AN OPINION ON “DEVELOPMENT” & “CORRUPTION” in INDIA

“Governance” & “Development” vis-à-vis ‘Corruption” in administrative system of India has always been in the psyche of our Society. India’s “Corruption” journey began mainly from Bofors to Fodder to Submarine to Kargil Coffin to Commonwealth to 2G to Bellary mining to All India level Coal Block allocation and journey continues…….. 

On issue of corruption there had been series of political as well as civil society movements since late 70s, 80s & 90s.In midst of debate on “Corruption” at political or non-political forums should we not deliberate that despite of virus of “Corruption” India progressed, however, sometimes it is perceived that the “progress” is largely urbanized.  Barring remote areas of North, North East or North West, in the plains of India where are the “Villages”? Most of the villages have now been transformed as towns with connectivity, easy access to all amenities. Albeit someone may argue that Villages of few  Indian states like UP, Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Bengal  are yet to benefit from fruits of 5 major developmental components -ROAD,ELECTRICITY,EDUCATION,HEALTH,WATER -“REEHW”.

Many statistics from Economic survey like GDP, Inflation, Foreign exchange reserve of country etc. may be the theoretical data for Economists to play around or do research for Forecasting the state of Economy and for Politicians of Ruling parties to project success of development ,similarly for opposition parties to counter the data to negate “development”. But for an Indian living in any city or town or village, all 05 components of “REEHW” are the deciding factor to decide about development of his or her place of residence. For Poor section of society definitely the price of essential commodities, food grain, vegetables, fruits, medicines, etc. is the most significant determinant to be satisfied with any Administration or Government, if Prices are stable & within the spending –limit of all sections of society, who may bother for “corruption” in defence or telecom or mining or coal block etc. ??

 No doubt the “corruption” may be an issue for the Society but gradually the notion of common people or general public of any Indian city seems to be drifting away from eradicating “corruption” & accepting ‘corruption” as reality of modern day life. In simple terms, “DEVELOPMENT” may “HAPPEN” even if “CORRUPTION” virus is present in the system. We may witness greater degree of ‘Development” if FACTOR of Corruption/ FACTOR of Development (-C/D) is less than 0.5.  

Our Former Prime Minister Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi commented in 80s that out of Re 1 spent by Government only 20 paisa reaches for the “real” purpose i.e  C/D= 80/20= 4 ,and  if this was the reality in 80s then it was too bad to achieve satisfactory degree of development  but yet India progressed and seeds of “Telecom revolution” strewed. Further,  if this  ratio of C/D is reversed – 80 paisa  of Govt. reaches for the purpose it meant for  then C/d ratio would be 20/80= 0.4 and visibility of Development parameters ( REEHW) may be prominent. 

People talk about biggest corruption scam of 2G but the fact is- India developed most in the area of Mobile telephony with connectivity across India and around 200 Million users.  Bofors scam was one of the First major corruption scam in defence but every Indian knows that during Kargil war, the Bofors gun played major role in India’s victory.  In India, we always deliberate on China’s prowess on development issues but there is no much difference between INDIA and CHINA on ‘index rating of corruption” as published by Transparency International but CHINA is way ahead INDIA on all 05 components of development i.e. REEHW.  In a nutshell, it is opined that "CORRUPTION" virus alone can not obstruct "DEVELOPMENT" ,it is up to the WILL & DETERMINATION of the GOVERNMENT to govern & administer to yield result on "REEHW".