Our Political System is designed to Augment Corruption
Can our (Indian) political system transform into providing good governance and development rather than augmenting corruption?
Political parties
across the world in any democracy have a difficult job in hand. They have to
win the next election at whatever cost. The incentive for the politician and
political parties is to win the next election and cling on to that power till
whatever time possible. In a democratic set up like India, this task is very
difficult, because of the sheer size of the country, number of voters and all
other complexity of region, religion, language, cast, etc.
So, to win the
next election the politicians have to be either very strong financially (such
as business owners or backed financial by strong business houses) or a such a
famous and honest leader that the voters will not think twice before choosing
him/her for the next term. The second part is very difficult to achieve,
because India as a country ranks very low on the Corruption Perception Index
for decades.
India scores a
40 out of 100 for the year 2022 in the Corruption Perception Index is a survey
report for 180 countries, produced each year by an agency called the
Transparency International. After making some progress few years back, the
score has been stagnant at 40/100 since 2020. In some way, there is a correlation
between consolidation or concentration of power and corruption.
In 1947, when India became independent from the colonial rules, the freedom fighters and general public sought for an India which is truly democratic. The transfer of power took place from the British rulers to the elected members of the newly formed government at the centre and states. In 1885, the Indian National Congress was formed with aim to free India from the colonial rules. Between 1906 to 1940, several other parties were also formed in the undivided India, which included now Pakistan.
Each of these
parties tried to create their own ideologies but a on a larger vision, they
were all together in the fight for the freedom of India from British rule. Prior
to independence the political parties attracted the most learned and able
leaders from the society to work for a greater social cause along with the
freedom movement. There was financial incentive for which the political parties
or their leaders were working in the respective parties or in the respective
localities/regions/states. To become a political leader was to be able to serve
the society, community and country at large. Most of the elected members, while
may be part of formal political party system, but were able to air their viewpoints and debate both within and outside the political system. Post the
independence, gradually the incentives to become a politician has changed. The
initial two or three decades of Indian independence were still arguably best in
terms of truly following the democratic values and principals of the
constitution. The next four decades the slide in the value system has been
rapid. With each subsequent government and elections, the slide is so visible.
A political
system actually mirrors the society and vice versa.
Let me list some of the publicly available data points about our current MPs.
Out of the all
the MPs, 234 MPs in India have at least 1 criminal record against them now. Highest
being 204 criminal cases against one induvial honorable MP.
477 MPs have
declared their personal assets to be at least Rs. 1 Cr or more, highest being
Rs. 660 Crore of personal wealth.
129 honorable MPs are educated to a level of max 12th Grade, as per their declaration in the election nomination filing.
In fact, this was a lament which the first
president of independent India had expressed during one of his speeches during
the constituent assembly debates. And his point of view was, for the civil
servants (who are the administrators for India) there are eligibility criteria
but those who are going to make the rules of India (MPs), don’t have any
eligibility criteria except the age.
There are no
easy answers to the original question. While, across the history and across the
globe, we have seen how the democratic systems are far better than any other
form of the government over a long period of time, at the same time, we have
also seen that whenever there is consolidation of power over a long period of
time with any political party or leader leads to not so good results in terms
of democratic values or in terms of economic development.
As they say,
Rome was not built in a day, in same way, a country become corrupt or less corrupt
over a period of time. So as a responsible society and voter for the future
elections in India, we can at least do the following.
· 1. Check the educational and professional background
of each leader, you are likely to vote. A honest, educated politician is more
likely to bring better goods to the constituency compared to a lesser educated
and corrupt leader with criminal records.
·
2. Leader with Criminal record should be strict
no-no.
·
3. Choose a leader, who can good to your
area/constituency rather than following just a party ideology.
· 4. Remember no political leader or party can remain
very clean for a long time because of the pressure win the next election, they
need money and that comes from corruption.
· 5. Corruption money comes different routes, but one
of the primary sources is the funding through organizations (which remains very opaque
in India).
MPs With
Criminal Records | List of Lok Sabha Members With Criminal Cases - Oneindia
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