Bangalore: Can Corruption be Eliminated? No, Not by 'Inhuman Beings'!
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Aug 31: Can corruption be eliminated? Well, not exactly as many people were born as ''inhuman beings" who thrive on corruption and looting public funds unmindful of the miseries and sufferings it causes to the people, especially the poorer sections.
Implementation of several anti-poverty and welfare schemes being implemented by the Central and State Governments was very poor and the benefits did not reach the targeted beneficiaries, said Justice N Santhosh Hegde, the former Karnataka Lokayukta, lamenting that huge funds were siphoned off by persons who simply cannot be termed as ''human beings."
Justice Hegde, who was addressing the 9th V K R V Rao Memorial Lecture function at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), said it was a tragedy that scams after scams involving huge sums of precious resources were draining the country.
In sharp contrast to the past, when scams and corruption scandals involving a few lakhs of rupees were considered a blot on the country and persons holding public offices were forced to quit, Justice Hegde said the present situation had come to such a sorry pass that thousands of crores of rupees and even lakhs of crores of rupees do not cause any political upheavals.
The 2G scam, Commonwealth Games and Coalgate scandals at the Centre are some of the most recent examples, the former Karnataka Lokayukta said and pointed out that the Jan Lokpal Bill demanded by the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hajare was unlikely to make much of a big difference in rooting out the menace of corruption even if passed by parliament as long as ''inhuman beings" were at the helm of affairs.
Though the Jan Lokpal Bill might help in curbing corruption to some extent, Justice Hegde said it cannot be a super bureaucratic structure that can eradicate corruption altogether. The independent institution will surely help in putting breaks on corrupt elements, he said.
“All of us are not born as human beings. There are many inhuman beings in the society and therefore the corruption continues to exist at all levels," he said.
The level of corruption was rampant at all public institutions, Justice Hegde said and wryly remarked that many patients who went to the hospitals in vertical position had to be brought out horizontally. ''It is really a tragic and unfortunate situation and sad commentary on the state of affairs," he added.
Professor of Graduate school, Department of Economic, University of California, Berkeley, Prof Pranab Bardhan said corruption has increased in India in the post-reform period due to increased value of public resources such as land and minerals in the market and mounting election expenses.
Delivering the V K R V Rao Memorial Lecture, Prof Bardhan said the level of corruption has increased in the post-reform era in India due to sharp increase in the prices of public resources such as coal and other minerals in the market due to higher economic growth.
Speaking on “Corruption: When Preaching Piety is not Enough," Prof Bardhan, author of about two dozen of books, said corruption occurred due to under-pricing and diversion of public goods such as foodgrains, diesel, kerosene and LPG meant for domestic purposes.
Caste politics, which has dominated the political scene in recent years, he said led to increased corruption and felt that “corruption may increase when everybody believes that most people are corrupt."
Noting loopholes in the proposed Jan Lokpal Bill advocated by the anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and other activists, he said “Jan Lokpal will become another super bureaucratic institution."
The country needed independent agencies and the CBI has been used to serve political ends of the ruling party at the Centre, he argued.
C T Kurien, member, Board of Governors, ISEC, presided. R S Deshpande, director, ISEC, welcomed. Infosys Founder NR Narayana Murthy attended the function.