The state, public policy and endemic corruption

A recent report published in an English daily had pointed out that education has become the most corrupt sector in the country. This is almost a national calamity because almost every child in this country is exposed to what is going on in this sector. When hapless parents have to either pull political strings or offer bribes to those who manage educational institutions to get their children admitted to their preferred school, such transactions naturally become common knowledge among young children. Assuming that school children internalise civic morals and ethical standards during their formative years in school, such exposure can only lead them to believe that corruption is a normal run of things in society and that they have to take it for granted.

The next in line seems to be the police, the premier law enforcement agency which is also well-known to be corrupt. A youth leaving school may become a three wheeler driver and he may before long have his first-hand experience with corruption. While there are good and honest officers in the police force, there are also many others, in particular those who are entrusted with the responsibility of enforcing traffic rules. Many of them who are well known to solicit bribes to pardon the violators of traffic rules or coerce even innocent drivers to paying bribes to avoid unnecessary trouble with the Traffic police. There cannot be many ordinary people in this country who have had no such encounters with the traffic police. Yet, little or nothing is done to arrest the trend. This is a serious situation because younger people grow up and become adults already having been exposed to widespread corruption. It should not come as a surprise if they become indifferent towards corruption.

There are many factors that contribute to corruption in any society. Corruption takes many forms and bribery is just one of them. In general, abuse of public office for personal gain or to offer personal favours to others amounts to corruption. Whatever form corruption takes, when it is widespread, it tends to adversely affect almost of all areas of public life and undermine the effective functioning of important institutions. It is also a major source of social injustice and exploitation. So, it is critical for any society to address this issue effectively before it begins to seriously undermine development and public welfare. In this regard, we need to look at corruption in terms of its causes and consequences. In this short essay, an attempt is made to look at how some of our public policies encourage corruption with a view to pointing out that it is necessary to revisit such policies in order to arrest the worsening trend in corruption in the country.

Persisting inequalities within the education system have encouraged parents in all parts of the country to look for opportunities to get their children admitted to better equipped schools. Increasing demand for places in such schools has led to ever increasing competition for the limited number of places available, opening the doors for all kinds of corrupt practices including bribery. While it is common sense that the only way to fix the problem is to effectively reduce the disparities by redistributing resources among schools, the focus has instead been largely on devising better admission procedures. While there are some efforts to  develop better equipped schools in rural areas, structural inequities remain largely intact due to inadequate educational resources in rural areas, continuing political interference and the active role of old boy/old girl networks in propping up already privileged schools. Given the persisting low level of public investment in education, even a drastic re-allocation of existing resources cannot be expected to make much of a difference. This situation is highly conducive for corrupt practices in the sector. On the other hand, some of the well to do parents tend to bypass government schools altogether and send their children to so called international schools. The cost of such education puts great pressure on such households, often encouraging them even to turn to illegitimate sources of income to earn extra money.

Increasing economic pressure that encourages many people to live beyond their means is a major factor that contributes to corruption. The increasing reliance on private transport, rising costs of education and healthcare are major sources of such economic pressure. Though residential care in a private hospital is beyond the means of most people in the country, out of pocket expenses incurred by individuals already constitute a major burden on many families. Yet, there are no serious policy interventions to bridge the widening gap between public and private healthcare services. As for education, private tuition costs a great deal for most households today. Yet, hardly anything is done to reduce the need for private tuition.

Many people who hold important positions have tended to abuse their power and influence for private gain, both monetary and non-monetary. Those who hold political office have been particularly prone to corrupt practices because they often have control over public resources. In fact, it is their disproportionate access to public resources that has motivated many of them to seek public office in the first place. Moreover, the present electoral system based on proportional representation not only unduly privileges those who already have considerable wealth but also encourages those who are not wealthy to amass wealth to face future electoral contests. Many have realised that it is through all sorts of corrupt practices that they could achieve their goals.

What is already outlined above clearly points to the fact public policy interventions in many areas can play a crucial role in preventing corruption. What is mentioned above are just a few examples. Given the fact that elimination of corruption naturally brings enormous benefits to society including enhanced prospects for development and public welfare, it is natural for the advocates of good governance to argue for zero tolerance of corruption. But, it is not easy for a society trapped in a vicious cycle of corruption to combat corruption because corruption is almost institutionalised and many people already treat it as an accepted way of achieving personal goals. It is only within the framework of rational policy making that the need to combat corruption makes sense. But in countries where extreme forms of pragmatism and political expediency reign supreme, many people, both the powerful and the powerless, tend to adopt an extremely pragmatic and fatalistic attitude towards corruption itself.

This situation can change only when more and more people begin to realise that corruption not only leads to social injustice and exploitation but also undermines good governance and development prospects of a country. However, such a change can come about only when the issue of corruption figures prominently in the public discourse. This is yet to happen in this country.