------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre Ph:2252660 Website: www.goadesc.org Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Press Clippings on the web: http://www.goadesc.org/mem/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------- Untackled corruption --------------------------- Over the past week, corruption has been in the news in Goa. It may be just one government�s office in one town of Goa, Mapusa�s sub-registrar office. But let not the fact that corruption is a well-hidden phenomenon block us from taking this issue seriously.
In his work Other People�s Money, Mr Justice Brandeis commented: �Publicity is justly recommended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.�
It may sound like a trivial story: a woman asked to part with Rs 500 as a bribe for registering a document. On being refused a receipt, she rushes to the police station and lodges her complaint. A lady constable is seen as not enough of an authority when it comes to summoning the official concerned. Later, a senior police official rushes to the registrar�s office. (Herald, Jan 20.)
This week�s Mapusa case is just the tip of the iceberg. It�s not often that people bother to take the extreme step of pay-a-bribe-and-then -complain. Either you pay and get your work done, or you don�t pay and suffer; in the latter case, the question of complaining doesn�t even arise.
Efforts to fight corruption fail due to a variety of reasons. There are limits to what the power at the top can do. Or, in other cases, there could be an absence of commitment at the top. Reforms also tend to take place in a piecemeal and in an uncoordinated manner.
Likewise, reforms often rely just on a commitment in letter, not in spirit. Sometimes, corrective measures tend to overlook those at the top and focus only on the smaller fry. Institutional mechanisms are not constructed in a way that they carry systematic changes forward after the initial proponents have passed from the scene.
Goa�s Right to Information Act, and what happened to it, is a significant case in point. Strangely, in the Mapusa case, once the police arrived on the scene, the official immediately returned the amount in the presence of the public, police, advocates and a public prosecutor. As reported, Mapusa police officials admitted having received a complaint of an official demanding gratification from a citizen. However, though police personnel rushed to the registrar�s office to investigate the matter, no formal complaint was registered �as the woman who asked for the bribe did not want to further embarrass the official with a criminal complaint�.
Niccolo Machiavelli commented in The Discourses, III (29): �Those who talk about the people of our day being given up to robbery and similar vices will find that they are all due to the fact that those who ruled them behaved in like manner.� Studies elsewhere have found that there are a number of factors that reduce the willingness to take action. These include a belief that the behaviour was justified in the circumstances, or the attitude that there is no point in reporting corruption as nothing useful will be done about it.
Likewise, the belief that the behaviour was not corrupt would be a paralysing factor in tackling corruption. A fear of both personal and professional retaliation, and the citizen�s perception of their relationships with the perpetrators and the supervisor, and concerns about �insufficient evidence� could also add to the problem.
Clearly, the authorities have a key role in deciding who stands up to corruption, and what is being done to tackle it. It is a known fact that some areas of government activity are more prone to corruption than others. These include public procurement, re-zoning of land, revenue collection, government appointments (thanks to cronyism, connections, family members and relatives), political corruption (through donations to campaigns, etc), kickbacks on government contracts and subcontracting consultancies, and frauds of all kinds.
As Herald has already noted, the sub-registrar�s office has gained notoriety for bribe-taking in recent times. Some years back, a clerk who had demanded a huge sum for a certificate was reportedly beaten up by the public.
Since the �nineties, Goa has seen its own corruption taken on a new high. Even if there are not many complainants willing to trap the guilty, the results of corruption are there for all to see. In the form of a devastated environment, a bloated and inefficient bureaucracy, a government mechanism which is notorious for its inefficiencies, a contractor-fuelled developmental process, contracts issued in a way which result in the maximum spending, a tendering process which is far-from-transparent, and more.
Maybe corruption was more blatant and all-pervading during Congress rule; but just by getting a good Press, the present government cannot claim that the problem has vanished. This is only underlined by the Mapusa case.
Over the years, we�ve seen ministers and officials �sell� their discretionary powers, take percentages on government contracts, and enjoy the rewards of excessive �hospitality� including in terms of travel abroad. This gets aggravated by unchecked trends among providers of public services � including the sub-registrar�s office, in this case � insisting on payments for services, or speeding up the process, or simply to prevent delays.
Rents, termed haftas in this part of the globe, charged by superiors in public service, law-enforcers extorting money, revenue officials practicing extortion, or political parties using the prospects of power to levy large rents are the other faces of these problems. We have seen much of this in Goa too.
Law minister Francis D�Souza has ordered an inquiry into the �malfunctioning� of the sub-registrar�s office in Mapusa. (Herald, Jan 23). The Law Department has been �instructed to look into the matter�, while the police and vigilance have been alerted to initiate necessary action to �trap corrupt officials�.
But is this enough? What was this machinery doing in the past, and will they only act when such concerns come up in the Press? Are our systems in place and working to ensure that the scope for corruption is minimised?
Strangely, the minister even went ahead to announce plans to conduct a surprise visit to the sub-registrar�s office in the near future. Some surprise this!
Corruption depends on three factors: the overall level of public benefits available from it, the risks inherent in corrupt deals, and the relative bargaining power of the briber and the person being bribed. Unless those in positions of authority act strictly to make corruption costly, not just offering palliative action in one case, the average can�t expect any relief from this deadly cancer of our times. ------------------------------------------------ Editorial in HERALD 24/1/04 page 6 ------------------------------------------------
======================================= GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE Documentation + Education + Solidarity 11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507 Tel: 2252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] website: www.goadesc.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy =======================================
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