Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Need an account? Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. Gurharpal Singh. A short summary of this paper. B15 2TT. Singh bham. Singh Introduction1 In the emerging agenda for action between the European Union and India there is a clear identification of the areas of joint concern.
Good governance here does not necessarily mean the prescriptions of the World Bank or the IMF; it does, however, mean effective, accountable and transparent governance. In contrast there is broad agreement - inside and outside India - on indicators of bad governance. In India high levels of corruption in public life and the private commercial sector co-exist with equally high levels of mass poverty, illiteracy, underdevelopment and the increasing criminalisation of politics.
As a recent editorial in a leading newspaper observed: Corruption in public life is one of the most daunting issues facing the country. Things have come to such a pass the all politicians evoke public ridicule. In the last four years it has been dogged by one corruption scandal after another to the point where it has now become embarrassed about its ability to deliver clean government.
Frontline, Chennai , November Singh Bangladesh was ranked as the most corrupt country in the world. External findings of surveys by the likes of TI are also confirmed by opinion polls and surveys within South Asian states. Corruption and Good Governance Agenda In the last decade external and internal pressures have compelled Indian politicians to address the good governance agenda.
September the 11 and the war in Afghanistan, for example, threw into sharp focus the complex relationship that exists in South Asia between corruption, terrorism, money laundering and political decay. The initiative commits each signatory to the development of an anti-corruption action plan which requires them to address three pillars of anti-corruption activity: civil service reform, reduction of bribery, and the closer involvement of civil society.
Donor agencies, moreover, have been more insistent that programme funding is tied more specifically to anti-corruption policies and procedures. In the face of external and internal pressures for greater self-regulation, ruling national and state governments have frequently targeted political opponents in the name of anti-corruption drives, co-opted anti-corruption campaigners, and significantly compromised the effectiveness of anti-corruption institutions and proposed legislation.
The last decade has seen the rise of NGOs involved in a broad range of anti-corruption activity at the village, city, regional and national levels. These organisations are active on many fronts. Their main contribution is in promoting civil activism. Singh efforts to mobilise the peasantry; others like Lok Satta, based in Hyderabad, are well respected for their campaigns and promotion of institutional reform. These organisations are increasingly networking and provide useful role models for anti-corruption campaigners throughout the country.
The rise of civil activism has been accompanied by demands for greater transparency in public life often channelled into campaigns for freedom of information legislation. Since the early s these demands have been fuelled by the greater diversity in the media and the rise of investigative journalism which, as in the case of Tehelka. Some states have passed freedom of information legislation, and others are in the process of enacting it.
Within in some state institutions there is clear recognition that part of the problem is the funding of political parties. Recently companies have been allowed to fund political parties.
Singh Bangladesh was ranked as the most corrupt country in the world. External findings of surveys by the likes of TI are also confirmed by opinion polls and surveys within South Asian states. Corruption and Good Governance Agenda In the last decade external and internal pressures have compelled Indian politicians to address the good governance agenda.
September the 11 and the war in Afghanistan, for example, threw into sharp focus the complex relationship that exists in South Asia between corruption, terrorism, money laundering and political decay. The initiative commits each signatory to the development of an anti-corruption action plan which requires them to address three pillars of anti-corruption activity: civil service reform, reduction of bribery, and the closer involvement of civil society.
Donor agencies, moreover, have been more insistent that programme funding is tied more specifically to anti-corruption policies and procedures. In the face of external and internal pressures for greater self-regulation, ruling national and state governments have frequently targeted political opponents in the name of anti-corruption drives, co-opted anti-corruption campaigners, and significantly compromised the effectiveness of anti-corruption institutions and proposed legislation.
The last decade has seen the rise of NGOs involved in a broad range of anti-corruption activity at the village, city, regional and national levels. These organisations are active on many fronts. Their main contribution is in promoting civil activism. Singh efforts to mobilise the peasantry; others like Lok Satta, based in Hyderabad, are well respected for their campaigns and promotion of institutional reform. These organisations are increasingly networking and provide useful role models for anti-corruption campaigners throughout the country.
The rise of civil activism has been accompanied by demands for greater transparency in public life often channelled into campaigns for freedom of information legislation. Since the early s these demands have been fuelled by the greater diversity in the media and the rise of investigative journalism which, as in the case of Tehelka.
Some states have passed freedom of information legislation, and others are in the process of enacting it. Within in some state institutions there is clear recognition that part of the problem is the funding of political parties. Recently companies have been allowed to fund political parties. Furthermore, the election commission has taken a number of measures to decriminalise the political process by seeking the public declaration of a criminal record or pending cases of all candidates before elections.
It has also introduced a number of codes of practice to better regulate the activities of candidates and parties. E-governance initiates have begun to cut through the web of bureaucracy. Some states in India have begun to provide service delivery on-line. And government websites sometime provide practical information on how to confront make complaints about corrupt acts. Among the higher echelons of the Indian civil service there has been the emergence of new policy entrepreneurs who have now begun to champion the anti-corruption agenda.
During his tenure he turned the campaign into a personal crusade and achieved a great deal of public recognition. What can the EU contribute to reducing corruption in India? Vittal, Corruption in India Academic Foundation, Singh First, there is a need to support the broad coalition of civil society groups and organisations operating at the various levels to better realise their anti-corruption objectives.
There is immense diversity, complexity and rivalry among these groups and organisations, but if their activities are to have a wider impact there needs to be some kind of co-ordinating effort to better share best practice.
More opportunities need to be provided for networking, co-ordinating effort, and developing policies. Second, the EU needs to encourage and support the processes of political reform that are currently underway — in the fields of transparency and freedom of information, civil service and judicial reform, and to better regulate the funding of political parties. These reforms are obviously for the medium term and as such should be engaged in order to facilitate the process both in terms of capacity building as well as crafting new institutions for a globalised and dynamic economy.
Third, related to the last point, while it is important to promote civil action and transparency in the fight against corruption, it should not be forgotten that the state provides the main agency for change. Despite the ability of Indian politicians to manage the good governance agenda for their own benefit, we should be weary of the arguments that see civil society as uncorrupted and the state as corrupt. To tackle corruption effectively there is need for a strong consolidated state characterised by rule governed behaviour.
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