Integrity in India

The launch yesterday in Bangalore of the Integrity India Campaign against corruption by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a welcome, albeit small, step in the right direction. Clearly a response to recent bad press, the initiative assumes significance as it is spearheaded by a highly respected industry association and presided over by India Inc’s statesman-in-residence, NR Narayana Murthy. Corruption in India has assumed gargantuan proportions, contributing significantly to the guesstimated $50-100 billion growth of the parallel economy each year. Worse still, corruption has spread its tentacles like a cancer to every facet of everyday life life. According to a study by Transparency International (which recently gave India the dubious distinction of being the most corrupt exporting nation in the world), more than Rs 21,000 crore is paid in bribes by ordinary citizens every year. However, as we all know, political corruption—often in connivance with industry—is probably the most insidious of all. So, it comes as no surprise that the CII initiative, lasting three years, will focus on corporate behaviour and good governance by showcasing success stories and model codes of conduct.

But tackling corruption in any meaningful way will need far more than just good intentions. What we need is a sustained, multi-pronged approach that includes electoral and judicial reform, tighter surveillance and prosecution mechanisms, improved civil service pay and a rational tax regime. More important, we need a groundswell of public outrage against graft at all levels of civil society, backed by unswerving political will to root out corruption at local, state and central administrations. To be sure, the question that we, the citizens of India, must ask ourselves is what kind of society do we want to bequeath future generations: one that is emasculated by enticement and cynical by scandal or one that is strengthened by systems and lauded for laws that work. If the CII initiative goes some way towards helping us find the answer to that vital question, then its efforts would not have been in vain.

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