In its latest report released this month, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd, a prestigious consulting firm based in Singapore, has rated the Indian bureaucracy as the worst in Asia, with a rating of 9.21 out of 10. India has fared worse than Vietnam (rated at 8.54), Indonesia (8.37), Philippines (7.57) and China (7.11). Singa-pore remained the best with a rating of 2.25, followed by Hong Kong (3.53), Thailand (5.25) Taiwan (5.57), Japan (5.77), South Korea (5.87) and Malaysia (5.89).
India’s position on the list has been slipping every year, with the result that Government jobs have become the easiest means to earn a quick buck not only for senior bureaucrats but even for peons and clerks. In fact, corruption and inefficiency in India are two sides of the same coin. The actual work of governance is too unglamorous for the people who govern. Our elected officials depend on the bureaucracy to perform the humdrum tasks.
Naturally, a vast majority of the people working in the Government are corrupt and unresponsive to the people’s needs, unless of course they are offered ‘a cut’. Often, I have been told that it is easier to meet god than it is to secure a meeting with a bureaucrat in a high position. In my personal experience, phone calls made to serving bureaucrats are rarely, if ever answered.
Politicians promise the moon during election times but it is all forgotten when their positions have been secured. Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while addressing a Governor’s Conference said that the Government would “do its utmost to improve transparency and accountability” within the bureaucracy and that it was committed to taking all possible measures to “curb corruption in administration and would move decisively”.
The net effect of such statements on the ground has, however, been nil. The Inspector Raj of yore continues to thrive and flourish. This is despite Mr Singh’s assurances to the industry on December 4, 2004, that a high-level committee would review archaic laws that hinder growth. “The standing committee with representatives from industry and the Government would review all existing industry laws with international best practices and if required amend archaic laws to end tyranny of Inspector Raj”.
Seven years have passed and still there is no trace of any concrete action. If anything, the country is going downhill. According to Mr Singh, 42 per cent of Indian children are undernourished and this is an unacceptable situation. He admitted that, “though the Integrated Child Development Scheme continues to be our most important tool to fight malnutrition, we can no longer rely solely on it…” But he forgot to add that the delivery system has been overtaken by corruption and the Government has failed to control errant officials. More than 650 million Indians use public places as open-air latrines as they do not have access to toilets, and more than 250 million people are forced to drink filthy water simply because the ruling class has been found remiss in its duty to provide clean potable water.
India ranks 66th in a list of 88 countries on the World Hunger Index and 75 per cent of its women suffer from anaemia. A former Chief Justice of India had once said the common man “is hit hard by deep-rooted corruption” in the country, adding that the public distribution system was in shambles.
Here are some shocking results of studies done and assessments made by various organisations, both national and international, on corruption in India. According to a Transparency International report from 2005, truckers in India paid $5 billion annually in bribes. Similarly, rural households paid Rs 471.8 crore in bribes to avail basic facilities (ration, health, education and water supply), the Centre for Media Studies found in 2010.
In the meantime, a mere 3,822 cases were registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act; assets were seized in 1,902 cases and Rs 35 crore worth assets were recovered; only 891 persons were convicted for corruption. How casually we respond to corruption is best exemplified in the following situation: The 66th Indian Law Commission Report (1999), had not only recommended the confiscation of properties of those who are proven to be corrupt, but had also drafted a detailed Bill, which had only to be adopted by Parliament and made into law. Sadly, no Government since then has even had a look at the Bill, leave alone passing or implementing it.
The Government cannot plead helplessness when it comes to uprooting corruption. It has all the powers to dismiss employees under Article 311 but that provision has rarely, if ever, been exercised. It is the indifference of the political class which has brought our country to this sorry situation. Clearly, a different world cannot be built by indifferent people. In fact, the Government is an accomplice in the crime of corruption. How else could the bureaucracy get away with the saying: ‘When in charge, ponder; when in trouble, delegate; when in doubt, mumble’?
American journalist and essayist HL Mencken, had once said: “It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume... that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him.”
But of course, Indians don’t need a Mencken to tell us that our bureaucrats are the worst. Ask anybody on the streets, or even a retired bureaucrat and they would confirm the fact. Ultimately, the whole situation simply boils down to whether or not the Government is willing to reform the bureaucracy. In this case, the Government will do well to remember what Gandhiji once said: “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
