"Corruption is amongst the most debilitating economic illnesses that afflicts large parts of the world," wrote Prof Kaushik Basu. According to Transparency International, India ranks a joint 79th position along with China. Basu was Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, so he knows how corruption works here. He makes 2 points. When corruption is pervasive strong leaders use that as an excuse to arrest opponents. "The ubiquity of corruption gives a political leader a leash to curb dissent without having to say he or she is curbing dissent." Which also means that such leaders want corruption to stay so that they can continue to use it to enhance their power. Secondly, when the law punishes a bribe giver as well as the taker then both have an interest in hiding the crime. So, this law was passed to prevent whistle-blowers. Whistle-blowers are dangerous, so they are killed to silence them. Trouble comes when pesky foreigners confess to having paid $1.18 million in bribes to NHAI officials between 2011 and 2015, as CDM Smith has done in the US. Much better to suppress everything, as was so efficiently done during the Bofors scam, despit the fact that Sten Lindstrom, former head of Swedish Police revealed all the details of the scam. Although 2 officials of Agusta Westland have been sentenced to prison for corruption in the Agusta Westland deal, Sanjay Bhandari was allowed to flee to the UK, even though his passport had been impounded. This during the reign of our fearless leader, with a 56 inch chest, who wants fingerprints and iris scans of every citizen of India, including newborn babies. The Central Bureau of Investigation is diligently pursuing 392 investigations in 66 countries, which must involve traveling to various panoramic locations around the world. Meanwhile, 69% of Indians have confessed to having to pay bribes in the last one year, the highest in Asia Pacific region. These are, what Prof Basu calls, "harassment bribes", which means that people were coerced into paying for services that should be provided automatically. India did very well in coming 66th in Rule of Law Index, above China and Russia. Who wants rule of law which might snare politicians and civil servants. The government has failed to appoint a Lokpal in the 3 years that it has been in power. The Central Vigilance Commission red-flagged 50 cases of corruption but no action has been taken. The Lokpal is supposed to bring civil servants and politicians to justice, so no Lokpal. But, where is all the corruption coming from? From political parties. According to Prof Basu, "the main culpability for corruption lies with not ordinary citizens but government officials who are supposed to enforce the law". Will the mafia arrest its own members?
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