Corruption remains part and parcel of daily life in India. It's particularly widespread at local-level citizen services, which are ridden with bribery and kickbacks. The basic cause for corruption is that our government is not designed for accountability and delivering services to its citizens. The culture of corruption, weak anti-corruption institutions and delay in justice delivery creates the platform for corruption. The corruption is cancerous and a serious obstacle to the growth of the nation. If there is a deficiency on the part of opposition members and fear of counter-attack, they cannot effectively expose the misdeeds of ruling party members. Public servants are being corrupted by private institutions and corporates to get their work done. The anti-graft agencies should adopt a policy of “zero tolerance” towards corruption in various fields of governance. Strengthen the anti-corruption institutions by making provision for skill-upgradation, technology-upgradation and staffing them commensurate to their workload expectations, increasing the autonomy of these institutions, making them independent of the whims and fancies of the incumbent executive machinery.
