Everyone knows that eliminating corruption from the society allows it to prosper in a natural way by instilling faith in the individual. But this may not be so when the transparency is absent with administrative mechanism. Getting rid of corruption by enacting stringent laws is not the solution rather it is detrimental to the daily life of a common person. Corruption should be allowed to subside in a natural way by bringing transparency in all the public offices and making the public officials responsible in discharging their duties.
I strongly advocate corruption to be allowed for enabling an individual to get his work done from the present system. In the absence of corruption, we can not expect the file to be moved in scheduled time. For people who have no political background, corruption helps them to get the things done in time. So, without corruption what would be the fate of these people? I know people who got their driving license, property registration, new electricity connection, transfer of electricity connection, transfer of name on house tax property book, new municipal water connection, death certificate, birth certificate, marriage certificate, by paying bribes.
I spoke to my neighbor yesterday regarding the change of name on his house tax property book. I have been trying to do the same for last one year but failed to get the thing done. I wonder how did he get the thing done, because he is 70 years old and hardly goes out of his home. When I asked about the procedure, he said he just gave Rs 1700/- to an employee of municipal corporation who indeed did the whole work. Further, he shares with me that 'money can get you anything'. He has a deep rooted belief that the system runs only on corruption and grandiloquent speeches by the demagogues is only a palliative measure before every election. He then shared his experience of how he paid bribe at Tirupati temple, when he visited 10 years back.
I used to believe that society without corruption would progress well and helps an individual to gain faith in the system. But, this is not so. What is required is transparency. This means, when I submit my application at passport office, there should be a time limit before which it should be disposed of. It should be either rejected giving the reasons there of or it should be processed further with in the scheduled time. So if all the public authorities are forced to follow rules like -
1. Each public authority should display the complete procedure for every type of request that an individual can apply at their offices.
2. A receipt should be issued by the concerned authority after taking the application / complaint from the individual. This process should be computerized or privatized to the extent possible.
3. There should be a substantive statute mentioning the time limit for processing (rejecting/accepting) each request.
4. In the absence of processing the request by the time limit prescribed, the concerned officer should be made responsible and the number of such cases in an year should reflect in his yearly appraisal.
All these things should be computerized to the extent possible. The main cause of corruption in our society is ignorance of the individual about how to get the work done from the public authority concerned. So this can be taken care of by displaying a detailed procedure as mentioned in (1). The second main cause is the inaction on the part of the official to process the file. This can be tackled by making it mandatory on the part of the public authority to issue a receipt and make him accountable by imposing the time limit.
The first step toward uprooting the corruption should be introducing and implementing transparency procedures in public offices. These things should be given a chance before framing statutes to punish the bribe takers. In the absence of a transparent mechanism, it is the individual who has to bear the brunt of inaction by the public authority. In the present scenario every body is hopeful that if you have money to bribe an official, you can get the things done. But nobody would like to wait for his/her passport 1 year and still not knowing the exact status of their application.
The argument that poor can not afford to pay the bribe and continue to suffer because of the greedy public officials is true but they too prefer paying bribe to waiting indefinitely. None likes to wait and allow their livelihood being ruined by the inaction of the public authority. This is true for a daily wage laborer, a vegetable vendor, an auto driver, a car mechanic, a shopkeeper, and for every one who struggle to earn a mere livelihood from whatever job that comes by. This is because, they can not afford to visit the public office umpteen times without the work being done, and loosing their livelihood .
People are ready to pay the bribe and accepted the corrupt system though it is detrimental to the growth of the society as a whole in the long run. Uprooting the corruption by enacting the stringent rules without attempting to treat the causes of corruption would be a palliative measure and leads to anarchy in the society.
I strongly advocate corruption to be allowed for enabling an individual to get his work done from the present system. In the absence of corruption, we can not expect the file to be moved in scheduled time. For people who have no political background, corruption helps them to get the things done in time. So, without corruption what would be the fate of these people? I know people who got their driving license, property registration, new electricity connection, transfer of electricity connection, transfer of name on house tax property book, new municipal water connection, death certificate, birth certificate, marriage certificate, by paying bribes.
I spoke to my neighbor yesterday regarding the change of name on his house tax property book. I have been trying to do the same for last one year but failed to get the thing done. I wonder how did he get the thing done, because he is 70 years old and hardly goes out of his home. When I asked about the procedure, he said he just gave Rs 1700/- to an employee of municipal corporation who indeed did the whole work. Further, he shares with me that 'money can get you anything'. He has a deep rooted belief that the system runs only on corruption and grandiloquent speeches by the demagogues is only a palliative measure before every election. He then shared his experience of how he paid bribe at Tirupati temple, when he visited 10 years back.
I used to believe that society without corruption would progress well and helps an individual to gain faith in the system. But, this is not so. What is required is transparency. This means, when I submit my application at passport office, there should be a time limit before which it should be disposed of. It should be either rejected giving the reasons there of or it should be processed further with in the scheduled time. So if all the public authorities are forced to follow rules like -
1. Each public authority should display the complete procedure for every type of request that an individual can apply at their offices.
2. A receipt should be issued by the concerned authority after taking the application / complaint from the individual. This process should be computerized or privatized to the extent possible.
3. There should be a substantive statute mentioning the time limit for processing (rejecting/accepting) each request.
4. In the absence of processing the request by the time limit prescribed, the concerned officer should be made responsible and the number of such cases in an year should reflect in his yearly appraisal.
All these things should be computerized to the extent possible. The main cause of corruption in our society is ignorance of the individual about how to get the work done from the public authority concerned. So this can be taken care of by displaying a detailed procedure as mentioned in (1). The second main cause is the inaction on the part of the official to process the file. This can be tackled by making it mandatory on the part of the public authority to issue a receipt and make him accountable by imposing the time limit.
The first step toward uprooting the corruption should be introducing and implementing transparency procedures in public offices. These things should be given a chance before framing statutes to punish the bribe takers. In the absence of a transparent mechanism, it is the individual who has to bear the brunt of inaction by the public authority. In the present scenario every body is hopeful that if you have money to bribe an official, you can get the things done. But nobody would like to wait for his/her passport 1 year and still not knowing the exact status of their application.
The argument that poor can not afford to pay the bribe and continue to suffer because of the greedy public officials is true but they too prefer paying bribe to waiting indefinitely. None likes to wait and allow their livelihood being ruined by the inaction of the public authority. This is true for a daily wage laborer, a vegetable vendor, an auto driver, a car mechanic, a shopkeeper, and for every one who struggle to earn a mere livelihood from whatever job that comes by. This is because, they can not afford to visit the public office umpteen times without the work being done, and loosing their livelihood .
People are ready to pay the bribe and accepted the corrupt system though it is detrimental to the growth of the society as a whole in the long run. Uprooting the corruption by enacting the stringent rules without attempting to treat the causes of corruption would be a palliative measure and leads to anarchy in the society.
