Corruption & Fall of ‘Amma’
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: September 29, 2014 -

From being a successful actress to a powerful politician, the life journey of convicted Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa, has been a phenomenal one.

Dearly called as “Amma” meaning mother in Tamil, Jayalalithaa was a great factor for the AIADMK’s grand success in the recent Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.

She has great concern for the Tamils and has always kept the fading “regional politics” alive in the country’s political arena.

However, the greatness of such powerful politician was eventually scrapped by the court’s verdict in an 18-year-old disproportionate assets case, which was originally filed by former Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy (now with BJP) and later pursued by the Karunanidhi-led DMK.

The verdict was very much a bolt from the blue for the supporters and well-wishers of Jayalalithaa, but it did send out a strong message to the corrupt politicians all across the country.

Earlier, RJD supremo Lalu Yadav was also convicted in a multi-crore fodder scam after a long time. The Indian judiciary is capable of delivering justice to the people, though it works at a slow pace.

Considering the high level of corruption prevailing in every hierarchy of the government, the country needs to have a stringent anti-corruption law.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas must also be made fully functional to deal with corruption cases.

Moreover, the government should wholeheartedly take up the black money case and bring back trillions of dollars hidden in the Swiss banks.

The Jayalalitha’s episode should be the beginning of a corruption-free India. The country needs to reform its people before it can set out to become a super power.

A study conducted by Transparency International in year 2005 found that more than 62% of Indians had firsthand experience of paying bribes or influence peddling to get jobs done in public offices successfully.

In its study conducted in year 2008, Transparency International reports about 40% of Indians had firsthand experience of paying bribes or using a contact to get a job done in public office.

In 2012 India has ranked 94th out of 176 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, tied with Benin, Colombia, Djibouti, Greece, Moldova, Mongolia, and Senegal.

Most of the largest sources of corruption in India are entitlement programmes and social spending schemes enacted by the Indian government.

Examples include Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and National Rural Health Mission.

Other daily sources of corruption include India's trucking industry which is forced to pay billions in bribes annually to numerous regulatory and police stops on its interstate highways.

Indian media has widely published allegations of corrupt Indian citizens stashing trillions of dollars in Swiss banks.

Swiss authorities, however, deny these allegations.

The causes of corruption in India include excessive regulations, complicated taxes and licensing systems, numerous government departments each with opaque bureaucracy and discretionary powers, monopoly by government controlled institutions on certain goods and services delivery, and the lack of transparent laws and processes.

There are significant variations in level of corruption as well as in state government efforts to reduce corruption across India.

Indeed, the verdict of a Bangalore court on Jayalalithaa’s disproportionate case has reminded the people that no one is above the law and the corrupt people will surely get their due sooner or later during their lifetime.