This document discusses corruption in India over several decades. It summarizes various corruption scams that have come to light through the press and judiciary. These include the Bofors gun deal, 2G spectrum scam, Commonwealth Games scam, and more. It discusses how proposed anti-corruption laws like the Lokpal bill have failed to pass. The document also examines the loss of tax revenues and bank loans due to corruption. It estimates that illegal financial flows have cost India nearly $500 billion over the past decades.

1. The campaign against corruption
In India

2. How effective are our laws to combat
corruption?
THE SANTHANAM Committee Report 1964 defines
corruption as a complex problem having roots and
ramifications in society as a whole. In its widest
connotation, corruption includes improper or selfish
exercise of power and influence attached to a public
office.
During the last one decade, several cases of
corruption have come to public notice due to the
vigilant press, efforts of public spirited persons and
a proactive judiciary.

3. LIC scam & Geep scam
A popular Scandanavian journal wrote: ―While
the rest of the developed world is watching
India with hope, it is terrifyingly sad to see India
swim in violence, inaction, corruption and
debilitating poverty — all making the democracy
Indians are practicing a charade.‖

4. LOK PAL AND LOK AYUKTA
It was proposed to set up the institution of Lok Pal and Lok
Ayukta to fight corruption in administration and public life. As
many as five Bills (Bills of 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1991)
were introduced. There was no success in passing the Lok Pal
Bills .
There was no agreement on (a) the inclusion of the office of
PM in the definition of ―public servant,‖ (b) the definition of
―criminal misconduct,'' and c) the constitutional status of the
institution. Meanwhile from 1970 to 1985 as many as 10
States passed the Lok Ayukta laws.

5. The Bofors gun, Airbus deal, ABB loco deal, Jain
hawala racket, sugar scam, telecom scam, securities
scam, urea scam and fodder scam in Bihar are a few
instances. The scams which surfaced are only the tip
of the iceberg.
A majority of the scams relate to “public expenditure''
by the Central and State Governments. The basic
criteria in detecting corruption in public expenditure is
the prevalent market value of the item of purchase,
though such a yardstick presents certain difficulties in
detecting corruption in defence purchases.

6. The cases of corruption in the collection of
“public revenues'' and arrears thereof are not
detected on a significant scale. It is not
anybody's case that there is no corruption in the
realisation of “public revenues,'' the direct and
indirect taxes.

7. Defaulting on bank loans is a penal offence
without provision of attachment of properties.
Yet another corruption is and money laundering
in the banking sector. The securities scam
alone involved a loss of Rs. 1,28,534 crores
according to the JPC which probed the matter.

9. Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda has
been booked by the Enforcement Directorate under
the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for allegedly
diverting state funds and making huge investments
abroad.
Senior officials of the ED said Koda, who ironically is
the first Chief Minister to be booked under PMLA, is
alleged to have made huge investments abroad
besides those in India.
ED books former Jharkhand CM
Madhu Koda under PMLA

13. Harshad Mehta & Ketan Parekh
Stock Market Scam
Although not corruption scams, these have affected
many people. There is no way that the investor
community could forget the unfortunate Rs. 4000
crore Harshad Mehta scam and over Rs. 1000 crore
Ketan Parekh scam which eroded the shareholders
wealth in form of big market jolt.

14. Income tax arrears in 1993 stood at Rs. 6,000 crores.
This is in respect of assessed tax. Under-assessed tax
accounts for some thousands of crores of tax losses. So
is the case in relation to indirect taxes - central excise
duties. Another angle of revenue loss relates to non-
recovery of bank loans from the industrialists
accounting for nearly Rs. 50,000 crores.

15. The Hawala case to the tune of $18 million bribery
scandal, which came in the open in 1996, involved
payments allegedly received by country‘s leading
politicians through hawala brokers. From the list of
those accused also included Lal Krishna Advani who
was then the Leader of Opposition.
It gave a feeling of open loot all around the public,
involving all the major political players being accused of
having accepted bribes and also alleged connections
about payments being channelled to Hizbul Mujahideen
militants in Kashmir

16. 2G Spectrum Scam
This scam involved the process of allocating
unified access service licenses. At the heart of this
Rs.1.76-lakh crore worth of scam is the former
Telecom minister A Raja – who according to the
CAG, has evaded norms at every level as he carried
out the dubious 2G license awards in 2008 at a
throw-away price which were pegged at 2001
prices.
The Top Scams in India

17. Commonwealth Games Scam: It is estimated that out of
Rs. 70000 crore spent on the Games, only half the said
amount was spent on Indian sportspersons.
The Central Vigilance Commission, involved in probing
the alleged corruption in various Commonwealth Games-
related projects, has found discrepancies in tenders –
like payment to non-existent parties, willful delays in
execution of contracts, over-inflated price and bungling in
purchase of equipment through tendering – and
misappropriation of funds
The Top Scams in India

18. Abdul Karim Telgi forged in printing duplicate stamp
papers and sold them to banks and other institutions. The
fake stamp and stamp paper case penetrated 12 states
and was estimated at a whooping Rs. 20000 crore plus.
The Telgi clearly had a lot of support from government
departments that were responsible for the production and
sale of high security stamps.
The Top Scams in India

19. Satyam is the biggest fraud in the corporate history to the
tune of Rs. 14000 crore. The company‘s disgraced
former chairman Ramalinga Raju for a decade fudged
the books of accounts for several years and inflating
revenues and profit figures of Satyam. Finally, the
company was taken over by the Tech Mahindra which has
done wonderfully well to revive the brand Satyam.
The Top Scams in India

20. The Top Scams in India
If you haven‘t heard of Bihar‘s fodder scam of 1996, you
might still be able to recognize it by the name of ―Chara
Ghotala ,‖ as it is popularly known. In this corruption
scandal worth Rs.900 crore, an unholy nexus was traced
involved in fabrication of ―vast herds of fictitious
livestock‖ for which fodder, medicine and animal
husbandry equipment was supposedly procured

21. IPL Scam
The recent scam in IPL and embezzlement with
respect to bidding for various franchisees. The
scandal already claimed the portfolios of two big-
wigs in the form of Shashi Tharoor and former
IPL chief Lalit Modi.

22. India has lost nearly a half-trillion dollars in illegal
financial flows out of the country, says a new
study by Global Financial Integrity. So massive
are these illegal outflows, says the study, that the
―total capital flight represents approximately 16.6
per cent of India's GDP as of year-end 2008.‖

23. Its estimate falls far short of the $1.4 trillion
figure cited in the India media prior to the 2009
general elections. But, says the report, ―the
figure still represents a staggering loss of
capital.‖ Illegal flight of capital, it says,
―worsens income distribution, reduces the
effectiveness of external aid, and hampers
economic development.‖

24. The study
The GFI study is titled ―The Drivers and Dynamics of Illicit
Financial Flows from India: 1948-2008.‖ Authored by Dr.
Kar, formerly a senior economist at the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and now Lead Economist at the GFI,
it defines ‗illicit flows' as ―comprised of funds that are
illegally earned, transferred, or utilised — if laws were
broken in the origin, movement, or use of the funds then
they are illicit.‖ Such fund transfers are not recorded in the
country of origin for they typically violate that nation's laws
and banking regulations.

27. Misappropriation of public funds and acquisition
of ill-gotten wealth are clearly illegal.
However, subtler forms of non-material
corruption, coupled with abuse of power and
misuse of privilege, are equally prevalent but not
often debated.

28. Capitalism, globalisation and liberalisation have
increased the pressure to succeed, achieve
targets and acquire wealth quickly. The abuse of public
power, office and resources for personal gain is
common. A culture, which declares conflicts of
interests and institutes systems to assess them, is rare
and yet to take hold in India.

29. Basis In Self-Sacrifice
Swaraj can be maintained only where there is a
majority of loyal and patriotic people to whom the
good of the nation is paramount above all other
considerations what-ever including their personal
profit. M K G (YI, 28-7-1921, p.238)

30. If Swaraj was not meant to civilize us,
and to purify and stabilize our civilization,
it would be nothing worth. The very
essence of our civilization is that we give
a paramount place to morality in all our
affairs, public or private. (YI, 23-1-1930, p. 26)