The PMs speech

The prime minister has now acknowledged the growing feeling among the people that our laws,systems and procedures are not effective in dealing with corruption. On Civil Services Day,he squarely took on the question of popular discontent,saying people expect swift and exemplary action and rightly so. The PM announced the governments plans to strengthen the legislative framework,improve administrative practices and the systems ability to quickly respond to a breach and he exhorted public officials to play a more proactive role in this effort.

The question of corruption,for all its emotive appeal,is not easy to spot and solve in a system that is geared towards enlarging patronage. It can range from the ways laws are preferentially framed and interpreted and contracts secured,to petty bureaucratic speed money,to nepotism,to political funding and much that operates in the cracks between systems. Those who hold public office in India are,in practice,largely insulated from prosecution unless it suits another set of interests to push it. For example,Article 311 impedes action against civil servants ostensibly to shield them from capricious politicians. Moving a criminal investigation against an officer requires the ministers permission,which can be delayed for as long as it suits them,because the political class and the bureaucracy are tightly linked in the subversion of office.

Trying to reform one part of the system shows up the ways it is connected to other parts the bureaucracy to politics,politics to the judiciary,and so on. However,we havent progressed even on the small fixes that everyone agrees on. The CBI and state-level anti-corruption bureaus are easily manipulated by power. Far from fully enacting it,there was even a move to water down the Prevention of Corruption Act,which takes on corrupt public officials,in 2008 when the government tried to hurry through 17 bills with minimal discussion. In a low-corruption country,it would be easier to self-correct,to apprehend and punish deviations from the norm. Whistle-blowing would be a practical option. Tackling political corruption requires countervailing forces like the judiciary,the media and investigative agencies to be robust. The government would do well to respect prevailing sentiment,and install better alarms and stronger penalties.