1. THE BATTLE AGAINST CORRUPTION STARTS FROM WITHIN
In a democratic country like ours, where all the agents of the public must be responsible for their
conduct, there can be few secrets, The People of this country have right to know every public act.
The denial of the right to know which is derived from the concept of freedom of speech and
expression, though not absolute yet is a factor which should make one worry”- Supreme Court
In Indian context the nexus between politicians, bureaucrats, criminals and Police is known clumsy
fact. Corruption has rooted in all walks of life. Every wing of the administration is rotten with
corrupt practices. Even judiciary is also grappled by the devil of corruption. The right to know or
need of transparency in Public administration becomes too important to keep it away any longer.
Transparency means knowing the reasons, facts, logics and basis of the decision taken by the
administration. Transparency in public administration in legal terms means that a citizen of India
has a right (legal or fundamental) to have access to the information about government’s actions.
Denial of such information to the public by the public authorities without appropriate reasons
would be offence under the law. Thought Supreme Court has recently gave a -constitutional status
for the right to know. Yet under the guise of Official Secrets Act 1923 and section 123 of Indian
Evidence Act 1872 the executive can withhold the records from production in the court of law on
security point of view. The laws were framed by the British with the sole purpose of protecting the
interest of the British executives and keep them out of the purview of the scrutiny of court and has
become outdated. These laws corrupt officials and protect them from the public exposure.
Undisputedly, Transparency in Public administration will make the executive more responsible
and friendly. The red tapism prevailed in the administration will be minimized as the public
become more powerful. Transparency will positively result in wiping out the authoritarianism and
whimsical way of working of the so called powerful bureaucrats under the patronage of politicians.
The discretions enjoyed by bureaucrats and the ministers also comes into focus, as soon as the
Transparency in Public Administration is restored.
Once an official decision is out in the open, people will also know the grounds and material facts on
which the decision was based, and any discrepancy will be questioned in appropriate forums. For
example, suppose there are 100 seats to be filled up in an engineering college, and there are more
applicants than the number of seats. If there is lack of transparency, the management may fill up the
seats with those who are willing to pay bribes. But when the process is transparent, people will come
to know of the marks obtained by them in the qualifying exams. In this case, if students with lower
marks have been selected, the decision taken by the management can be contested in courts.
With transparency coming in to account, the main strength of India; i.e. the Youth will have to come
in to picture for the development and progress of our nation and they have to lead the fight against
the corruption.
Youth is a spark which can either burn or lighten the country”, it is said. India and China are the
countries having maximum youth population and suppose to enjoy the demographic
dividend. However, this demographic dividend would become a demographic disaster, if the youth are
not properly guided and their energy is not harnessed.
In this direction, it is worthwhile recalling the call of Mr. Ratan Tata to the youth of our country some
time ago, when he said, “The youth of today will need to recognise that they shoulder a great
2. responsibility. They will need to fight for rooting out corruption, for ensuring that no one is above the
law and uniting the citizens of India as ‘India first’ instead of communal or geographic factions”.
Now, it is a question of taking responsibility and rooting out corruption. Where does the journey
begin? In my opinion, the role of youth in the fight against corruption should happen at two levels. One,
at their personal level and secondly, their professional level.
In the present day youth, driven by their parents’ pressure in most of the cases, ask the question ‘what
is in it for me’ when they are expected to be good and honest citizens. This has led to a situation where
the youth today tries to relate everything to success, sadly in terms of monetary terms. First of all, one
must be clear about what success is. Is it to be rich? To be a world icon? To be famous? To be rich
and famous or to be a great visionary or what else? To simply put it, the youth to know what they want
and more importantly, how they want what they want! In fact, one cannot blame the Google for providing
a bad search result when the ‘key search word’ itself was bad!
Therefore, it is up to the youth to look up for the role models and derive inspiration and keep their heads
high. They should have higher ideals in life which goes beyond the self-centred boundary and the
precinct of the narrow mind. The higher the goal, the greater the potency in action and fruitful results
rather than those of lower ideals towards accumulation of wealth and indulgence in earthly
pleasure. This is the first and foremost step the youth has to take in the fight against corruption at their
personal level.
The next contribution that should come from the youth in the fight against corruption is at their
professional level, immaterial whether they take up a job or become an entrepreneur. The youth should
not allow themselves to become a money making machine. They should become leaders through their
right action. Also, they should understand the limitation of technology in distinguishing between human
values, human good, human need and human pleasure. These are a few things which should be kept
in mind in my opinion:-
(i)Self disclosure – speak out or send out clear signals right at the beginning of your career that you
stand by certain ethical values and demonstrate such values in your work and exhibit your
honesty. Remember, *honesty is doing the right thing even when no one is watching!
(ii)Be sure that you do not become an object for blackmailing – do not do anything which gives room
for others to blackmail;
(iii)Be fair and transparent in all your actions. Fairness comes when your action or decision does not
make the other party to lose. Such fairness must be visible to others
(iv)Learn how to call a spade and learn to tell ‘no’. Do not be a ‘yes man’ and do not allow ‘yes man’
around you. Remember Tata once scrapped one of his project proposals after a board meeting when
everyone said ‘yes’ to his proposal!
(v)All the above four principles can be put into practice only when you know yourself and believe in
yourself. With this belief comes an absolute faith in God, no matter what, you are bound to succeed.
Thus the youth are an important asset to any nation and they should lead the charge against the things
the desire. Transparency in the government will be a great help in achieving the same. If young people
want to see change in the world, they have to realise the battle against corruption starts with them
– they must resolve to do the right thing.
