Essay, Paragraph, Speech on “Can The Corruption Be Eradicated From Our Society?” Complete Paragraph, Speech for Classes 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Can The Corruption Be Eradicated From Our Society?

“With materialistic values at the topmost priority, moral and ethical values at the lowest span of ladder, every fibre of society indulged in self-aggrandizement, where in not only the credibility of politicians and bureaucrats but also of the judiciary is at stake, it is very difficult and ridiculous to dream of a corruption free society.”

It is ironical that the country which has given birth to great spiritual leaders and intellectuals, figures among the top ten corrupt nations of the world. India, of today, is far from what our nationalist leaders had envisaged or what Guru Rabindranath Tagore had dreamt about when he wrote “…into that heaven of freedom, let my country awake…” It has been reduced to a state of decadence because of corruption, poverty, illiteracy, over-population and the callousness of both the politicians and the bureaucrats. Over the years, corruption has managed to spread its tentacles to the grass roots of the bureaucracy and rendered it defunct. It has been rightly said that nothing short of a “Second freedom struggle” would liberate the country from the clutches of corruption, criminalisation of politics and illiteracy.

The seeds of corruption and criminalisation of politics were solved in the mid-sixties when Indian politics underwent a radical change the ruling party, in an attempt to propagate its theory and pseudo-idealism among the masses used the state apparatuses, like the media, judiciary, educational system and the parliamentary force to strengthen the power base of its leader. The leader became powerful but, with the passage of time, became powerless and all the state machinery collapsed and became ineffective, defunct, and corrupt. The institutional collapse was then selectively reversed and the leaders frequently misused the parliamentary forces to handle crises. In the eighties, the law-enforcing agencies, like the police, were actively involved in maintaining the law and order situation in the troubled areas. In the nineties, the judiciary took over the charge of the reformation of the various institutions. The institutional collapse led to the ideological collapse of the bureaucrats and the politicians. In the thirst for acquiring power, the political parties have sacrificed their ideologies and have hampered the democratic functioning of the various institutions of the state. In the politician-criminal-nexus, the bureaucracy has also become corrupt. It is often accused of promoting red-tapism, nepotism, lethargy, indiscipline and self-aggrandizement. India has inherited its bureaucratic set-up from the British. It has, in years, become obsolete and requires a drastic change to develop a smooth and fast pace of functioning. The common man confronts corruption in all public institutions, whether he approaches for a gas connection or a phone or electricity connection. For getting ration cards, school admissions, entrance to medical or engineering colleges, he has to cough up a huge amount to bribe the officials. It takes years for a certain file to move from the table of a lower-level official to his superior. The process is speedy if the officer at each level is given something for his chai-panni. Liberalization of the Indian economy has not brought the desired results because multinational companies often complain of having to go through a series of formalities, which are lengthy and time-consuming. Lord Acton’s saying “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” defines Indian bureaucracy and political system.

Another cause attributed to the rampancy of corruption percolating into every level of the system is the growing consumerism. Materialism and the need to acquire affluence at all costs has resulted in the people sacrificing moral values of honesty, sincerity, integrity, brotherhood and compatibility. The Principle of ‘Simple living and high thinking’ has given way to blatant materialism. The sudden inflation and failure to increase the salaries of the employees in proportion thereto is another reason corruption. There is a need to bring about radical change in the functioning of government. Bureaucratic delays have given rise to corruption the lengthy and time-consuming. Formalities should give way to simpler procedure which could be looked upon by everybody. Red tapism has hampered development of the country in a big way.

Elections’ expense must not be allowed to cross the limits. The loopholes like making expenses by other persons that are not included in party expenses must be plugged. The political parties have to be sincere and honest to fight the cancer of corruption. The chief hurdles are the unwillingness and lack of determination and will of politicians to eradicate the corruption. All the policies, rules and regulations are framed by the leaders, they do not wish to chain themselves by making laws so stringent and fool proof so that they themselves are entangled. So the eradication of corruption does not seem to be possible. The people and the society can play very important role in fighting the gigantic wild animal of corruption. The general awakening can make the politicians and bureaucrats to use their discretion fairly. The common men must cast their discretion fairly. The common men must cast their votes not on the basis of caste or creed or party, but on the basis of value and character of the candidates . In a democracy the actual power lies with the voters but once a leader is elected by them, the people are made puppets to play on their hands. There is a need to make a law to call back corrupt leader if decided by the voters even before 5 years’ term. The politicians utilize their caste affliations and religion, to woo the innocent voters in their favour. The common man must use the vote wisely in favour of the honest and dedicated candidate. To eradicate the corruption from the society all have to fight it, it is the most powerful and most dangerous monstrous evil which rises to manifold itself with the passage of time.