SCAMS IN INDIA SINCE 1947

NATIONAL SEMINAR INDIAN COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH NORTH WESTERN REGIONAL CENTRE

BALVIR KAUR GILL

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR(POL. SCI.) GOVT. RAJINDRA COLLEGE BATHINDA, PUNJAB

3/15/2014
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Corruption is a universal phenomenon. Corruption in India is a phenomenon that one has to face practically at every level and in every walk of life . Corruption became a part of our administrative and political culture.

Meaning of Scam:- Scam means a fraudulent scheme performed by a

dishonest individual, group or company in an attempt to obtain money or something else of value. Scams traditionally resided in confidence tricks, where an individual would misrepresent themselves as someone with skill or authority. It is a global phenomenon and is omnipresent.

Indian Scenario:- India is considered as the largest democracy in the

world. Although India freed from Britishers but still it is not free from scams and scandals. India is also known as a corrupted Land. Corruption in India is from ancient time. In Kautilya's Arthasastra noted about corrupt officials. The End of Gupta Dyansty and Mughal Dynasty was due to corruption. It reached at the peak after the establishment of East India Company. After this in British rule, Britishers urged Indians to be corrupt to fix their roots in India. After Independence Indians did not change their conciousness. In recent centuries India has earned a place among the three most corrupt countries in the world. Our sixty six years of existence as an Independent nation and sixty three years of working of the constitution has resulted in increasing scams day by day. It has been aptly said, power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Scams in India is a consequence of the nexus between Bureaucracy, politics and criminals. Absolute Power generally is a combination of political power and economic resources, one strengthens the other. A few politicians and big business houses join hands and rob the hard earned money of citizens to generate enormous amount of wealth. To generate this wealth such scams take place which the citizens cannot even think of. The Scams in India have increased to such an extent that any person joining political parties has an intention of making easy and fast money within the shortest period of time. If all the amount of scams since 1947 that have been disclosed, is pooled up, then India will become most richest country and a super-power overnight and can permanently kill all social problems mainly poverty and unemployment. Today the number of ministers with an honest image can be counted on fingers. It is well established that politicians have extremely corrupted the world
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power. In fact, people are surprised to find an honest politician. These corrupt politicians in India go scot-free, unharmed and unpunished. Leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri or Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel are a rare breed now who had very little bank balance at the time of death. In post liberalization era, despite having reforms to curtail and control bureaucratic discretion, license raj, open the economy to the rest of the world, improve the transparency and accountability, scams have sealed up even further. Recent scams like 2G scam, Common wealth games scam, Telgi scam, the fodder scams are examples for this recent scam evils. Scam are major serious problem in India .Scams are anti-national, antieconomic development and also anti poor. This is the season of scams and the biggest ever corruption cases in India have been unearthed more recently. In our daily life, most of us must have been a witness to or a victim of the corruption thriving in some or the other part of the country. An average Indian citizen is hard working and diligent, but it is the people with whom the power lies, that act as a cancer spreading the venom, slowing down progress . But somewhere down the line, we ourselves are responsible for allowing and being taken for a ride by these people. So we should dig deep to see which scams were the biggest and most damaging to the country and its citizens alike. The list of scams in india is endless. India has witnessed a number of Political scams in recent times, but a closer look at the history of India reveals that scams and political scandals have been part and parcel of Indian political discourse since independence. Here is a list of some worst political scams since Independence. These may not be the only ones. These are some worst scams from them that were caught and brought to the notice of the public. 1. Jeep Scam:- (1948) It was first major corruption case in independent India. Scale of corruption:- Rs 80 lakh Person involved:- V.K Kirshana Menon -High commissioner to Britain Brief Description:- V.K Menon ignored protocols and signed to Rs.80 lakh contract for the purchase of army jeep with a foreign firm. 2. Nagarwala scandal:- (1971) Wroth Rs 60 Lakh Personality Involved:- Smt. Indra Gandhi 3. Maruti Scam:- (1974)
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Personality :- Smt. Indra Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi 4. Bofors Scam:- (1986) It was only of Rs. 64 crores but the nature of scam which is related to Indian security and defence and involvement of high profile political leaders like Rajiv Gandhi and other congress men make this as hallmark scam of India . Scale corruption:- Rs. 64 crore. People Involved :- Rajiv Gandhi, Quattrocchi, Win Chadha, S.K Bhatnagar. 5. The Hawala Scandal :- (1991) It was a shameful scam of India which involved top politicians receiving more than Rs. 1000 crores in Hawala. Worth of Scam: - Rs. 1000 crore Persons Involved:- L.K Advani, Sharad Yadav, Balram Jakhar, Madan Lal Khuranna, V.C. Shukla, P.Shiv Shankar. 6. Harhad Mehta Share Market Scam:- (1992) He discovered a trend to buy stock before his scam of Rs. 4000 crore from inter bank transaction to buy shares at premium across many sectors. Loss of Nation:- 4000 crore Persons Involved :- Harshad Mehta and Many other bank and other businessmen 7. The fodder scam:- (1996) Famous Chara ghotala which cost Lalu Prashad Yadav his chief Minister Position Loss to state of Bihar:- Rs. 950 crore. Persons involved :- Lalu Yadav( then Chief Minister of Bihar) & Cabinet Minister Jagannath Mishra. 8. Telgi Scam:- (2002) Abdul Karim Telgi Sold forged stamp papers created by him to banks and govt. institutions. Loss to country:- Rs. 20000 crore. Persons involve:- Abdul Telgi and many Govt. Officers. 9. Satyam Scam:-(2009) B. Ramalinga Raju misappropriated books and inflated figures which led to a scam that suffered a loss of Rs. 8000 crore. Loss to company alleged:- Rs.8000 crore Company alleged:- Satyam computers chief Ramalinga Raju.
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10. Bellary mining Scam:- (2010) Reddy brothers allegedly paid bribe to bag mining contracts from Yedurappa. They were also alleged to encroached forest land and mined larger area than allowed. Loss to Karanataka Govt.:- more than Rs.16000 crore. Politicians & Company alleged:- Then chief minister Yedurappa and Reddy brothers, owner of Obulapuram mining company. 11. Commonwealth Games scam:-(2010) It was one of the most shameful and disgusting scam for India. According to reports, out of Rs.70000 crore allocated for Common Wealth Games, only half were spent & rest were shown on papers only. Loss of country:- Rs. 35000 crore. Persons involved:- Suresh Kalmadi (as main accused) & many relatives of politicians. 12. 2G Spectrum:- (2010) 2G spectrum license were distributed to various companies on a very low rate. Loss of country:- Rs. 176,000 crore Persons involved:- A Raja, M.Kanimozhi, Siddharth Bahura, Sanjay Chandra etc. 13. Coal allocation scam:- (2012) Inappropriate way of allocation of coal mines to private companies were found by CAG. Loss of Nation :- Rs. 186,000 crore. Persons Involved:- Manmohan Singh, S. Jagathrakshakan, Subodh Kant sahai, Ajay sanchoti, Nitin Gadkari, Navin Jindal etc. These are the only few scams. The amount of scams that were caught & brought to the notice of the people is about Rs. 910603234300000/-. The study reveals that scams are increasing since 1947. There are approximately 12 major scams in the period from 1947-1975, 24 major scams were in the period from 1976-2000 and 19 major most shameful scams in the 21st century. So we can clearly see that scams are increasing day by day. It seems that they are directly proportional to our population.

Causes of scams in India:- The biggest cause of scam in todays India

is the politician. Because there is no corruption in the bureaucracy or business unconnected with politician. Now a days higher level scams are threating the derail of countrys economic position. India is at 94th position in the list of 178 countries. (It was at 95th in 2011 and 87th in 2010) in Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) . Transparency International has estimated the annual worth of great Indian corruption market is US$ 5 billion and 75% of them are corruptions made by politicians. That is the reason why we live in a rich country but still we are poor. The list of political scams after the independence is huge in number. From 1947-1980, the major political scams are 1971 Nagarwala scandal, Bitumen scam, Churhat lottery scam, Tansi land deal and Urea scam. Between 1980 and 2000, there were some major corruptions done by politicians and the impact of these scams were so powerful that several governments collapsed due to it. Some of them are Bofors Scandal, Telecom scam, JMM Bribery Scandal, Fodder scam, St Kitts case and Hawala Scandal. Rajiv Gandhis Mr. Clean image got tarnished in the Bofors scam and he lost 1989 elections. Though, P.V Narasimha Rao is considered as the Father of Liberalized Indian economy, he had to loose 1996 elections due to scams only. In 1996, Lalu Parsad Yadav was forced to leave the chief minister post of Bihar after the insurgence of Fodder scam. The major political scams of this decade are Taj corridor case, Oil-for-food program scam, and Cash-for- votes scandal, money laundering above Rs. 4000 crores by Madhu Koda, Ex-chief Minister of Jharkhand and 3G scam.

Reasons behind increasing political scams in India:1. In India, the election is not state funded. Now-a-days cost of winning elections are beyond imagination. This is one of the major reasons behind political corruptions . 2. Inactive use of right to information act by Indian Citizens is encouraging politicians to do corruption in a fearless manner. 3. Pressure of coalition government is preventing the prime Minister or chief Minister to take any stern action against a corrupted politician or minister. 4. All the anti-corruption wings are under direct control of Government. Hence, ministers and politicians get an easy way to escape from the
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charges by pressurizing the investigation agency. 5. Whistle blowing activities and private sector initiatives against corruption are at their infancy stage in India. 6. Social environment . 7. Lack of inner party democracy in Indian political parties. 8. Lack of electoral reforms. 9. Inefficient Judicial system. 10. Lack of transparent law. 11. Absence of strong public opinion and civil society against scams. 12. The main reason behind increasing scams is also that rich people and politicians were into punished in last years. 13. The Act (prevention of corruption act 1988) has weak actions & proceedings towards corrupt people.

REMEDIES TO COMBAT SCAMS IN INDIA

Corruption has strong roots . Corruption has to be uprooted and the tumours which it has formed like the cancer tumours had to be removed .Even a single cell has the power to recreate it. There are suggestions to combat scams in India:1. Electoral Reforms :- The biggest cause for corruption in todays India is mainly because of politicians and political parties. It is an urgent need to evolve a new strategy, and code of conduct to regulate the political party activities. Strong amendments should be made to people representation Act. 2. State Funding of election :- State funding of election expenses may encourage honourable and well-meaning individuals can enter into politics. 3. Declaration of Assets.:- Law should be passed to make it obligatory for all ministers, MPs, MLAs, and all levels of public servants to declare their assets owned by them, their spouses and children every year. These should be made available to everyone who wants to pay for it. Any falsification should be declared as a punishable offence. 4. Investigating agency should have teeth and Autonomy:- The most important thing is to have an autonomous and effective agency to investigate into corruption cases. The present form of Central Bureau of Investigation, Central and State Vigilance commission are not having proper autonomy to
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function effectively. 5. Separate courts for corruption cases:- Separate courts should be established to deal with corruption cases in India. 6. Strong Civil Society:- We need strong civil society that takes initiatives instead of depending helplessly on politicians and officials to fight against corruption. 7. Creation of strong public opinion against corruption:- Public opinion must be created against corrupt polticians and officers unless people take up cudgels against corruption, no amount of anti-corruption measures can succeed. 8. Establishment of strong, Efficient Lokpal at Centre and Lokayukta in States:- Establishment of strong Lokpal at centre and Lokyukta in states were need of the hour, because at present we are not having Independent, empowered, accountable institution to investigate the complaints of corruption cases and prosecute the guilty. 9. Every student involvement also help to decrease the scams throughout the world. 10. Give a overall idea about rules and regulations in every field. 11. Job allocation recommendation should be stopped. 12. Interaction of people with CBI is also helpful to decrease scams. 13. The Govt. Staff should work as per their conscience. The have to understand the purpose of their jobs. 14. The punishment should be strictly followed by government through transparency.. There should be no excuse to anybody those who are involved in the scams. 15. The laws should be tightened and process should be fast. Even a politician should be afraid of the law.

ROLE OF MEDIA
In a democratic country like India, the ultimate power lies with the people. But a democratic society needs vigilant and informed people who are able to see through the gimmicks of political parties and politicians. Media creates such valuable citizens. Besides, media has done much good to society by exposing various scams, scandals, frauds, embezzlements and may other cases of corruption leading to initiation of enquires and other process of prosecution against the perpetrators of these crimes. History is witness that press has been instrumental in putting an end to atrocities and bringing the downfall of ruthless dictators. In India, vernacular press did the job of uniting people against the oppressive British rule and triggered its end in the country.

Impact of corruption and scams

LOSS OF CREDIBILITY:- A study of Bribery and corruption in India conducted
in 2013 by one of the largest global professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY), a majority of the survey respondents from PE firms said that a company operating in a sector which is perceived as highly corrupt, may lose ground when it comes to fair valuation of its business, as investors bargain hard and factor in the cost of corruption at the time transaction. According to a report by KPMG, high-level corruption and scams are now threatening to derail the countrys credibility and economic boom.

Economic Loss:- Corruption my lead to further bureaucratic delay and

inefficiency as corrupted bureaucrats may introduce red tape in order to extort more bribes. Such inadequancies in institutional efficiency could effect growth indirectly by lowering the private marginal product of capital and investment rate. Livine and Renelt showed that investment rate is a robust determinant of economic growth. According to the neoclassical growth model, institutional variables contribute to determining steady state per capita income level and speed of convergence to its steady state, hence affecting its growth rate. Bureaucratic inefficiency also affects growth directly, such as through misallocation of investments in the economy.Additionally corruption results in lower economic growth for a given level of income.
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Lower corruption, higher growth rates:- If corruption levels in India were

reduced to levels in developed economies such as Singapore or the United Kingdom, Indias GDP growth rate could increase at a higher rate annually. C.K Prahalad estimates the lost opportunity caused by corruption, in terms of investment, growth and jobs for India is over US$50 billion a year.

Conclusion :- Highly corrupt India is poorly governed and this

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be the main reason for rampant and widespread scams in India .The list of scams are huge in number. These are increasing day by day involving politicians in it since 1947. The illicit use of power by politician has turned the entire political system into a venal one. The system can no longer be trusted by the citizens. If these criminal and corrupt politicians command us and make laws, what type of law would be formed. How can we expect welfare of public or nation from them. In India there is a provision that no criminal person shall be allowed a member of parliament or member of legislative assembly .Unfortunately a very large number of them are a part of it. On 10th march 2014 Supreme court passed the order while hearing a PIL on minimizing the role of money and muscle power in elections. The Supreme Court directed courts to complete the trial of MPs and MLAs involved in corruption cases within one year . So that MPs ,MLAs will be disqualified upon framing of charges against them by competent courts . Scams are contemporary challenge that is posed to every citizen of India how to conquer the menance of corruption in India. Let us take a view to create an atmosphere free from scams and corruption in India and that may be our highest achievement.

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REFERENCES
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11. Halayya,M.(1985) "CORRUPTION IN INDIA". Affiliated East-West press 12. Gupta, K.N.(2001) "CORRUPTION IN INDIA" Anmol publications Pvt Ltd

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