This are some of the questions that was raised in a public portal in India and it was unanimously defined that corruption world over is a macro and a micro-phenomena that hurts not just the infrastructure but re-models the architecture of governance of the world. The problem with corruption lies in the rules of corruption although there are rules for governance and evaluatory sheets no such sheets exists in corruption.
So there must be a solution to corruption
The solutions to corruption needed have been broken down into:
1) General Corruption Solutions
2) Citizen to Government Corruptions Solutions
3) Business to Government Corruption Solutions
There are some essential seven point programmes that we have developed to attenuate the effects of corruption from affecting the system. Please add your suggeations to the points that fall and those which fail..
General Solutions
1. Fast track processing of all corruption related cases
2. Strong and timely punishments to the ones proven guilty of corruption
3. Development of an effective and adequate electoral funding mechanism
4. Implementation of an easy to access feedback and rating mechanisms for Government Offices, Officers, Elected Representatives and Businesses.
5. Mandatory Moral Values education in school curriculums
6. Mandatory inclusion of Anti-Corruption as a subject in all college curriculums
7. Social Awareness programs against Corruption and Bribery for Citizens
Citizen to Government Corruption Solutions
1. Setting up of a National Corruption Hotline enabling citizens to report corruption online and via phone call
2. Setting up an effective grievance redressal mechanism for corruption cases
3. Elimination of human interface with electronic interface for every possible Government-Citizen transaction
4. Elimination of cash transactions at Government Departments
5. Target and Performance oriented objectives and reviews for all Government Employees with a pre-defined incentive plan
6. Time Bound Delivery targets for Government Departments with predefined penalties for inaction/delays affecting the Department and Individual responsible
7. Establish Key Performance Indicators for all Government departments and publishing them daily/weekly is made a mandatory requirement.
8. Institute awards at departmental and individual levels recognizing results
9. Institute National Level Integrity awards
10. Training of front line Government Employees on Customer Service
11. Outsourced Process Awareness desk and self-serve kiosks for citizens at every Government office
12. Outsourced computerization of old Government records
13. Prohibition of entry for agents/middle from all Government offices (Similar to visas for some countries)
14. Annual Declaration of total assets held for all Government employees
15. Implementation of an electronic and documentation oriented recruitment process for all Government jobs.
16. Creation of an online citizen community/circle for every constituency, every ministry and every Government department.
Business to Government Corruption Solutions
1. Setting up of a Business Corruption Hotline enabling businesses to report corruption online and via phone call
2. Setting up an effective grievance redressal mechanism for businesses for any corruption or violation of ethics cases
3. Implementation of a time bound electronic qualification, quotation, tendering, ordering and payment mechanism for all Government procurements
4. Removal of all Ministerial and Bureaucratic discretionary powers from the supplier selection process
5. Elimination of cash transactions at Government Departments
6. All public sector enterprises of India to have a Board comprising of at least 2 accomplished private sector professionals as independent Directors
7. All public sector enterprises to sign a national integrity pact with independent monitors and board level reporting of all corruption cases.
8. All public sector and Government officials to provide an undertaking of no personal direct or indirect associations with companies they are transacting Government business
9. All Government employees to exchange information with businesses using Government email ids. No email exchange permissible via personal emails.
10. Prohibition of all agents in Business to Government transactions
11. Detailed documentation requirement for listed companies on un-receipted cash and miscellaneous expenses
12. Mandatory requirement for all listed corporates to have an Ethics and Compliance function with direct reporting to the Board of Directors
Hello, Pushan - I have added my thoughts based on each of the sections that you defined.
General Solutions Section:
5. Mandatory Moral Values education in school curriculums. This should be #1 priority. While other solutions might be implemented more quickly , this should be a top priority. The goal should be to nurture a national culture of respect for individuals – especially given the negative world opinion of how India and the Middle East devalue women. Respect should be nurtured for the institution of government and its most noble purpose, which is to serve the people through equity and justice. America has failed terribly as a moral leader as continuing events highlight the unequal distribution of justice and resources, the perpetration of race baiting and hatred for the government by politicians and religious leaders whose agendas are increasingly aligned. Learn from this.
Citizen to Government Corruption Section:
12. “Outsourced computerization of old Government records”. In a world where the incentive to misuse citizens’ information, great thought must be given about how will you safeguard against information theft and distribution for personal gain.
Business to Government Corruption Section
6. “All public sector enterprises of India to have a Board comprising of at least 2 accomplished private sector professionals as independent Directors”. Who will counterbalance business interests, and should there be stipulations and consequences for abdication of duty if or when the business board members use illegal means (e.g. bribery) to influence Board decisions? Also, clearly define a vision for the counter balance of business influence such as including environmentalists, labor leaders, or representatives from sectors that have the public interest at heart.
12. “Mandatory requirement for all listed corporates to have an Ethics and Compliance function with direct reporting to the Board of Directors”. Board of Directors in the US are just rubberstamps for CEO’s. They simply agree to what the CEOs wish. Board of Directors must be unassociated with the business, though knowledgeable about the business, and must not have been employed by the government within the past 5 years. This will allow enough time to pass to minimize influence peddling. Look at Eric Cantor, former US House Representative who recently lost his bid for re-election. Posthaste, resigned his position in government and now works for Wall Street for over $1.5million/year to peddle influence! His job is to advise on business strategy. The incentive to use government for future personal gain is very high in America, learn from our mistakes.
I would add to your list: set up an ethics commission to track and study the best and worst practices of governments worldwide and learn from their mistakes. Number 1 mistake is to allow religionists to set the government agenda. From the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini to Iran in the last century to now, religious leaders have infiltrated governments and have caused great havoc worldwide. Looking farther back we can see the havoc that religion has perpetrated globally (from the European advancement into the unknown world, the 400-year period of the rule of the Inquisition, to the rise of today's religious extremists such as ISIS).
Finally, I did not see information about addressing labor and management issues, nor did I see initiatives to overhaul the legal system, which still tolerates such things as generational bondage and enslavement (i.e. from father to son, to progeny) when a debt is owed by an individual to a debt-holder.
The steps that you have outlined involves deep infrastructure support – It is hardly likely that you will achieve your goal because special interests will have much to lose. Nevertheless, I wish you the best in your efforts. India is a great nation that has much to offer the world.
@Ruth Maria Tappin Thank you Madam for your enlightened thoughts.
I am really proud that a lady from US feels concerned dearly for the conditional corruption in India and elsewhere. The problem with Corruption is that people consider it as a necessary evil so they use the constitution to create a collusion as corruption. Secondly like the USA where the position of a lawyer is utilized by the political class for issue based lobbying that ultimately harms the nation where we saw a prominent lawyer once a Cabinet Minister of the erstwhile Congress Party of the previous Government in power using his lobbying with the surveillance unit of India CBI head for a certain power transaction. The problem with USA and India especially in bureaucracy is the same where the people closer to the top leader gets all the benefits. The pros and cons of this is that although the USA has a 200 year older constitution compared to India where the laws are being implemented now , we see a concentration of regime views . The forefathers of US constitution believed in the founding principles of Welfare to all , the present Indian administration is more concentrated in using the power of arbitration rather than resolution for common good. Although now things have started changing in India and there are many effective five point program mes that are being introduced for a look forward development rather than a short term injection.
Corruption especially in society is affected when a proper stand is taken and the right responsible views can be communicated to the top level.
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