Project by law students.
Under the guidance of
Mr Ravi Shankar Shrivastava,
Secretary, RSHRC.
RAJASTHAN STATE HUMAN
RIGHTS COMMISSION
Under the guidance
of Hon’ble Mr.
Ravi Shankar Shrivastava
Prepared by:Internship students
of
various law
university and
colleges.
Ever Increasing Corruption In
India
Made by:
Rupal Sethi
National Law University, Jodhpur.
(B.Sc Tech. Hons. LLB Hons.)

The very first question which strikes a mortal’s mind by
browsing the topic of this project is what is corruption?
The answer to this question lies here. The word corrupt (Middle
English, from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere,)
means to abuse or destroy according to the latest edition of
english dictionary. Corruption, in short. strikes at the very root
of the indian system, hence ‘destroying’ it and ripping apart
the very fabric of it.
In India, the most common forms of corruption were the
political and the police corruption. Political corruption being,
the abuse of public power, office, or resources by
government officials or employees for personal gain, e.g. by
extortion, soliciting or offering bribes.

Police corruption being a specific form of police
misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits,
other personal gain, and/or career advancement
for a police officer or officers in exchange for not
pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or
arrest.

But now whole of this has converted into Systemic
corruption. It is the complete subversion of a
political or economic system. The most disquieting
aspect of the widespread corruption in India is the
fact that it is not anymore confined to politicians or
the government machinery alone. It is prevalent
amongst almost every section of the society at
every level i.e. it has evolved into systemic
corruption.
Political corruption is worst in India. The major cause of
concern is that corruption is weakening the political body
and damaging the supreme importance of the law
governing the society. Nowadays politics is only for criminals
and criminals are meant to be in politics. Elections in many
parts of the country have become associated with a host of
criminal activities.

Threatening voters to vote for a particular
candidate or physically prevent voters from going
in to the polling booth – especially weaker sections
of the society like tribals, dalits and rural woman
occurs frequently in several parts of the country.
Recently, the Government increased the salary of
the M.P.’s from Rs.16, 000 to Rs.50, 000, that is 300%
increase to the existing salary. But many of them
are unhappy with rise and want the Government
to increase the salary to a much more extent. This
clearly shows how the politicians are in constant
thirst for monetary benefits and not caring about
the welfare of the people. Tax evasion is one of the
most popular forms of corruption. It is mostly
practiced by Government officials and politicians
who lead to the accumulation of black money
which in turn spoils the moral of the people.

The most important factor
is the nature of the human
being. People in general,
have a great thirst for
luxuries and comforts and
as a result of which they
get themselves involved in
all unscrupulous activities
that result in monetary or
material benefits.

Moral and spiritual values are not given utmost
importance in educational system, which is highly
responsible for the deterioration of the society.
The salary paid to employees
is very less and as a result of
which they are forced to
earn money by illegal ways.

The punishments imposed on the criminals are
inadequate.
› The political leaders have spoiled the society
completely. They lead a luxurious life and do not
even care about the society.

People of India are not awakened and
enlightened. They fear to raise their voice against
anti-social elements prevailing in the society.
There are some specific measures to control increasing
corruption.The Right to Information Act (RTI) gives one
all the required information about the Government,
such as what the Government is doing with our tax
payments. Under this act, one has the right to ask the
Government on any problem which one faces. There is
a Public Information Officer (PIO) appointed in every
Government department, who is responsible for
collecting information wanted by the citizens and
providing them with the relevant information on
payment of a nominal fee to the PIO.

If the PIO refuses to accept the application or if the
applicant does not receive the required information on
time then the applicant can make a complaint to the
respective information commission, which has the
power to impose a penalty up to Rs.25, 000 on the
errant PIO.
Another potent check on corruption is Central
Vigilance Commission (CVC). It was setup by the
Government to advise and guide Central
Government agencies in the areas of vigilance. If
there are any cases of corruption or any complaints
thereof, then that can be reported to the CVC. CVC
also shoulders the responsibility of creating more
awareness among people regarding the
consequences of giving and taking of bribes and
corruption.
Strong and stringent laws need to be
enacted which gives no room for the guilty
to escape.
 In many cases, the employees opt for
corrupt means out of compulsion and not
by choice. Some people are of the opinion
that the wages paid are insufficient to feed
their families. If they are paid better, they
would not be forced to accept bribe.

The one thing that needs to be ensured is proper,
impartial, and unbiased use of various anti-social
regulations to take strong, deterrent, and timely legal
action against the offenders, irrespective of their
political influences or money power. Firm and strong
steps are needed to curb the menace and an
atmosphere has to created where the good,
patriotic, intellectuals come forward to serve the
country with pride, virtue, and honesty for the welfare
of the people of India.
In a blow against corruption, the Manmohan Singh
government has done away with the requirement to
disclose your name and address while lodging a
complaint against a bureaucrat. You can simply drop a
complaint against a corrupt official either anonymously
or using a pseudonym. All you have to do is write a
properly framed complaint addressed to the cabinet
secretary.
 This is for the first time that pseudonymous complaints
will be entertained by such a high-powered committee
headed by Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekar, who
will not only call for the relevant files and records but
may also seek the income tax and property returns of
accused officers. The practice so far had been to dump
anonymous and pseudonymous complaints in the
garbage bin.




After scrutiny of complaints, the government promises to take
prompt action. All government officers, including the
secretaries of various government ministries, will be covered
under the new rule, a copy of which was accessed by DNA.
Officials in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT)
said that the change in rules has been made keeping in mind
the fear people had earlier while making complaints. “The
general public or junior officers were afraid to lodge
complaints against the top bureaucrats and senior officials
simply because they had to disclose their identity. This would
often lead to threats and harassment by the officials against
whom they had complained.
That’s why not many complaints were lodged,” said a senior
official in DoPT.

But the PM, who is also the minister concerned for DoPT,
took this unusual step to infuse confidence among
citizens to expose corruption. In an order issued vide
circular no 104/100/2009-AVD.I, the DoPT said: “The
procedure regarding handling complaints against
secretaries to the government of India, whether
pseudonymous or otherwise, has been attracting
attention of the government. It has been observed that
under the system presently prevalent, complaints
against secretaries are sent to the Department of
Personnel and Training (DoPT) or the administrative
ministries concerned for examination and necessary
action. Sometimes frivolous or vague complaints are
also given importance meant for grave complaints. It is
considered appropriate that complaints against
secretaries to the government of India are scrutinized
carefully and appropriate action taken based on their
gravity, seriousness and the nature of the allegations.
With this step of the government, corruption will be reported
and hence will be combated.



Baba Ramdev took a two-hour break from the
protest citing he has to argue matters with
government representatives on his demands for
getting back black money put away abroad and
end corruption.
Baba Swami Ramdev dresses like a guru but is
worshipped like a film star during his hunger strike
and hundreds of his followers vowed to join him.
It is expected to mound more pressure onto the
government, hit by a series of corruption scandals,
including allegations of kickbacks at the
Commonwealth Games.

A nation wide movement called "India Against
Corruption" has been started by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar, Swami Ramdev, Swami Agnivesh, Most
Reverend Vincent M Concessao Archbishop of Delhi,
Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal, Anna Hazare, Devinder
Sharma, Sunita Godara, Mallika Sarabhai and many
others to persuade government to enact the AntiCorruption Bill.
Magsaysay Award winner activist Anna Hazare launched an
indefinite hunger strike protesting Prime Minister’s refusal to
include civil society members in the formulation of the Lokpal
Bill (Ombudsman Bill). The government continues to be at
loggerheads with the civil society organisations over the bill,
which according to them, does little to to check high-level
corruption.
Bibliography
• National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi, www.nhrc.nic.in/
• Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission, Jaipur, http://rshrc.nic.in
•www.rajee.sulekha.com
• www.herenow4u.de
• www.justicenagendrakjain.com
• www.legalservices.com
Acknowledgement
It gives me great pleasure to express my deep sense of
gratitude to all concern person particularly Hon’ble
Secretary, Mr Ravi Shankar Shrivastava under his able
guidance , inspiration and encouragement I have
completed this project. I am very thankful to Rajasthan
State Human Rights Commission for giving me a chance
to intern here.
Rupal Sethi
NLU, Jodhpur
Email: Rplsethi@gmail.com
Contact no. 9828138441