Corruption an over-view

Corruption has been around for so long and has grown no wild and widespread that society has started to accept it as normal and those involved in it do not feel any sense of guilt.

According to a belief: "Corruption is like an inverted tree with roots, in the upper formations of society," Botanically, one strengthens the roots and trunks of tree by merely pruning the weak branches.

The effect of corruption and mismanagement is, perpetually increasing poverty, disparities amongst various regions and society, murder of justice and disrespect for the law. The poor law and order situation in the country is the outcome of persistent corruption.

The menace of corruption in Pakistan has extended into disciplines and segments of society which in the past, we considered to be sacred. Corruption has become so common that it has started to receive legitimacy, respect and recognition from those who were supposed to check and control it

There is a general tendency on the part of the politicians as well as the bureaucracy to overlook merit. This encourages corruption in society. Disrespect for merit, once started, is self propagating and it takes a greater degree of effort to restore u.

Unspecified and unlimited discretionary powers coupled with tendency of the bureaucracy to be indecisive, lethargic and inefficient and corrupt add to the frustration and distrust of people in the system. While the public would generally prefer honesty and accuracy, inefficiency in public business and endless delays of procedures without effective accountability, tend to make the public accept speedy disposal at the cost of honesty.

The corruption in Pakistan exists in numerous forms, is invisible as the stealing of public funds,
nepotism, favouritism, redtapeism, lethargy, exploitation of the poor, injustice, living beyond means, indifferent attitude towards the genuine towards the genuine towards the genuine problems of the masses and poor, misuse of power, etc. Every organisation and sub-system has its own modality (Tariqa-i-Wardat) of corruption. These modalities have almost becomes standard and are well known to even kids. This makes the attack on corruption possible though difficult. The power and unity of "corruption culture" can only be broken if leadership decides to do it with missionary spirit.

According to an estimate, about 10 to 25 per cent of the development programme budget of Pakistan is wasted, misused or misappropriated. One Finance Minister estimated that the size of corruption in Pakistan is Rs. 5 billion. Soon he corrected himself and declared that Rs. 20 billion was a more accurate figure. This amounts to about 3 per cent of the

GDP. A nation which howsoever US S36.6 billion (about Rs. 800 billion) as foreign debt and pays about 2.8 per cent of the GDP for debt-servicing can ill-afford such a huge leakage due to poor administration and resource management.

Corruption cannot be combated by a half-hearted approach. Understanding of the issues, committed leadership with an action plan and aggressive approach, are the essential prerequisites for eradication of ever-growing menace of corruption. Following are the excuses of offered by the corrupt when asked about their corruption. The arguments, when critically analysed, show that these are only partially true. Wages and salaries not compatible with the cost of living:
It is a primary duty of the employer to meet the cost of respectable living of the employees. It is, therefore, imperative to determine the cost of living by making appropriate family budgets. Indexation of salaries with inflation should be adjusted so that an employee does not indulge in corruption.

According to an estimate, the cost to economy of a "functional" Grade 21/22 officer in the government is between Rs. 50,000 to Rs 100,000 per- month against the "take home" salary of Rs. 9,000. Whereas, Grade 5 to 16 officials generally live within the salary ranges between Rs. 1,200 to 5,000 with or without housing and their real cost to economy is not a big multiplier of their actual ages. The undue privileges are not classified as corruption by the senior-ranking officials and are, therefore, not a part of the earlier
Rs 20 billion corruption estimate. Limits have, therefore, to be determined expenditures and leakages can be controlled.

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