Anti-corruption Measures in India: A Democratic Assessment

Abstract

The paper assesses the impact of anticorruption measures adopted in India since independence and seeks to find out why, despite a robust anti-corruption framework, these measures have failed to tackle corruption in the country. The paper argues that the extent and scale of corruption in the country show that corruption is not an individual problem, rather is systemic in nature. With a comparative review of different anti-corruption measures adopted in different countries, the paper concludes that because of its systemic nature, institutional reforms, by itself, cannot be effective in fighting corruption in India. The paper also emphasizes on drawing connections between corruption and democracy so that the policy makers in India can acknowledge the link between growing levels of corruption and the growing crisis of democracy. Therefore, it is argued that in order to tackle corruption effectively it is important that corruption be understood in terms of violation of democratic values, principles, and practices, which has also been recognised by the global anti-corruption civil society organization Transparency International. This calls for looking for measures that go beyond institutions and focus on effective participation of the people, which has proved to be a more effective way to ensure accountability and control corruption.