Fighting the Cancer of Corruption

Spate of Corruption Cases

In recent months a spate of corruption cases at very senior levels in administration have come to light. Two senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs, considered to be the sanctum sanctorum of the Union Government, were involved in the alleged scam in the purchase of bullet-proof jackets and excise evasion racket in the Union Territory of Daman. In the latter case, O. Ravi, the 1983 batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre working as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry was arrested by the CBI for accepting a bribe of Rs 25 lakhs to get the Administrator of Daman and Diu transferred. In the former case R. S. Sharma, a 1984 batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers on deputation to the Home Ministry, was accused of taking a bribe of Rs 10 lakhs from the owners of a security equipment company, Messers ATL, to help them to get the contract for the supply of 59,000 bullet-proof jackets.

Recently the CBI raided the office and residence of a senior IAS officer, B.V. Selvaraj, of the Union Territory cadre currently serving as the Secretary in the Union Ministry of Urban Development in connection with a graft case registered against several officials in Lakshdweep. Selvaraj had allegedly taken bribe from a private contractor promising him government contracts. (The Indian Express, July 3)

A female officer, Sumitra Banerjee, serving as the Additional Commissioner, Income Tax was arrested on graft charges by officers of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the CBI. She and her Assistant Commisioner, Anjali Banhole, were accused of demanding Rs 2 crores from a builder in Thane for not conducting a search following a survey which disclosed a tax liability of around Rs 25 crores. Her husband, who went to pick up the bribe from the builder, was also nabbed. Yet another case was that of the Chief Post Master General of Maharashtra and Goa, Manjit Bali, a 1978 batch officer of the Indian Postal Service. The CBI caught him redhanded while accepting the first instalment of a bribe of Rs 2 crores for issuing a no-objection certificate for the development of a plot reserved for a post office in Thane district. He was the biggest ever catch of the CBI. Bali’s treasure trove consisted of the following—Rs 34 lakhs in Indian currency, foreign currency consisting of $ 10,722, £ 2050, Euro 3470, immoveable assets at Faridabad, Panchkula, New Delhi, Bhopal and Gurgaon totally valued at over Rs 1 crore, 22 Bank accounts/ PPF accounts with a balance of the Rs 26 lakhs, seven high-end laptops valued at Rs 5 lakhs, two cars and 45 imported liquor bottles.

All these cases of corruption are related to officers of various All-India and Central Services —the top services of the country—who held positions at senior echelons of the administration. They were expected to set an example of high integrity to their subordinates but they betrayed the trust reposed in them by the government and people of the country.

Many other cases of corruption occurred in the State and local administration as well. Officers of the IAS serve the Central as well as the States to whose ‘cadres’ they are allotted. A shocking example of corruption was provided by the IAS couple, Arvind and Tina Joshi, both serving in the high position of Secretaries to Government of Madhya Pradesh. The bribe they took was in crores and so also their accumulated assets. The IPS is also an All-India Service. The house of an IPS officer serving as the SP, Belgaum was raided by the investigating officer of the Lok Ayukta, Karnataka. He was found in possession of assets disproportionate to his salary.

Corruption was not confined to the adminis-trative service only. Raids by the Income Tax Department and Lokayukta organisation on the palatial bungalow of the Director of Public Health and Family Welfare Department of MP, Dr Yogiraj Sharma, led to the recovery of disproportionate amounts of cash stashed in beds and cupboards, gold jewellery, investments and properties. (IE, March 2) As many as 85 bank accounts in the name of Dr Yogiraj Sharma and his family members were found while a total of Rs 30 crore government funds were siphoned off into the companies of Gaurav Sharma and Shashi Sharma, son and wife respectively of Dr Yogiraj Sharma. Sharma drew his power by flaunting his proximity to the former Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh. He could even dictate terms to his seniors because of his political connections. The government compulsorily retired him but the High Court asked the government to restore him on some technical grounds!

Yet another case of involvement of a medical professional came to light—this time not an employee of the government but an office-bearer of the apex regulatory authority of the medical educational institutions in India, namely, the President of the Medical Council of India, Dr Ketan Desai. The case assumed proportions of a major scam. Dr Desai is facing charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act for taking a brief of Rs 2 crores for giving recognition to the Patiala based Gyan Sagar Medical College. Dr Desai was taken into custody by the CBI. Dr Desai denied the charges. But after the CBI raids, it came to light that Dr Desai has amassed wealth and properties running into thousands of crores of rupees at places like Andheri in Mumbai where he owns a big shopping complex at a prominent location and an opulent office, five expensive cars like Honda City, Hundai, Sonata, Toyota and Karmi. He has a bank account in Dubai. Golden and diamond jewellery worth Rs 38 lakhs was found in his lockers.

Jharkhand, headed by a Chief Minister notorious for corruption, had rampant corruption at high places. After the Shibu Soren Government went out of power in June 1 and President’s Rule was imposed, Governor M.O.H. Farook took action against a dozen tainted government officers of the IAS and State administration, including the Managing Director of the Jharkhand Mineral Development Corporation and Additional Secretary of the Department of Institutional Finance. (IE, June 10) What is more striking is that the Vigilance Bureau has lodged an FIR against the Chairman and three other members of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission. How can the recruitment process be objective if the members of the Commission themselves are corrupt? Unfortunately such cases are taking place frequently. Some years ago, the Chairman and officers of the Public Service Commission of Maharashtra were accused of corruption. The Chairman had to spend a long time in jail but subsequently on some technical ground, the court exonerated the Chairman. Corruption has entered even the Army recruitment process. A Major was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe to issue a medical certificate required for every candidate.

The latest case in this category is the suspension of the Chairman of the Railway Recruitment Board for Mumbai in connection with the recruitment scandal involving the alleged leak of examination papers for money. Those arrested by the CBI in the case included the Chairman’s son, Vivek Bharadwaj, former Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Raipur A.K. Jagannathan, and his son, Srujan, and some middlemen. Copies of the question paper were sold for Rs 3.5 lakhs per candidate.

Local bodies are supposed to be nearer to the people and under constant public scrutiny. But here too corruption is rampant. The Joint Director, City Planning, Sunil Joshi, of the Kalyan Dombivali Corporation was caught taking a bribe of Rs 5 lakhs from Dilip Amrutlal Gutkha. Investigations revealed that this officer, working at a comparatively junior level, had property worth Rs 1.25 crores including diamonds, platinum pen worth Rs 14 lakhs, 154 sealed bottles of foreign wine and liquor and six lakhs in cash. (IE and Loksatta, June 19)

A corruption case at the highest level in the Army made disturbing reading. Court-martial proceedings were started against a General serving as the Principal Officer of the Army Chief and a couple of Major Generals at the level of Corps Commanders for giving no objection certificate to a private businessman for construction of some school buildings on a site close to the Army establishment against the rules in the Siliguri area in West Bengal. Though corruption has not been mentioned, it appears to be a case of nepotism and misuse of authority.

Corruption in Judiciary 

The judiciary is required to be above corruption if the people have to have implicit trust in it. But several cases of corruption have come to light at the highest levels in the judiciary as well. The latest case is that of Justice Dinakaran, the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court who was being considered for elevation to the post of a judge of the Supreme Court. He is alleged to have grabbed government land by illegal means. Impeachment proceedings have been initiated against him. A judge of the Delhi High Court was removed for fraudulently acquiring a piece of land while another judge of the Calcutta High Court was indicted for putting money deposited in the High Court by a litigant into his own private account. Recently the CBI filed a charge-sheet against six district judges of Ghaziabad, three of whom later retired as judges of the Allahabad High Court, and 71 others in a multi-crore Provident Fund scam. One Ashutosh Asthana (he was found dead last year in Dasna jail under mysterious circumstances while the CBI probe was on), a bill clerk in the Central Nazir District Court entered into a criminal conspiracy with the six district judges to cheat the District Court, Ghaziabad. Asthana used to spend Provident Fund money for the household expenditure of these judges. When such serious lapses can take place at the highest levels in the judiciary, it should be no surprise that numerous cases of corruption have occurred at lower levels and some judges have had to be removed from service.

Corruption among Politicians

Civil Servants are accountable to the Ministers in a system of parliamentary democracy. But how can they curb corruption in civil service when Ministers themselves are found to be corrupt? A notorious case was that of Sukh Ram who was the Union Minister of Telecommunications. A bundle of notes, valued crores of rupees, were found stashed under the bed and in the toilet of his bungalow. He was proceeded against but he managed to continue to be active in politics and even win elections!

The more recent case is that of Madhu Koda, who become the Chief Minister of Jharkhand after toppling, with Congress support, the incumbent BJP Chief Minister, Arjun Munda. He used his power by illegally awarding mining leases (Jharkhand is rich in mineral resources) for which he took bribes running into crores of rupees (some Rs 600 crores). The Director of Revenue Intelligence detected the crime. The Income Tax Department raided some 60-70 persons involved. But the officer, Ujjwal Choudhari, in charge of the operations, was summarily removed under pressure from ‘some big people in Delhi’. (Loksatta, February 19) Shibu Soren’s private secretary Paul was found to be in possession of property worth Rs 65 crores which he could not account for.

The latest case is that of A. Raja, the incumbent Union Minister in charge of Telecommunications. It is alleged that he sanctioned the sale of G2 Spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices leading to a huge loss estimated anywhere between Rs 60,000 to 10,0000 crores of rupees. This was corroborated by the huge proceeds of the recent sale of G3 Spectrum. The Opposition parties are clamouring for his immediate removal. But the 87-year-old Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who nominated Raja into the Union Cabinet, came all the way to Delhi to tell the Prime Minister that the allegations have been made against him because he is a Dalit and he should not be touched. In his press conference to observe the completion of his first year of office in the second term, the Prime Minister simply said that Raja had told him that he acted as per the rules then prevalent and if anybody is found guilty, then the law will take its own course! The office of Raja was raided but Raja did not think it necessary to resign!

Corruption has taken place even in the precincts of Parliament as well. The minority government of P.V. Narasimha Rao survived with the support of MPs of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, who were bribed to vote for the minority government. When the issue went to the Supreme Court, it refused to intervene on the ground that what takes place in Parliament is, according to the Constitution, outside the purview of the judiciary.

The UPA-I Government won a vote of confidence even after losing the support of the Leftist parties and it was alleged that some of the MPs of the Opposition parties crossed the floor because they were bribed. There was the unseemly scene of bundles of notes stacked on the table in front of the Speaker. It was alleged that it was part of the huge amount of money used to secure the confidence vote. The Parliamentary Committee which looked into this unwholesome incident did not establish the allegations of bribery by the ruling alliance. The clouds of suspicion, however, remained.

It is widely believed that politics in India is ridden with corruption. The politicians before independence and in the early years after independence lived for politics (for a public purpose) while politicians now live off politics and make a good fortune for themselves, their families and kiths and kins. There is tremendous use of money power during elections at all levels —national, State and even local as well as in institutions like co-operatives. Even after the Election Commission imposed a code of conduct, the expenses incurred by candidates far exceed the ceiling laid down by the code.

Recently Rs 7 crores were found in the car of industrialist Haribabu in the Andhra Pradesh Congress. It was alleged that the money belonged to the Telugu Desam Party leader, Chandrababu Naidu, and was meant to be used during the forthcoming by-elections in 12 Assembly constituencies of Telangana. (IE, June 19, 2010)

No wonder it is believed that money is recovered after the candidate gets elected by resorting to corruption. It has been noticed that successful politicians have quickly amassed wealth after they won the elections and assumed positions of power. Candidates of poor means have become affluent and most of the candidates now standing for elections have become ‘karodpatis’.

A disturbing political trend in recent years is the ‘criminalisation of politics’. Politicians called into service criminals to use muscle power and gather votes. Now criminals themselves have become politicians. A recent list of MPs and MLAs shows that a large number of them have a criminal background. A case of an unholy alliance between criminals, politicians and police is the notorious Abdul Karim Telgi case. “He was a former peanut vendor who had printed 320 billion rupees worth of forged revenue stamps, one of the biggest corruption scandals in the nation’s history. He got away with the forgeries by bribing Bombay’s politicians and cops wholesale.” (Maximum City by Suketu Mehta, p. 584)

It is apparent that the cancer of corruption has spread throughout the body politic and body economic of the country. For a country which through centuries has upheld the values of Aparigriha and Asteya, this is indeed a great moral fall. The Upanishadic prayer enjoins on all of us “Maa gridhah kasyachit dhanam” (do not take anybody else’s possession). This seems to have been all but forgotten.

Corruption in politics has had a corrosive effect on India’s public life and economic progress. It has been stated that a lot of money meant for development is siphoned off through corruption thus adversely affecting the progress of the country. But even more significant is the fact that corruption makes people lose faith in the government and democracy itself. They tend to believe that everybody is corrupt and nothing can be got done without greasing the palm of somebody in authority.

Opportunities for Corruption

If corruption in politics is attributed to expensive elections, corruption in administration is attributed to a variety of opportunities for corruption that exist in the administration. Administrative corruption started way back during the days of World War II when essential commodities were in short supply and had to be rationed—whether food articles or commodities like steel and cement. The shortage economy persisted after independence and the Essential Commodities Act and other restrictive measures continued. In fact they were tightened. In the name of planning, a command and control economy and ‘licence permit raj’ soon came into existence. Permits for foreign exchange, licence for opening industrial and commercial establishments and control on capital issues meant that no business could be done without going to the ‘controller’. A thriving class of agents and middlemen came up and they took their margin for getting the permit or licence or supply of the precious commodities in short supply through the black market. The entre-preneurial skill was identified with manipulating the machinery of administration rather than creative management. Manipulation became the principal qualification for business advancement. No wonder the economy was atrophied and frozen and lost dynamism. The country remained economically backward compared to the other economies like Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan (which gave free scope for business) and technologically poor with low productivity. The Indian economy became insular and non-competitive.

The philosophy of liberalisation and privati-sation led to the concept of public private partnership which was interpreted as availability of public resources for private profit. Allotment of land, minerals and other resources, telecommu-nications’ spectrum rights could be given away below market cost to big business and multinationals at a price in the form of bribes. Instead of playing the role of regulators of private enterprises, the administrative authorities were asked to work as facilitators. This led to a mutually helpful relationship between business tycoons and politicians and civil servants in authority. The Madhu Koda and A. Raja cases, mentioned above, are the outstanding products of the new philosophy. For SEZs, the government machinery was at the disposal of business for compulsory acquisition of huge chunks of land by using the coercive force of the state against the protesting land owners. ‘Helpful’ civil servants could look forward to well-paid jobs in private companies after retirement or could even leave government jobs for the newly opened lucrative opportunity. This is the new face of liberalisation in which public interest is at a discount and private interest of big business is at a premium.

Growing public expenditure in the name of development and defence provided big opportunities for corruption. With the advent of the policy of liberalisation initiated in 1991, the command and control economy was largely dismantled and it was expected that corruption attendant to the licence permit raj will also end. But this did not happen. As Ramchandra Guha has pointed out, liberalisation and privatisation has opened up new and much vaster avenues of corruption. (India after Gandhi, p. 713) “The most notorious case of corruption in post-reform India concerns a power plant that the American firm Enron wished to set up in Maharashtra. In June 1992 the State Government, then controlled by the Congress, signed the deal with Enron which guaranteed the company a staggering 16 per cent annual return on its investment.” The contract proved controversial. When the controversy was at its height, the head of Enron in India revealed that $ 20 million were spent on ‘education’ widely seen as the euphemism for corruption.

Public sector enterprises have also become partners in their unholy alliance with American firms. Officials of Indian PSUs like BHEL, NPT, Bhilai Electric and State Electricity Boards of Maharashtra and Haryana were beneficiaries of bribes doled out by the California based Control Corporation Inc. On June 30, 2009 the firm pleaded guilty in a US court for having committed bribery in 36 countries from 2002 to 2007. (IE, July 8, 2010)

In the wake of external threats from the neighbouring countries, China and Pakistan, India launched ever expending modernisation programmes involving huge public expenditure on purchases of technologically advanced aircraft, missiles, weapons and equipment. The contracts with supplying firms in foreign countries involved negotiations which gave scope for corruption in a big way. Bofors became the notorious example of such corruption related to ‘defence’ purchases. Purchase of submarines, bullet-proof jackets were other examples. The government has repeatedly talked about the exclusion of agents and middlemen from defence purchases but the latter seem to have their presence, visible or invisible, all the time.

A shocking example of involvement of a senior functionary in a corruption scandal is that of the Chairman of the Ordnance Factories Board, Sudipta Ghosh. He and several of his associates received bribes from Indian and foreign defence firms. The scandal came to light in July 2009. The CBI has recommended blacklisting of these firms. (IE, June 24)

Similar cases are related to the award of contracts of huge mega projects in the infrastructure sector. Satyendra Dube, a young engineer, tried to be a whistle-blower in regard to corrupt practices in the construction of highways. This led him to lose his life. His killers were prosecuted and punished but there is a lurking feeling that the big business which hired the killers has gone scot-free.

Big projects apart, in the implementation of development schemes which are to be executed through small projects spread all over the country like NREGA (rural works programme) or Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, there are constant exposures of corruption. Recently a Marathi newspaper, Sakaal, brought out a series of exposé relating to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme. Money meant for building of schools, improvement of facilities for students in schools, and midday meal programme was misused by educational officers, local panchayat officers and even teachers.

Controlling Corruption

The problem of corruption in the Indian administration and how to control, if not to eradicate, it altogether has received attention ever since independence. One of the first reports on administrative reforms, the one-man Gorwala Committee report, attributed corruption to delay and red tape and recommended streamlining of administrative procedures to expedite disposal of cases. Along with speed in disposal of cases, several Administrative Reforms Commissions later recommended measures to make the administration open and transparent. The computer revolution has opened up new opportunities for speeding and streamlining the administration. The recent, and probably the most important, measure in this direction is the passing of the Right to Information Act claimed by the UPA-I Government as one of its most vital achievements. Information Commissioners have been appointed both at the Central and State levels to enable citizens to obtain information on administrative procedures and relating to actual disposal of cases. It needs to be assessed to what extent this right of the citizens has led to making the administration more responsive to the citizens, more open and transparent and to the elimination of corruption. The fact remains that a large number of original cases and appellate cases are pending. The same delay in disposal that exists in government offices is found in the offices of the Information Officers as well. No wonder the people feel frustrated.

Another important recommendation to curb corruption was made by the Santhanam Committee, appointed by the Nehru Government after the issue was raised in Parliament. The Committee recommended appointment of Vigilance Commi-ssioners at the Central and State levels and in every Ministry and organisation. It is after that recommendation that the office of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner came into existence at the Central level. To strengthen the machinery for investigation into corruption cases, the Supreme Court ordered that the CBI, the principal investigating agency at the Central level, should act under the supervision of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, so as to make it independent and free from the influence of government. Even after this recommendation came into effect, it is widely believed that the CBI does not function in an independent and impartial manner and is under the thumb of the Central Government and works as its agency.

The first comprehensive Reforms Commission, headed first by Morarji Desai and later by K. Hanumanthiah (1969), recommended the creation of the post of the Lok Pal at the Central level and the Lok Ayukta at the State level to bring under its purview Ministers of government in addition to senior administrative officers. Lok Ayuktas have been appointed in several States but the office of the Lok Pal, who is to function at the Central level, has yet to come into existence. A Bill to create this office came several times before Parliament (1968, 1971, 1975, 1986, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001) but lapsed on every occasion. There seems to be political reluctance, if not resistance, to this Bill. Lok Ayuktas have been appointed in several States. How far have they been effective? The recent case of Justice Santosh Hegde, the Lok Ayukta in Karnataka, is most eloquent. He exposed many corruption cases relating to high level functionaries in government. But after battling corruption in government for nearly four years, Justice Hegde resigned in frustration at the apathy shown by BJP Government headed by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa towards corruption in allowing illegal mining of iron ore in the State. (The Reddy brothers, the notorious mineowners of Bellary, are themselves Ministers and so powerful that they almost brought down Yeddyurappa Government.) The final straw was the mysterious disapperance of nearly five lakh tonnes of iron ore valued at nearly Rs 200 crores and seized by forest authorities at the State run Balekeri port after it was revealed that the ore was illegally mined and transported from Bellary without permit. Rather than supporting the officer who exposed this illegal mining, under the pressure of a Minister he was suspended on the frivolous ground of failure to attend a meeting. Hegde alleged that the Karnataka Government was targeting officers helping the Lok Ayukta in the battle against corruption. On the other hand corrupt officers indicted by the Lok Ayukta are being reinstated despite assurances to the contrary given by the Chief Minister. Delay by the government in appointing the Up Ayukta has led to a huge pendency of cases. In utter frustration, Hegde resigned saying: “I feel helpless, I feel useless. People in positions are not bothered about corruption.” If this is the helplessness of an ex-judge of the Supreme Court vigorously pursuing corruption cases as the Lok Ayukta, the position of others can well be imagined. Governor H.R. Bharadwaj, to whom Hegde submitted his resignation letter, and Union Home Minister Chidambaram requested Hegde to withdraw his resignation but he refused. Ultimately after a request from Lal Krishna Advani, Hegde announced on July 13 that he had decided to withdraw his resignation. “The respect I have for Advani,” said Hegde, “has forced me to withdraw my resignation. Advani has assured me that the party and the State Government will co-operate with me.”

The Constitution created an independent office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAS) and under him the State Accountant General to audit public expenditure incurred by all Ministries and Departments and organisations functioning under the auspices of the Ministers and Departments. The CAG and AGs prepare annual reports which are placed before the Public Accounts Committees of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies respectively. The Committee considers the reports and calls before it the officers of the government concerned to seek explanation and clarifications and thereby hold the government to account. These reports have over the years exposed many cases of waste and embezzlement of public fund. The Bofors case is one such case.

Values in Public Administration

While all these measures to control corruption are important—namely, audit by the CAG, vigilance machinery in government offices, appointment of Information Officers, streamlining administrative procedures and computerisation —more important than all these is the mindset of people who work in government and the values they hold. Max Weber described bureaucracy as a rational legal institution which strictly works according prescribed procedures, which does not own any office and has to function not in self-interest but in public interest. The principle of public interest is all important. Self-interest has no place in the work of a public functionary, whether political or administrative. Self-interest, according to Adam Smith, the founder of the science of economics, may be the motivating force in the market but it has no place in public administration. The touchstone for the act of a public functionary is public interest alone. In pursuit of public interest, the functionary has to be scrupulously honest and impartial. He gets his salary and other perquisites according to rules but beyond this he cannot have an eye on public funds. He has to follow strict canons of financial propriety. Every paisa of public expenditure should be accounted for and used in the most efficient manner to subserve public purpose.

It is often said that the salaries of public servants are low as compared to the compensations in the private sector and the salaries of public servants in a country like Singapore which is free from corruption. Hence the panacea for eliminating corruption is to raise the salaries of civil servants to the highest level. How far is this argument valid? The salaries of public servants in India have been raised from time to time on the basis of recommendations of successive Pay Commissions. The salaries cannot be compared with those in the private sector. In a country of widespread poverty salaries of public servants cannot be disproportionately high compared to the average standard of living of the people. It is time that salaries in the private sector, that have gone through the roof after ceilings on income imposed earlier have been eliminated in the name of liberalisation, are pruned. It is a doubtful proposition that higher salaries of the public servants would automatically lead to elimination of corruption which is not just due to the level of compensation but more on account of forgetting the values of public service.

Unfortunately the concept of public purpose seems to have been given a go-by in the wake of liberalisation. The philosophy of aggrandisement of self-interest and pursuit of money and wealth seem to have infiltrated into and infested the domain of public administration and government. This has had a disastrous effect on the values of public service which have all but disappeared. An insatiable greed and uncontrollable impulse to acquire money and property by fair means and foul seems to have taken hold of the minds of many public servants. Instead of maintaining the dignity and honour of public servants and pursuing the high values of the profession of public service, they appear to have surrendered to the lures of hedonism which dominate the capitalist market economy. Instead of keeping a distance from businessmen, public servants seem to be hand in glove with them, joining them in exploiting public resources for private profit and in return getting their share. Public servants and Ministers seem to have been addicted to the five-star style of living. Simplicity and dignity of a public professional service seem to have been discarded. Public administration has surrendered to business and works for them rather than for the common people for whom it exists.

If this analysis is valid then what is crucial for eliminating corruption—more important than the machinery of audit, vigilance and Information Officers as well as streamlining and computerisation of administrative procedures—is the need to restore the values of public interest and idealism of public service. This is more easily said than done. The social norms themselves have to change. Respect should go not just to money and wealth but to the values of public service and social good. For a country which has long upheld moral values, there should be a moral code of conduct. We should all remember the seven social sins, as underlined by Mahatma Gandhi, and shun them in our public life. They are:

1. Politics without principle.

2. Wealth without work.

3. Pleasure without conscience.

4. Knowledge without character.

5. Commerce without morality.

6. Science without humanity.

7. Worship without sacrifice. 

Formerly Secretary to the Government of India and Vice-Chancellor, Goa University, the author is currently the Chairman, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Pune Kendra, and a Padmabhushan awardee. He can be contacted at e-mail dubhashi@giaspn01.vsnl.net.in