everyday bribery does not look as attractive them. That and the fact they used the preceding technique to create a functioning judicial system.
For a discussion of the biological underpinnings of morality, I recommend “The moral animal” by Robert Wright.
Comment by kayd — August 27, 2006 @ 2:48 pm
HEAT HURTS CROPS
PLUMSTED — Local farmer John Marchese will still be feeling the term life quote from this summer next year. The hot and dry summer has hurt crops all over the state, term life quoteMarchese fears he will be hit twice as hard.
Comment by term life quote — August 27, 2006 @ 5:02 pm
I am 23 years old. I have done BMS (Management Course), working as financial researcher. I don’t want to comment anything because all make their comments but don’t do anything. But i want to become honest politician, more than politician i want to become social worker. We (India) have more than enough resources to become superpower country. Just want to ask everyone that: how can i become politician? Is there anyone who can help me out and show the way?? If anyone practically knows how to get into politician, please send message to me.
Comment by Sandeep — November 12, 2006 @ 10:54 pm
Prashant,
I agree that the election-funding bit does contribute to a large extent. Reminds me of what an American once told me. “in the former Commonwealth Nations candidates are bought like this (rubbing his thumb and forefinger to sign for money) and here in the US, like this (gesturing a signature with a pen on a legal document)”.
Comment by PH — November 30, 2006 @ 1:56 am
The politicians don’t come from other planets do they? Our own society produces them. It’s a flaw of democracy: popularity matters more than ability. And society decides who is popular based on the “image” of the person rather than his/her achievements. It happens in films, it happens in politics.
Comment by Sridhar Jagannathan — December 3, 2006 @ 6:20 pm
I agree with Sridhar. Politics or medicine or any other profession. Lets face it. There is corruption in India. In politics there are more opportunities that’s all. And more power. And better ability to get away with it.
You will surprised how corrupt even educational institutions are. I tried to admit my daughter into Fergusson College this academic year for a BA course and they asked for one and a half lakhs.
This is the state of our country today. Pune at one time was a centre for learning.
Comment by Nita Jatar Kulkarni — December 5, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
maybe we should let politicians work on a commission basis. for starters, their salaries are ridiculously little. so, let them keep say 10% of the bribes they make. and if you find a way to make this legal, then they can breathe safer, and make a decent living, while not trying to make a gargantuan amount.
of course, this is a random thought from a non-economics guy, and might amount to sacrilege, and for this I apologize.
Comment by Arvind Ashok — February 8, 2007 @ 9:55 am
I have been tracking this post with interest…not just for the range of thoughts and ideas but also due to a personal interest in this whole subject.
The optimist in me says that at some point over the next 10-15 years, things will change (assuming that the socio-economic growth continues – and the benefits are distributed relatively evenly)…what gives me real hope though is the transformation in traditional media because of technology…
As someone has commented above, once this happens, the cost of reaching out to voters (which is where most of campaign financing goes – and which is the BIGGEST barrier for any reasonably honest person to even consider standing for elections) will hopefully drop to a point where it no longer is an impediment…
Second, it is only when enough of the populace have their stomachs full and a comfortable shelter for their families that true political reform can come about…until then most of us would be too busy worrying (or working) for their next meal…Again, that probably means a wait of 10 years or so for fundamental reform to emerge…
Unfortunately, the new political groupings do not give much reason to cheer. See e.g.http://hindudharma.wordpress.com/2007/03/24/dark-clouds-just-got-darker/
Over the longer term though, all is not lost…
Comment by B Shantanu — March 24, 2007 @ 2:23 am
Elected politicians must be paid well. If these jobs don’t attract middle class, educated, Indians, India will continue to be run by uneducated bumkins.
It’s time educated, middle class India pushed the bumkins out of politics.
Comment by HarvardGrad — April 18, 2007 @ 6:40 am
@Ramachandra, @Rishi: Good analysis and just so my comment can be seen in context of yours,, you outlined: Discretion, Transparency, Shortages, Concentration of power, Economic deprivation/ inequality and small-scale democracy.
For a counter-example, which easily meets all your criteria but illustrates ‘innovation’ in corruption, look at the UK at the moment. The UK has gone beyond cash in brown envelopes to ask questions on behalf of Al-Fayed, for which a minister served a jail sentence under Tories. Now with the working people’s party, New Labour, has a party fund-raiser, who is handing out peerages in return for money and a peer who is also an Attorney General wants to have a say before the fund-raiser is tried. Now stealing funds from charity campaigns, like Jeffrey Archer did, is considered such a minor offence that he served jail but was not stripped of his peerage! In other words, in a rule-based, completely transparent, open market based economy with relatively little inequality (compared to India), you do not see absence of corruption but new avenues and innovation in corruption. So India is not alone in this misfortune, and whenever this comes up, I regale stories about corruption in the Western politics to my father to tell him that the difference is only dhoti versus Saville Row suit.
Comment by Shefaly — April 24, 2007 @ 10:40 am
Many political parties in India are mere opportunistic. They just wait for some reason to fool a particular section of society. I hate parties like BJP, samajwadi party and BSP. These parties tries to divide the country on basis of religion and caste. The younger generation should be smart enough to understand their wicked game.
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Because no one cares, I have spoken to many common people and tried to get them to understand how the politicians squander public money but they are tolerant to corrupt politicians.
Common man expects a politician to be corrupt and he doesn’t care as they are eating some one else’s money, They do not understand that money belongs to them and they would have better roads, house, jobs, education, toilets etc if that money is swindled and instead used for its intended purposes.
The solution to this problem will come only when people think about goverment money as tax payers money indended to change their life.
corrupt politician is stealing money that would have made your life better (Ie;better housing,schools,jobs,roads,hospitals,Fresh air to breath)
Comment by galicula — July 10, 2008 @ 10:50 am