Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission, Jaipur

1. Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission, Jaipur Projectby law students. Under the guidance of Mr Ravi Shankar Shrivastava,Secretary, RSHRC.

2. 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.

3. Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission, Jaipur Ever Increasing Corruption In India Made by: RupalSethi National Law University, Jodhpur. (B.Sc Tech. Hons. LLB Hons.)

4. INTRODUCTION • 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 wordcorrupt (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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Causes of corruption in India • 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. People of India are not awakened and enlightened. They fear to raise their voice against anti-social elements prevailing in the society.

13. Ways to combat corruption 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. Steps already taken against corruption… • 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. With this step of the government, corruption will be reported and hence will be combated.

22. 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.

23. 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, KiranBedi, ArvindKejriwal, Anna Hazare, Devinder Sharma, SunitaGodara, Mallika Sarabhai and many others to persuade government to enact the Anti-Corruption Bill.

25. 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.

27. 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

28. Acknowledgement It gives me great pleasure to express my deep sense of gratitude to all concern person particularly Hon’ble Secretary, MrRavi Shankar Shrivastavaunder 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. RupalSethi NLU, Jodhpur Email: Rplsethi@gmail.com Contact no. 9828138441