From today's Statesman editorial.
Canker at the core
How Corruption Permeates The Critical Sectors
By YP Gupta
Corruption has been spreading at all levels of society. It has permeated academic institutions, public personalities, high-ranking officials, doctors, scientists, engineers, and academics. Transparency International’s global corruption report (2007) has revealed that bribes amounting to Rs 2,630 crore are being paid every year to officials of the lower Indian judiciary. Its earlier report had described India as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, with a dubious distinction of ranking among the top 55 nations in terms of corruption.
The unethical practices and the decline in moral values have corrupted a greed-based society. A number of IAS, IPS, MCD, DDA and bank officials have been arrested on charges of corruption. Also, illegal gratification by some judges has had a damaging effect on the judiciary.
The Central Information Commission recently came across a case of forgery, impersonation and falsification of documents against the holder of a fake MBBS degree from Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati. He had managed to obtain the MD degree in paediatrics from AIIMS by submitting false documents. He also duped the University of Maryland Medicine Centre (USA) and the American Board of Paediatrics. This alleged doctor was exposed when he was experimenting with viagra on children, resulting in some deaths.
Medical admission
A medical admission racket through a coaching centre has been recently unearthed in Kolkata. Earlier, a verdict by a Delhi court convicted an individual of selling fake “medical degrees”. It was detected that around 40,000 such fake degrees were issued by him across the country. The Indian Medical Association had described such doctors as quacks. A principal of a public school was arrested for selling fake CBSE marksheets to failed students in connivance with board officials.
There is a fool-proof racket in the leakage of questions. It operates like a professionally-run business with a nationwide criminal network. The leakage of an MCA question paper of IGNOU, that of the AIIMS entrance examination paper and that of the pre-medical paper of the central board form only the tip of the iceberg. The leakage of question papers for the Common Admission Test (CAT) for the premier management institutes has undermined the credibility of our centres of excellence.
A chairman of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission along with former UPSC members and the controller of examinations were arrested and chargesheeted for taking bribes and replacing the answer papers of unsuccessful examinees. A chairman of the Orissa Public Service Commission was once suspended for irregularities. And the Bihar State University Service Commission’s office was sealed because of irregularities in the selection of lecturers. Also, a former president of the Medical Council of India was held guilty of corruption by Delhi High Court.
A former vice-chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University was arrested for corruption. A former vice-chancellor of Utkal University was indicted for financial irregularities. The former Kerala chief secretary and ex-vice-chancellor of Sree Sankara University of Sanskrit was sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment on corruption charges. A senior computer programmer of Delhi University along with her husband and the candidate’s father were held guilty of criminal conspiracy and forgery by a Delhi court for increasing the candidate’s marks in the MBBS entrance test.
A former vice-chancellor and registrar of Visva-Bharati University were arrested in a fake marksheet case. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had sought a probe into the omissions and commissions in respect of financial irregularities by the ayurvedic colleges in Bihar. The CBI had chargesheeted a former Meerut University vice-chancellor, his daughter and two officials for forging certificates to get her a job.
Bihar universities have the dubious distinction of issuing fake degrees. BR Ambedkar Bihar University (Muzaffarpur) is notorious. Many of its degrees, including medical, have been found to be fake. The two vice-chancellors of BN Mandal and LNM Mithila Universities (Bihar) were arrested in the fake BEd degree racket. The BN Mandal University is reported to have been selling post-graduate degrees in science for Rs 50,000 each even to those who were not admitted to any of the colleges. The vigilance department has estimated that more than 10,000 persons from Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh obtained such post-graduate degrees.
Professional ethics are brazenly violated in certain institutions of learning. There are serious allegations of corruption and financial bungling against the vice-chancellors of UP universities, and that of Rajasthan and Pondicherry universities. Marks or admissions are often manipulated. The credibility of Delhi University’s examination system has been under a cloud because three senior professors were removed from service for grave misconduct. One of them was indicted for manipulating the admission of his son to the MBA course.
An inquiry into admissions to the post-graduate medical courses in the seven state-run medical colleges of UP exposed a huge racket. Indeed, the examination system has become defective and is open to manipulation.
At least 30,000 quacks are thriving in Delhi. They claim to be practitioners of alternative medicine, and have been prescribing spurious drugs as indigenous medicines. The Delhi government is contemplating suitable action and an anti-quackery bill is on the anvil. The Medical Council of India has revoked the licences of 12 fake doctors with forged certificates. The Karnataka government has initiated action to prosecute quacks who claim miraculous cures for chronic illnesses.
Armed forces
The armed forces have also lost credibility owing to widespread corruption in their ranks. Twelve senior defence officers have been chargesheeted for corruption, going by a reply to a query in the Rajya Sabha. There has been an erosion of values and conduct within the defence services.
It is unfortunate that there is hardly any deterrent effect on corrupt officials as the process of conviction is slow, and has not made an impact. Consequently, corruption has been flourishing with more and more instances coming to light. It is difficult to visualise a corruption-free society because those who profess probity in public life and proclaim to curb corruption are not serious in introducing reforms.
Drastic changes and reforms are imperative to weed out unethical professional and corrupt practices from our academic and public institutions. The process of conviction needs to be speeded up. Apart from recommending legislation to protect whistle-blowers, the Administrative Reforms Commission has suggested a new piece of legislation ~ Corrupt Public Servants (forfeiture of a property) Bill, to curb corruption. The recent landmark ruling by the Supreme Court that public servants can be prosecuted without mandatory government sanction should have a deterrent effect on corrupt officials and politicians. There is need for transparency and accountability in our academic and public institutions, including the judiciary.
(The writer is ex-Principal Scientist, IARI, New Delhi)
Canker at the core
How Corruption Permeates The Critical Sectors
By YP Gupta
Corruption has been spreading at all levels of society. It has permeated academic institutions, public personalities, high-ranking officials, doctors, scientists, engineers, and academics. Transparency International’s global corruption report (2007) has revealed that bribes amounting to Rs 2,630 crore are being paid every year to officials of the lower Indian judiciary. Its earlier report had described India as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, with a dubious distinction of ranking among the top 55 nations in terms of corruption.
The unethical practices and the decline in moral values have corrupted a greed-based society. A number of IAS, IPS, MCD, DDA and bank officials have been arrested on charges of corruption. Also, illegal gratification by some judges has had a damaging effect on the judiciary.
The Central Information Commission recently came across a case of forgery, impersonation and falsification of documents against the holder of a fake MBBS degree from Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati. He had managed to obtain the MD degree in paediatrics from AIIMS by submitting false documents. He also duped the University of Maryland Medicine Centre (USA) and the American Board of Paediatrics. This alleged doctor was exposed when he was experimenting with viagra on children, resulting in some deaths.
Medical admission
A medical admission racket through a coaching centre has been recently unearthed in Kolkata. Earlier, a verdict by a Delhi court convicted an individual of selling fake “medical degrees”. It was detected that around 40,000 such fake degrees were issued by him across the country. The Indian Medical Association had described such doctors as quacks. A principal of a public school was arrested for selling fake CBSE marksheets to failed students in connivance with board officials.
There is a fool-proof racket in the leakage of questions. It operates like a professionally-run business with a nationwide criminal network. The leakage of an MCA question paper of IGNOU, that of the AIIMS entrance examination paper and that of the pre-medical paper of the central board form only the tip of the iceberg. The leakage of question papers for the Common Admission Test (CAT) for the premier management institutes has undermined the credibility of our centres of excellence.
A chairman of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission along with former UPSC members and the controller of examinations were arrested and chargesheeted for taking bribes and replacing the answer papers of unsuccessful examinees. A chairman of the Orissa Public Service Commission was once suspended for irregularities. And the Bihar State University Service Commission’s office was sealed because of irregularities in the selection of lecturers. Also, a former president of the Medical Council of India was held guilty of corruption by Delhi High Court.
A former vice-chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University was arrested for corruption. A former vice-chancellor of Utkal University was indicted for financial irregularities. The former Kerala chief secretary and ex-vice-chancellor of Sree Sankara University of Sanskrit was sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment on corruption charges. A senior computer programmer of Delhi University along with her husband and the candidate’s father were held guilty of criminal conspiracy and forgery by a Delhi court for increasing the candidate’s marks in the MBBS entrance test.
A former vice-chancellor and registrar of Visva-Bharati University were arrested in a fake marksheet case. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had sought a probe into the omissions and commissions in respect of financial irregularities by the ayurvedic colleges in Bihar. The CBI had chargesheeted a former Meerut University vice-chancellor, his daughter and two officials for forging certificates to get her a job.
Bihar universities have the dubious distinction of issuing fake degrees. BR Ambedkar Bihar University (Muzaffarpur) is notorious. Many of its degrees, including medical, have been found to be fake. The two vice-chancellors of BN Mandal and LNM Mithila Universities (Bihar) were arrested in the fake BEd degree racket. The BN Mandal University is reported to have been selling post-graduate degrees in science for Rs 50,000 each even to those who were not admitted to any of the colleges. The vigilance department has estimated that more than 10,000 persons from Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh obtained such post-graduate degrees.
Professional ethics are brazenly violated in certain institutions of learning. There are serious allegations of corruption and financial bungling against the vice-chancellors of UP universities, and that of Rajasthan and Pondicherry universities. Marks or admissions are often manipulated. The credibility of Delhi University’s examination system has been under a cloud because three senior professors were removed from service for grave misconduct. One of them was indicted for manipulating the admission of his son to the MBA course.
An inquiry into admissions to the post-graduate medical courses in the seven state-run medical colleges of UP exposed a huge racket. Indeed, the examination system has become defective and is open to manipulation.
At least 30,000 quacks are thriving in Delhi. They claim to be practitioners of alternative medicine, and have been prescribing spurious drugs as indigenous medicines. The Delhi government is contemplating suitable action and an anti-quackery bill is on the anvil. The Medical Council of India has revoked the licences of 12 fake doctors with forged certificates. The Karnataka government has initiated action to prosecute quacks who claim miraculous cures for chronic illnesses.
Armed forces
The armed forces have also lost credibility owing to widespread corruption in their ranks. Twelve senior defence officers have been chargesheeted for corruption, going by a reply to a query in the Rajya Sabha. There has been an erosion of values and conduct within the defence services.
It is unfortunate that there is hardly any deterrent effect on corrupt officials as the process of conviction is slow, and has not made an impact. Consequently, corruption has been flourishing with more and more instances coming to light. It is difficult to visualise a corruption-free society because those who profess probity in public life and proclaim to curb corruption are not serious in introducing reforms.
Drastic changes and reforms are imperative to weed out unethical professional and corrupt practices from our academic and public institutions. The process of conviction needs to be speeded up. Apart from recommending legislation to protect whistle-blowers, the Administrative Reforms Commission has suggested a new piece of legislation ~ Corrupt Public Servants (forfeiture of a property) Bill, to curb corruption. The recent landmark ruling by the Supreme Court that public servants can be prosecuted without mandatory government sanction should have a deterrent effect on corrupt officials and politicians. There is need for transparency and accountability in our academic and public institutions, including the judiciary.
(The writer is ex-Principal Scientist, IARI, New Delhi)
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