The Hindu Business Line : <I>Fighting corruption with words! </I>

Reminiscent of the squirrel in the Ramayana participating in the construction of the bridge to Lanka, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) can derive satisfaction that it has done its bit to banish corruption from public life. It has taken the impressive initiative of having an ``Integrity India Campaign'' launched by Mr N. R. Narayanamurthy, now retired from Infosys, with his ringing condemnation of "big bureaucrats and corporates who are more corrupt than the poorest of the poor." (His omission of politicians and ministers is intriguing).

The campaign has got off to a flying start with his startling revelation that "Corruption has nothing to do with poverty. It has everything to do with greed". Well done, CII. You get three commendatory stripes, just as the squirrel did at the hands of Sri Rama for its enterprise.

But, alas, if outraged words and flagging off campaigns alone could do the trick, corruption would have been wiped off the face of India long ago. Instead, for years in a row, with nobody apparently the sadder for it, it has been figuring very high in the roll of dishonour drawn up by the Transparency International displaying the prevalence of corruption in various countries.

According to this year's survey, titled ``India Corruption Study 2005'', 62 per cent of the respondents found paying a bribe or using a contact the only way to get a job done in public offices. They ranked the police to be the most corrupt, followed closely by the lower judiciary, land administration and essential services such as water and electricity. They also said that without resort to bribes, they could not save their businesses from damage and their home life from disruption. No doubt, the future years too would see the situation described in the same words with very little change in the ranking.

The estimate that the international watchdog puts on the total monetary value of petty corruption in India for getting the basic services to which people are entitled is a staggering Rs 2,1000 crore. Imagine what a brake on economic progress this means! If you include the bribes in crores paid to big shots in positions of power and authority, the total may well approach the funds needed for the entire gamut of infrastructural development!

Contrast this with what happens to the corrupt in the US: After quick trials lasting only a few months, Governor George Ryan of Illinoisis and House Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham have been sentenced to 78 months and 100 months respectively on bribery charges. They are aged 72 and 63 and as one of them said, it is almost like death sentence, as there is only a slender chance of their coming out alive at that advanced age. Just last month, another US Congressman, Robert Ney, was charged with influence-peddling and is to be sentenced shortly.

Mark you, in all these cases, the nature and scale of their malfeasance come nowhere near what our politicians have shown themselves to be capable of. In US, they are dragged to jail in handcuffs, while in India, the crooks manage to drag on the cases against them endlessly, and become members of State Assemblies, Parliament and Cabinets to make more money. Just lock one of them in for 60 months, and you can stop worrying about integrity campaigns!

B. S. RAGHAVAN

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