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There is no legal definition of corruption in the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988 and it describes several punishable offences that amount to acts of corruption under two categories — the taking of gratification other than the legal remuneration — and instances of public servants using the public offices held by them to further their illegal private interests, said Mr T.R. Raghunandan, former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, here.
Delivering a lecture ‘Ethics in Governance' organised by the BL Club and sponsored by Syndicate Bank for the MBA students of Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology (NMIT), he pointed out that unlike some European countries, there were no asset recovery laws in India. He also said there was no recognition of ‘soft corruption' in the law.
Providing the Robert Klitgaard formula (C = M+D-A), he said, “corruption equals monopoly plus discretion minus accountability. You can bring down corruption only if you bring down the value of discretion.” Mr Raghunandan told the students that corruption was not a crime of passion, but a crime of reason. The topic of corruption also evokes familiar patterns of reactions. “Either people are evasive or give excuses. They say corruption is everywhere, it existed always and corruption is vague and culturally determined. They also say that cleansing requires whole change in attitudes and values and corruption is not harmful but it is the grease that covers the economic engine. Hence, there is a need to deal with the behavioural as well as structural aspects of corruption,” he told the students.
Imbibe five values
He told the students to imbibe the five values, Satya (truth), Ahimsa (non-violence), Swaraj (self-rule), Anthyodaya (working for the poorest of the poor) and Sarvodaya (compassion for everybody) enshrined in our Constitution, and said, “I can as well give you a moral lecture but I know it will not make any difference to your life. However, these values will.”
Mr Raghunandan said corruption could be tackled by education by better use of technology and by people becoming aware of the correct procedures they must follow and added that “we should not have infinite tolerance for the bad.” Dr. N. R. Shetty, Director, Nitte Meenakshi Group (Bangalore campus), was also present.
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