Corruption breeds Black Money and Black Money breeds Corruption

India has slipped to the 87th spot in Transparency International's latest ranking of nations based on the level of corruption.

The LokPal movement started by the Gandhian Anna Hazaare forced the Indian Government to present, the anti-corruption bill drafted by the Anna’s team, in the parliament. The movement was able to attract media attention and all out support from all sections of the society.

Former Chief Election Commissioner GVG Krishnamurthy's recent assertion that the idea of a LokPal was first conceived in 1962 after a series of corruption allegations hit the Jawaharlal Nehru government is ample proof of the fact that change is not necessarily the only constant in India's life. The LokPal didn't happen then, as attention shifted to the India-China war; people power may make it a reality this time round. But is this the beginning of the end of corruption, as some commentators are suggesting? The answer, unfortunately, would be a resounding no.

Rome was originally, when it was poor and small, a unique example of austere virtue; then it corrupted, it spoiled, and it rotted itself by all the vices. Little by little, we also have been brought into the present condition in which we are able neither to tolerate the evils from which we suffer, nor the remedies we need to cure them.

Think how poor the ancients were in comparison with our modern day people. They had no luxuries we enjoy. They did not have artificial lights, air conditioners and the innumerable luxuries we enjoy. In face of our habits, they were always Spartan, even when they wasted, because they lacked the means to squander.

Today we can absorb luxury to any extent. Bugatti Veyron, the fastest car in the world, is also the most expensive in the world at $2.5 million. Its Grand Sport version was launched in India in 2010 with a price tag starting at Rs 16 crore making it the most expensive car ever to hit the Indian roads.

It's true that the reforms initiated 20 years ago have helped make India free from some petty corruption - Indians do not have to pay bribes for securing phone or gas connections or a railway/air ticket.

Consider the Bofors scandal in the eighties. The major corruption scandal, which brought down a government, was about Rs. 64 crore in kickbacks. With current inflation rate it could be 1000 + crores. The notional loss to the exchequer in this year's 2G-spectrum allocation scam is 176 times higher than that at Rs.1.76 lakh crore. If anything has changed, corruption has only become bigger now. The study showed half of Indians had first-hand experience of paying bribes or influence-peddling to get jobs done in public offices. India may have more agricultural production now, but for every Kilogram of rice that the government releases in times of drought, only 250gms reaches the poor due to a leaky distribution system which has been hijacked by middlemen.

There are at least two other areas where nothing much has changed in the last 20 years. One of them is subsidies which have remained a sacred cow over the years. And the other is public distribution system which remained notoriously leaky, leading to massive pilferage. Studies have shown that since 1991-92, nearly two-thirds of wheat meant for poor people continues to be lost during distribution and has ended up mostly with hoarders. Also, up to 50 per cent of subsidised kerosene continues to end up being diverted from the PDS and sold elsewhere at higher prices.

The third most visible sign of what some call stagnation in progress is infrastructure. This is ironic considering that a lot of work has been done in this space. Twenty years ago, there were only 31,700 km of national highways; that number has more than doubled to 70,934 km now. Yet, the road construction is in a slow pace considering the amount spent on them. Only Rs.40/- goes to the roads in every Rs.100/- spent by the government. In every Rs.100/- spent Rs.25/- goes as bribes, Rs.15/- to banks as interest and Rs.20/- as profit share to the contractor.

Power is another area where the irony is more than visible. Despite massive addition of power generation capacity, almost half of Indian households continue to be without power. And the rest have to be content with erratic supply. The reasons have been constant over the last 20 years: transmission and distribution losses.

Or, take telecom. Everyone knows the huge increase in mobile phones has been the most visible symbol of India's coming of age. Yet, the irony is that the level of broadband penetration in India is less than a per cent compared to 9.5 per cent in China. It's not a surprise that telecom has been a magnet for corrupt politicians of all shapes and sizes.

Lincoln wrote “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed”. The corruption is all pervasive in all types of governments irrespective of the color of the flag or form of government.

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