Checks on corruption.

WHO would have thought thatthe mother of parliments, the British House of Commons would be shamed before the world exposure of rampant corruption of some of its leading figures including minsters over a period of time?

It was not any institutional check but reportage by a leading daily which brought the misdeeds to light.If the rot had not existed in the system for some time it could not have acquired the proportions it did.

Likewise, in our region corruption has acquired menancing proportion it is because it grew freely over the years. Consider just one instance .On Aug 16, 1924, the private scretary to the viceroy,G.F de Montmorency, forwarded to the home secretary James Crerar a complaint of "corruption connected with the legislative counsil" of Bengal which the viceroy had received from the governor with a request to inform him about the lagal position.

The machineryof government and the powers it wields have expanded. There has been amushroom growth of corruptionin public sector and the state has bacome a provider largesse.Corruption exists in the developed world also but it manances the deveoplin world acutely.The press lacks resources required for exposure; traditions are weak and temptations strong.

The world's best known anti-corruption NGO, Transparency International , has done works even if one questions the rating it provides. It points out that corruptionhas dire global consequences, trapping millions in poverty and misery and breeding social, economic and political unrest. It is botha cause of poverty and a barrier to overcoming it and is one of the most serious obstaclesto reducing poverty. It denies the poor the basic means of survival, forcing them to spend more of their income on bribes.

Human rights are denied where corruption is rife. Democracy and the ruleof law are undermined. National and international trade is disorted;sound governance and ethics in the private sectors are affected.Corruption compounds political exclusion:if votes can be bought, there is little incentive to change the system that sustains poverty.

How do we combat the manance? First by devising instituitional checks and next by ensuring greater transparency in government. To begin with the standard of ministerial responsibility must be raised.Ministers are trustees of public money and poverty and should be made accountable as trustees. Two more safeguards are eseential. One is a right to information law. The other is a partnership between a vigilant press and an assertive public opinion.