Introduction
After India obtained independence from the British in 1947, they
faced a lot of internal problems which still haven’t been tackled
completely. One of the major rampant
issues India still fights though, is corruption. Corruption can broadly be
split into big-token corruption and retail corruption based on the level it’s
done at.
Big ticket corruption scams are those which are done by large
private entities of huge amounts of money. Good examples of his type of
corruption include the 2G scam as well as the Adarsh Scandal. However, retail
corruption is the type of bribery common people face in their everyday lives.
It is the exchange of a small sum of money or gratification in order to get a
favor from the public official. It ranges from paying to get their sale deed
registered to bribing for a traffic violation. (Bank)
Although, petty sounding, Retail corruption is a serious issue in
India and needs to be tackled at the root level. Petty corruption can be more
corrosive than wholesale corruption because of its deep roots in the Indian
culture and needs to be addressed first. Complied below is a brief
understanding of the structural reforms that can be exclusively followed in
India to prevent corruption at the street level. (Bank,
Reforming Public Services in India)
De-monopolization
A monopoly is usually seen when one particular organization has the
reigns to provide a particular service. Since, its product/service is unique,
it cannot be boycotted. Furthermore, with the absence of other organizations
trying to win a profit in a competitive market, a monopolistic system can
charge exorbitant amounts. A monopoly is unhealthy for an economy and needs to
be broken. It usually is broken by dividing the burden of delivering services
to various organizations. It is also
decentralized by levying heavy taxes on the organization such that the profits
are too low for the monopoly. Another way to de-monopolize a system is to
remove asymmetric information from the market and make people aware. There are
2 examples to explain this phenomena in the Indian scenario –
1)
Indian Telecom
Revolution –
The first attempt to bring mobile telephony in India was
made by Rajiv Gandhi and Sam Pitroda. Rajiv Gandhi and his consultant tried to
bring telephony to India using state indigenization. They sought with the World
Bank to deploy cellular networks in India. The World Bank supported the cause
and provided funding for the same. However, this move was heavily criticized by
the masses. They believed that in a country full of starving and hungry people,
luxurious mobile telephones could not take precedence. Emphasis must be given
on the growing problems India faced and then luxurious items must be looked at.
The attempt to bring about a telecom revolution using
state policies failed in India. Although, the increase of tele-density from
0.5% to 3% can be deemed as a highly successful operation, the aim was not
achieved. In 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee thought of a new way to bring about the
revolution. He opened up the telecom market for the public. Furthermore, he
broke down the monopoly of DOT (Department of Telecommunications) and created
BSNL. Additionally, he reduced the customs duty on imported phones by a huge
margin.
This move allowed competition in the sector. With
multiple companies vying to make profits, they started providing lower rates
and more efficient services. The sector grew by leaps and bounds. By 2012,
India had a tele-density of 70% which was a lot more than estimated. As soon as
competition was introduced in the system, the monopoly broke down, and led to
provision of better services in the sector. (Sridhar)
2
E-choupal system
initiated by ITC
Till the year 2000, farmers used to rely on state
provided mandis to sell their crops. There was asymmetric information in the
market as the farmers didn’t know about the sellers. The middlemen had
monopolized the situation. Since, the farmers were not aware of the mandi
charges, the middlemen used to exploit them. This practice is a moral hazard. The
farmers would only get low rates prescribed by these men.
In that year, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh
realized this fact and decided to act on in. He altered the bye-laws of the
Mandi board to allow the farmers to bypass the mandi and sell their crops. The
farmers could now directly contact the buyers. The monopoly was broken, but the
interesting thing to note is how this was brought about.
ITC (Indian Tobacco Company) introduced the e-choupal
system. The idea was to bring about computers and internet in small villages.
Each farmer would be allowed access to an internet kiosk. Using the kiosk, a
farmer could know the mandi prices. Furthermore, these computers provided
farmers with newer and better methods of farming.
The initiative was a huge success. Firstly,
there was a high yield by the farmers because they now used better methods.
Secondly and more importantly, the farmers could know about the real-time mandi
prices. The middlemen no longer had an upper hand, and hence the whole system
was demonopolized. (Bowonder)
The above 2 examples show how a monopolistic system was
broken in India. Breaking a monopoly leads to multiple organizations competing
for profit. This leads to cheaper and more efficient services for the people.
However, the e-choupal initiative is very important to us since it shows how
corruption was prevented using technology.
What the e-choupal system did was break the moral hazard
of a monopoly. With the farmers now having equal information, there was
competition in the market. The middlemen could no longer dictate the prices.
This end in domination lead to the farmers getting what actual value of their
products.
Reducing human interface
One of the main reasons behind corruption can be traced down to the
heavy presence of human interface in our system. The power afforded to the
authorities in our system corrupts them. The officials feel dominating because
of the power and use it to their own benefit. One way to tackle this problem is
to reduce human interface in our present system. This can be done with the use
of developing information technology. A successful story of using ICT to battle
corruption has been seen in Andhra Pradesh
E-seva system in Andhra
Pradesh
Like most states, people had to line outside government offices in
A.P to get their work done. To hasten the work, or sometimes just to get it
done, they had to pay bribes. Most officials were corrupt in the state and took
bribes to do their official duty. To put an end to this, the Telegu Desam
government introduced the E-seva system in A.P.
A center was set up in Andhra Pradesh with internet accessibility. The
kiosks at these centers would provide services like payment of utility bills,
taxes and registering for essential certificates. This plan looked to follow
the Singaporean model which was initiated earlier in the 90’s. The main theme
behind the project was to reduce human interaction and keep the process very
user-friendly.
This project was a huge success in A.P. The project’s main
achievement was the removal of the whole concept of approaching a government
official to get your work done. Furthermore, it made everything more
transparent. There was no concentration of power anymore. This decentralization
of power from the government officials led to the smooth and non-corrupt
transactions in daily lives. (Gurumurthy)
The FREES scheme in Kerala took this initiative one step forward. It
allowed for access to these public services from home. Hence, the people no
longer had to physically go to these centers and wait in lines. They could
avail all the possible services from the comfort of their houses.
The schemes referred to above demonstrate an efficient way to
diminish human interface in the current system. These projects have removed the
need of a human agent to dole out these public services. Hence, it removes
retail corruption from its root. The whole idea of retail corruption laid in
the paying a public official to perform a particular service. With the absence
of a public official to pay, and services being rendered out more conveniently
from these centers, retail corruption in offices can be put to an end. (mission)
Besides the striking out of a major part of this form of petty
corruption, these schemes also provide an alternative to the people. A major
bribe paying culture has risen due to the fact that people did not have any alternative.
They had helplessly learned to pay a bribe to get their work done because of
the absence of another mean. However, with the introduction of these schemes,
the people can receive these public services without approaching a public
official.
Most people would always prefer to use this new method to redeem
public services without having a pay. Also, if a major shift is observed from a
particular public official’s office to these centers, that specific official
can be subjected to inspection for being corrupt. Hence, these projects will
also act as deterrents to public officials from partaking in bribery.
2 Bhoomi –
This was a software launched by the Karnataka government
post-independence. The land records were scattered after India achieved
independence in 1947. This lead to a lot of ambiguity and confusion amongst
land-owners. Furthermore, the rich farmers used to take advantage of the
incomplete records. They could easily bribe the public official in their
favour.Hence, the government launched the software “Bhoomi” to digitize these
land records.
The main consequence of digitizing land
records was the abolishment of human inefficiency. With the presence of kiosks
displaying these records, human error was eliminated. Additionally, it was an
end to the preferential system followed earlier. With the presence of machines,
it boiled down a first come first serve basis which was fair. (Karnataka)
The schemes referred to above demonstrate an efficient way to
diminish human interface in the current system. These projects have removed the
need of a human agent to dole out these public services. Hence, it removes
retail corruption from its root. The whole idea of retail corruption laid in
the paying a public official to perform a particular service. With the absence
of a public official to pay, and services being rendered out more conveniently
from these centers, retail corruption in offices can be put to an end.
Besides the striking out of a major part of this form of petty
corruption, these schemes also provide an alternative to the people. A major
bribe paying culture has risen due to the fact that people did not have any
alternative. They had helplessly learned to pay a bribe to get their work done
because of the absence of another mean. However, with the introduction of these
schemes, the people can receive these public services without approaching a
public official.
Most people would always prefer to use this new method to redeem
public services without having a pay. Also, if a major shift is observed from a
particular public official’s office to these centers, that specific official
can be subjected to inspection for being corrupt. Hence, these projects will
also act as deterrents to public officials from partaking in bribery.
Lastly, this method puts an end to the preferential system. The
presence of a computer interface allows everyone to be served on a
first-come-first serve basis. Hence, no one can get their work done faster by
paying more. Even more, no one can bribe to get a particular work done
illegally. Hence, as demonstrated, e-governance can be deployed very
successfully in India.
Restructuring Agency Processes
Governmental institutions in India need to be restructured in order
to achieve our aim of eliminating corruption from the system. Restructuring
agency processes involved change on several dimensions: re-engineering
intraorganization processes, empowering senior management through the creation
of centralized monitoring systems, improving inter-agency coordination, and
developing more effective linkages with civil society.
Transformation of Stamps and Registration department in Maharashtra –
The radical change in this particular department of Maharashtra can
be pinned back to the appointing of a new Inspector-General in 1998. The
Inspector was a very straight-forward man and sought to bring about extreme
change in the system. His first measure was to make the sub-registrar sit with
the other offices. This was done to promote team-work and transparency in the
system.
The inspector followed his act with multiple other procedures to
prevent retail corruption in the department. He brought about new technology
which would help the citizens determine the rates they would need to pay. This
removed any scope of the officials lying to earn extra money off the civilians.
However, several offices in Maharashtra
were unable to understand the new technology and hence, he needed an
alternative. This led to his next step, which was to allow a private company to
manage these kiosks. This broke the government official’s monopoly and their
ability to ask for any price they see fit. This acts as the perfect example of
how a human-computer pairing could work at each level of a department to
provide efficient services. (Technology)
Case studies on certain transformations as seen in the Stamps and
Registration department in Maharashtra, the Hyderabad Water Supply and Sewerage
Board, the Karnataka State Road and Transport Corporation and the Surat
Municipal Corporation have paved the way for improvement. Certain strategies
used in these organizations have stream-lined the approach to be followed.
The incentive behind reorganizing an office lies with the aspect of
a better governance. Governance is a concept which revolves around the making
and implementation of laws. However, good governance has certain
characteristics which are requisite to be involved. The basic idea of good
governance can be limited to the proper performance of official functions.
Prevention of corruption is both a reason and a consequence of good governance.
Though a term thrown around extensively in modern political literature, good
governance plays an important role in the development of every country.
One of the main characteristic of a good government is that it
should be open in nature. Transparency is essential in a government department
to enable proper functioning. A transparent department enables team-work in an
office and eliminates the possibility of an illicit activity being carried out
in secret. It directly leads to accountability of a person who is in part of
the system and eventually leads to the prevention of corruption.
References
Bank, The World. "Helping
Countries Combat Corruption." 1997.
—. "Reforming Public Services in
India." 2006.
Bowonder, B. "Developing a Rural
Market e-hub." 2012.
Gurumurthy, Anita. "Pro-Poor access
to ICT." n.d.
Karnataka. Bhoomi.karnataka.gov.in.
2012. 25 May 2015.
mission, Kerala IT. itmission.kerela.gov.in
: FRIENDS. 2014. 28 May 2015.
Sridhar, Varadharajan. The Telecom Revolution
in India. Oxford, 2011.
Technology, Directorate of Information. E-governance
in Maharashtra. Mumbai, 2013.
-
Naman Khatwani
2nd Year, NUJS
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