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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

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More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

When the rupee’s value keeps falling, govt servants grow more corrupt: Pheroze J. Shroff

If the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers do even one-tenth of the sermonizing to their own colleagues in the ministries as they do to the people, there may be improvement in the tone of public administration.

The hydra-headed monster of corruption is stalking the land. There is hardly any sphere of public activity on which the sinister shadow of corruption has not fallen. Corruption has become so much rampant during recent years that it is being taken for granted. People have almost ceased to regard corruption as something to be ashamed of and to be abhorred. They look upon it as an inseparable incident of official activities.

Enormous sums are being filched from the public by unscrupulous elements amongst officialdom. The technique of extorting illegal gratification has been made into a fine art. The weapon of official delay is being used so adroitly that those who want to assert a right or seek redress have to grease some high palms. Innumerable formalities laid down by legislation and notifications for the transaction of official business give ample scope for delay with the consequent opportunities for extracting bribes. The victims of corruption whether they be tradesmen or manufacturers, pass on the burden of the wrong-doing, exactions to the public. The superior officers connive at corruption amongst the subordinate staff because they do not like any scrutiny in their own assets or expenditure. It is notorious that a number of officials live in a style which is beyond the limits of their official salaries and perquisites.

In order that the evil of corruption may be minimized, if not eradicated, it is necessary that the top-most executive body which controls the ministers should be entirely free from the virus of corruption. Unfortunately, such is not the case. In Orissa, Kerala, U.P., Punjab, Andhra and other regions members of the ruling party have made serious allegations against some of their colleagues in the ministerial ranks. There are loud and insistent demands for judicial probes in the impugned dealings of the ministers. In Punjab a senior Congress legislator has recently prepared a 100-page charge-sheet making serious charges of bribery, corruption, nepotism and maladministration.

If the ministers indulge in corrupt practices for personal aggrandizement or for consolidating their political power, they become the grave-diggers of democracy. The surest way to destroy the tree of democracy in any country is........

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