What is the Actual Meaning of Corruption?

Hi

Generally speaking as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Corruption can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.

Grand corruption consists of acts committed at a high level of government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good.

Petty corruption refers to everyday abuse of entrusted power by low- and mid-level public officials in their interactions with ordinary citizens,

who often are trying to access basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies.

Political corruption is a manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers,

who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth. See animated definitions of many corruption terms in our Anti-corruption Glossary.

● The biggest drawback of the country which has the largest democracy in the world is not population but corruption.

● In 2013, India ranked 94 out of 177 countries in the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International.

● Corruption is often strong in countries with the smallest per capita incomes. Sadly India is one of them having low per capita income.

● There is currently no exclusive legislation to check corruption in the private sector in India.

● The Indian economy suffered a loss of INR364 billion in just one year excluding some of the big scams like 2G, the Commonwealth Games and mining.

● Most corrupt sectors are Infrastructure, Real estate, Metal, Mining, Power and utilities & Aerospace.

● Pharma, Retail, Consumer products and education sector are found to be less corrupt sectors.

● Excessive regulations, complicated taxes and licensing systems, opaque bureaucracy, monopoly, and the lack of transparent laws and processes are some of the causes of corruption in India.

● India has US$1456 billion black money stored in Swiss banks (approximately USD 1.4 trillion).

● Because corruption is willfully hidden, it is impossible to measure directly; instead, proxies for corruption are used.

● In 2013 India has ranked 94th out of 177 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, tied with Benin, Colombia, Djibouti, Greece, Moldova, Mongolia, and Senegal.

● In the private sector, corruption increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves.

● In public sector, a big gap gets created as public investment is diverted to private profit and thus simplest process becomes complex.

● Giving gifts, meals, refreshments or travel, Funds spent on liaising and bonus payments are some of the hot tactics used in documentation by which the bribe is been hided.

● Big issues like poverty, education for all, construction, cleaning, unemployment etc continue to remain as issue and fails to climb the wall of corruption.

● More than 62% of Indians had given bribes to get jobs in public & private sectors and to get their work process faster, according to Transparency International in year 2005.

● Bharat Swabhiman Trust, India Against Corruption and ASTRA are some organizations that are fighting against corruption in India.

● The most creative step was taken by “5th Pillar” for the creation of the zero rupee note (to give to corrupt officials when they request bribes).