Corruption out paces India's growth

India's economy grows at 8% and corruption at 11.5%. One wonders, what could happen if India never had corruption? For one we will be the 8th largest economy in the world (we are currently 11th) not taking into consideration what could have been if the money was efficiently invested. Our public debt currently 58% of GDP will be reduced to 23%. Our defense spends over the last 15 years could have been written off. We will have more than one third of the infrastructure budget to sustain our growth for the next 10 years. My hypotheses are based on a recent GFIP report estimating a total of $464 billion was lost to corruption, which itself could be a gross under estimate.

India clocks an 8% GDP average growth, imagine us minus corruption, then, China will have something to worry. Imagine India without potholes, fly overs that don't collapse, no power cuts, regulated traffic, high speed trains, functional airports, clean public toilets, it is a never ending list of public services that I dream of and have little hope of seeing come through in my lifetime.

The solution could be extremely complex, we could talk about strengthening the judiciary,widening the tax base, e-governance and stricter financial reporting for government projects, strengthening the law enforcement authorities, imposing a life sentence for corrupt officials and there could be a slew of measures that the common man cannot think of. Or, we could take matters into our own hands and just cut out the supply. All it takes is a mindset change, instead of looking for a quick fix, we have to think about the legacy we leave behind. Nothing a smidgen of national pride cannot solve.

Stop paying and start reporting corruption. This could be made possible via organizations like Janaagraha a bangalore based non-profit organization that started www.ipaidabribe.com. The site both reports instances where citizens had to pay a bribe and offers guides on how not to pay up. The site has 142,702 hits, we just have to widen the reach of such services 7,000 times. I sometimes wonder why not extend a parallel government supported by a bunch of pro-bono legal experts, maybe dial 000 for justice. A multi-lingual IVR based service to demystify public services and to report corruption cases. The idea may sound outlandish but I think its time we stop being couch critics and stem the rot. Would love to hear what you think.

Posted in: India,Politics