Clean the mess from bottom to the top to eradicate corruption from “our land” to give a brighter future to the younger generation, exhorted the State Vigilance Commissioner kicking off a Vigilance Awareness Week (VAW) campaign in Nagaland. Similar ‘gems’ and pledges were heard and made across, as the state join the nation, in the concurrent observance of VAW under ‘Eradicate Corruption: Build A New India,’ from October 29-November 3. The objective: To motivate stakeholders to collectively participate in the fight against corruption and also aims at raising public awareness regarding the detrimental consequences of corruption. Such concerns are not unfounded. A World Bank’s article on the consequences of corruption opined that it is a “destroyer of human prosperity,” citing nine reasons for the same. It diminishes the “legitimacy of the state and moral stature of the bureaucracy in the eyes of the population” due to the betrayal of trust was one of the ‘oh-so-familiar’ reasons cited. Corruption contributes to a misallocation of human resources and disturbs distributional implications, it highlighted. In other words, it makes rich richer and poor poorer. Besides undermining government revenue and distorting the decision-making connected with public investment projects, it noted that bribery and corruption lead to other forms of crime. Ominously, it noted that “there is really no limit to the extent to which corruption, once it is unleashed, can undermine the stability of the state and organized society.” Such traits are thoroughly verifiable in the Naga society. As argued earlier in this column, corruption is deeply embedded in the system that despite lofty rhetoric from those at the helms of the affairs or the general public, the fight against corruption remains futile. Dishonesty, in such a set-up, becomes contagious and continues unchecked with impunity. It is dangerously becoming, if not already, normalised and institutionalized. Glossy verbatim and rhetoric on corruption are regularly recycled on any opportune moments by every stakeholder without any substance and concrete action seldom follows. As all institutions from top to bottom espoused and seep-in the notion of ‘eradicating’ the menace of corruption from the just concluded VAW, it is imperative that it is not assigned to ‘recycle bin’ only to be brought back on a convenience basis. The Government should kick-start the process by conspicuously displaying its intention and will to cleanse the system and put the house in order. A quick punitive enquiry and action against perceived as well actual transgression would dissipate the acute sense of impunity that prevails presently. Countries that have successfully transferred from corrupt to less corrupt systems of rule seem to share the same characteristic —that is, high-level public officials—have served as role models, Persson et al noted in a 2012 study. The Church and other civil society should follow suit and most importantly made a stand to promote culture of honesty and probity in public and private life. Speaking on the observance of VAW on October 29, the Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio stated that the present People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) government in Nagaland would endeavour to bring out a “comprehensive zero tolerance policy towards corruption.” One hopes, the rhetoric is not recycled next year.
