Anti-Corruption

Causes of Corruption

• Excessive regulations:
  complicated tax and licensing system (License Raj!);
  forces people to overcome the red-tapism through bribery.

• Lack of transparency in laws and processes:
  opaque bureaucracy;
  criminalization of politics.

• Social discrimination.

• Lack of awareness and education.

Effect of Corruption on Society

• Severely degrades morals of society and credibility of Government;

• Erodes Ease of Doing Business;
  Disincentivizes investments causing reduced inflow of money;
  Reduces job creation;
  Increased brain-drain as more citizens choose to migrate to countries with better opportunities.

• Leakage of resources to ghost beneficiaries in schemes such as NREGA resulting in reduced actual benefits to sections of society that are in need of such resources;

• Tax evasion that further generates black money, a result as well as catalyst of corruption;

• Poor quality of public services and criminalization of politics, etc.

Significant Anti-Corruption Movements in India

Jan Lokpal Movement/India Against Corruption Movement –

2011 Anti-Corruption Movement

• The Indian anti-corruption movement in 2011 led by Anna Hazare, was a series of protests across India which aimed at establishing a strong legislation and enforcement against perceived endemic political corruption via the introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

• It also aimed, under Baba Ramdev, at recovery (repatriation) of Indian black money from foreign banks.
  Movement had no political affiliation, it was nonpartisan, nonviolent, and persistent.

• Demands –
  Joint committee for drafting anti-corruption legislation with members of civil society and government.
  Hunger strike until enactment of legislation.

• Government agreed to establish joint committee with a government official as chairman and a civilian as co-chairman in April 2011.
  Shanti Bhushan, Hazare, Justice N. Santosh Hegde, advocate Prashant Bhushan and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, originally drafted the Lokpal Bill.
  Disagreement by mid-June decided that both versions of draft will be presented to Cabinet.

• Anna Hazare declared second hunger strike on 15th August but was arrested and subsequently put in Tihar Jail before he could start. He was released on 19th August.

• There was a string of protests in December as well, leading to another debate on the Bill in December.

• Bill passed by Rajya Sabha however it failed to receive 2/3rd majority.

2012 Anti-Corruption Movement

• Failure to introduce legislations led to recommencement of movement.
  Hazare launched into hunger strikes in March, one of them in memoriam of whistle-blowers who lost their lives for the anti-corruption cause.

• In August, Team Anna announced their withdrawal from any protests and negotiations with Government, as the latter did not seem ‘ready to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill.’

• 2012 movement led to split of Team Anna, and formation of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which won second largest number of seats in Delhi elections.
  On failure to pass Bill in Delhi assembly, they resigned a few days later, and the Capital was under President’s Rule for a year.

• The Parliament of India enacted The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 few days after the Delhi election in December 2013.

Important Anti-Corruption Constitutional Provisions