Corruption

Corruption is a global phenomenon. Bribery, money laundering, incentives, fees for services rendered and scams have become a way of life. Corruption is rampant in politics and in public services. A survey was conducted by the ORG-Marg for an NGO called the Transparency International India to find out the number of people affected by corruption in different sectors. The survey revealed that the greatest number of people affected by corruption (8.1 billion) was by the Health Department, followed by Power (5.9 billion) and Education (5.5 billion). About 1.3 billion people were affected by corruption in the Judiciary and 0.7 billion in the Taxation Department. Bofors case, Hawala Scandal, the securities Scandal, the Housing Scam, Urea Scam, the Fodder Scam in Bihar, the Telecom Scandal etc are some forms of political corruption. Ironically, economic liberalization has fostered big-bugs corruption. It would be suicidal for the society if corruption is not eliminated without any loss of time. Of late, India has been rocked by corruption scandals whose dimensions were so big that they left an adverse impact both on the political and the economic life of the country. Much has been done and much is being done on to curtain corruption. But it still leaves much to be desired for corruption is not on the wane, but on the increase. The public is not yet satisfied with the investigations done by the governments to unearth the plots involving multicrore scams. It is, therefore, needless to say that corruption in India has reached the climax. In fact, present bad economic situation is due to this evil of corruption. This menace has to be crushed with firm steps. Any delay will result in disastrous consequences. It is clear that it is the time to reduce the increasing corruption as soon as possible. In order to control increasing corruption the following things should be followed or paid attention to.

1.First of all, it is important to state here the suggestion of the former Chief Vigilance Commissioner; Mr. N. Vittal who suggested several times that a new fundamental right such as, the right to corruption-free service should be incorporated into the Constitution. This would allow judicial action if it was violated.

Moral education is the need of the hour.

2.The anti-corruption agencies such as the Vigilance Commissions, Anticorruption Departments, CBI and others are constituted to look into and trap the bribe-takers. However, the greatest obstacle in eliminating corruption is the fact that public morality is virtually non-existent.

3.Corruption at higher levels of political leadership leads to corruption in the bureaucracy and other wings of the administration like the police or the Public Works Departments. It spreads top to bottom. It is therefore necessary that People with moral integrity and honesty should contest elections and should be voted to power. Suitable legislation should be enacted to root out corruption associated with elections.

4.There is a need for a new beginning to make India corruption-free. Everyone should adopt zero tolerance towards corruption.

5.There is nothing wrong with Indian laws, nothing wrong with economy or with its political and judicial institutions. What ails India is its moral poverty.

6.But, there is a silver lining in every cloud. We took look towards our judiciary to mend things and punish the guilty. The way our Courts and the apex court are handling all those cases and the attitude of our present governments in the states and at the centre are giving a life saving drug for the Indian society and we do hope that corruption would be eradicated from our society.

7.The laws of the country should be made strict and stringent. The measure of punishment must be increased.

8.The agency should be made there to serve as a watchdog of the activities of high officials and civil servants.

9.More courts should be established to disperse of cases of corruption.

10.The menace of corruption needs to be tackled on many fronts. The cause of corruption should be clearly and precisely identified and remedial steps should be taken.

11.There should be clear understanding and cooperation between public and officers to check corruption.

12.Only patriotic feelings coupled with efforts in reduction of poverty, illiteracy, regional imbalances and inequality among people can successfully face and fight the menace of corruption.

13.Tough regulation that contains the induction of broader and transparent quality in the working pattern will help to reduce the corruption in the government as well as society.

14.There is a need to involve maximum possible officials in financial dealings to avoid monopoly of single hand so that the chances of corruption can be minimized.

15.There is a requirement of frequent turnover of the staff where they are dealing with sensitive matters. It may be money dealing, custody of stores, allotment of license, allotment of land, recruitment etc.

16.There is a need to fix the minimum tenure for each category of the officials who are working in such type of sensitive appointments.

17.There is a need of firm checks and counter checks by inducting the fair procedure into the system without any loopholes in the operation. There will be a need of accountability of each one involved in carrying out this job.

18.The budget control is another important aspect. It guides that the expenditure is to be incurred when actually required. That will also create doubt of misappropriation and corruption.

19.There should be a policy in all the government offices that none of the officials whose integrity is doubtful even once should not be allowed to work in the jobs involving financial matters.

20.There should be a rule to carryout regular surprise and vigilance checks over the dealings and the transactions to avoid malpractices and corruption.

21. The departmental and judiciary laws should have provision of imposing exemplary punishment to the accused commensurate with the gravity of the offence and create fear amongst others to avoid such undesirable activities.

22.Enhancement in the salary of the officers and staff will also help to reduce the corruption.
23.It is generally seen that the responsibilities of the officers are passed on to their subordinates. Some out of them are involved in malpractices and corruption cases. This is obvious. The corruptibility in the case of few subordinates, who are not as responsible like officers, cannot be ruled out. There is a need to deal with such slackness on the part of officers vigorously.
Besides other things, the above suggestions are necessary in order to control increasing corruption.

Child Labour

According to the Human Rights Watch (Article-1) of UN,” A child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.” Childhood is the state of life where love and care are needed greatly. But who cares? None! Children constitute about 35 percent of India’s population and it is national shame that bulk of them still suffer from malnutrition, poverty, diseases, malicious mistreatment through forced child labour and beggary. One of the worst forms of child exploitation is child labour. . It is a disgraceful act that we, the crown of the Nature, take advantage of children for our comforts and benefits. Many children have to work for long hours and are physically abused. The children are engaged in the various large as well as small industries. Their tomorrow is ruined. Child labour is a grave stain on our endeavors in directing India as a go-ahead nation.
According to International Labour Organization (ILO) statistics, India has possibly the largest child labour power in the world, which is around 16.5 million. Off the record, though the estimation is something like 45 million; of which roughly 20 percent are in inner-city regions and what's left is in countryside areas. Nearly 87 percent of the child workers are in rural areas working in farm, plantations, fisheries and cottage industries. Statistics tells an appalling story about Mumbai and Goa. It says that the 20 percent of the 1 lakh prostitutes in Bombay alone are below 18 years of age. In Tamil Nadu children are employed in many small scale match and firework industries. In Varanasi around 30 lakh children work in the sari industry. These are only some examples of child labour. Actually, the said problem is present almost each and every state. As child labour is very economical, each work requires a helping hand of children. It is the time of modernization and globalization. Every work needs a great cheap and dedicated employee. The children are considered a secure dealing. It is unfortunate that in metropolitan cities the children are sexually exploited and labeled as ‘Pleasure Packages’.

In a country like India where a lot of the inhabitants live below the poverty line, it is basically not simple to get rid of this societal problem. The origin of the child labour is always in poverty and to some degree, it lies in unawareness. But, it is a harsh fact that without getting into an employment, these child labourers would have nothing to eat. Their close relatives cannot have enough money to nourish them. They have to simply compel their own offspring to labor. To obtain the indispensable necessity of living, the families overlook all their sense of mortality and quit their broods to work in industrial units and they insist them to drop the schools. These children, left without the valued reminiscences of infancy, mature into ignorant persons with scarcely any variety of cerebral expansion.

In the past, some measures were taken in the developing countries by the developed countries to control this social immorality of child labour. But, there was hardly any impact because of the reason that the developing countries simply did not worry about that. Hence the dilemma continues to grow. The reality that this social vice is inextricably knotted with other familiar problems such as poverty, illiteracy, violence etc makes it a ferocious loop.
Laws were made to remove this social evil and a national organization was set up against child mistreatment. The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act 1986 was enacted. The Act seeks to prohibit employment of children below 14 years in hazardous occupations and processes. Unfortunately these efforts did not bear much fruits. A National Policy on Child Labour was announced in August 1987 then. We know what these acts do for the children. Articles 24 and 39 of the Indian Constitution provides for protection of the children from involvement in activities and from avocations unsuited to their age. But these provisions also remain principle.
The problem of child labour has influenced Indian economy to a great extent. International Labour Rights Funds accused India and warned that if Indian carpet industry does not guarantee the production of goods without involving child labours, Indian products will be boycotted. The strong step taken by European administrations in opposition to import of goods whose manufactures engage child labour compelled the authorities to take some tangible steps to eliminate child labour. Stern measures are being taken such as punishing those who go against the child labour Act.
Education and economic richness is the only key to the complete elimination of the problem of child labour. First of all, it is necessary to identify the hazardous work which exploits children. Secondly, particular attention should be drawn towards the troubles of child labourers. Thirdly, such policies must be put off in which non- formal schooling is allocated to the children for two hours and then they are obliged to labor. Though primary education is free and compulsory, a large number of children do not go to school because the rural India is again caught in vicious cycle of poverty. Child labour is necessary to keep the hearth glowing. It is not a good sign. Child labour creates a face ill equipped in terms of skill to compete in today’s globalized economy. It perpetuates the poverty in general population.
Fourthly, complete exercise of mass communication should be made for wakefulness about the problem of child labour. It is true that it is an assiduous work to eradicate this problem wholly. But we should keep in our mind that the European countries have already destroyed it. We should take a lesson from them. In fact, it is our enthusiasm which determines the level of reduction of this problem. We should take this problem seriously and personally. Our dedication directs the higher goal to achieve the welfare of the whole mankind. We should form responsiveness about the extent of the problem and this can be accomplished through economic liberalization. The Supreme Court gave its historic judgement on 10th December 1996 and ordered the owners to pay Rs 20,000 per child if the defiance of child labour law is set up. In its 36 page judgement, the court noticeably stated that an adult from the family of every child labourer will be given an employment so that parents should not be compelled to send their children to work. Such steps are welcome. Child labour is economically wobbled, psychologically catastrophic and ethically erroneous. It should be stringently banned.