Kashmir is known for its values in the world. Truth, honesty, dedication, spiritualism, Sufism, selflessness, hospitality, beauty, sacrifice and contentment were the values for which Kashmir was called Land of Saints. There was no place for greed, selfishness in the society. Every one, irrespective of his position in the society, believed in truth, beauty, goodness. They always considered country and countrymen first and never liked to fish in the troubled waters. They always came forward for the protection and help of the weak and needy and never exploited their sufferings for their personal gains. But with the passage of time the long nurtured values became topsy-turvy, honesty and selflessness were replaced by greed and selfishness respectively. The never ending greed and selfishness of our politicians and bureaucrats brought the Valley on the crossroads from where these two ways parted from each other permanently. A new global corruption risk index has ranked India as 69th most graft-prone nation and according to global corruption perception index India ranks 94th. (India is the third most corrupt nation among the countries of BRICS). The Jammu and Kashmir state enjoying the special status is the most corrupt in the country. Jammu and Kashmir contributes approx.0.76 per cent to national GDP and is ranked second in the list of highest grant receiving states of the country. There are almost negligible industrial units which have mushroomed around KaliBari Kathua,Samba Jammu, R.S.Pura and Udhampur only, otherwise government jobs, transport and trade is the only means of living of the people of the Jammu and Kashmir. As regards industries in the State, there is only corruption industry which is flourishing by leaps and bounds under the patronage of our ministers, politicians, bureaucrats. The government employees, holding lucrative posts in the departments where there is abundance of money involvement or where the matters relating to public property are linked with, are minting money brazenly through bribe and sharing the booty with their superiors.
What does corruption mean?
Corruption is a form of dishonest or unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of authority, often to acquire personal benefit. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement. Government, or ‘political’, corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain.
The word ‘corrupt’ when used as an adjective literally means “utterly broken. The word was first used by Aristotle and later by Cicero who added the terms bribe and abandonment of good habits. Stephen D. Morris, Professor of politics, writes that [political] corruption is the illegitimate use of public power to benefit a private interest.
Indian Corruption Study, 2008:
Transparency International India is a non-profit organization that endeavors to work towards reduction in corruption by promoting and supporting transparent and ethical practices in government, raising awareness among people, planning policies to support Government for better delivery of public services, working towards reducing public corruption and combating political corruption.
India Corruption Study by Transparency International India –confirms a wide gap between perception and actual experience about corruption in public services irrespective of recent measures to improve service delivery and curb corruption. About one-third of BPL households, across the country paid bribes in the last one year to avail one or more of the eleven public services covered in the study. It shows the poor are not spared even in the case of targeted programmes. In the last couple of years, several initiatives have been taken to improve delivery of public services. Citizens Charters, RTI Act, Social Audit, e-Governance measures, including the massive computerisation, etc. are among some of them. The benefits of these measures have not substantially percolated to the poor as yet.
This study also reveals that nearly fifty per cent of the BPL households in Jammu & Kashmir felt that corruption in public services was real. Higher proportion of male BPL respondents felt that corruption actually existed in public services . Compared to rural areas of Jammu & Kashmir, the perception of corruption actually existing was higher, as was the case with graduates compared to other education categories.
Every year State Vigilance Commission (SVC) register hundreds of Corruption Cases against higher Officials. And these Cases was referred to Special Courts to proceed but the Judgement was never heard. According to the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) report, weak internal vigilance system is being attributed as the primary reason for the delay in disposal of corruption cases against officials.
Among the states, it is Jammu and Kashmir which is in the top list with unrestrained corruption. Growing corruption closes doors of development and weakens economy. Corruption also leads to poverty, unemployment, and delay in works.
The question arises why J&K is most corrupt state in India?
What seems plausible is that departments like revenue department, education department, R&B department, Police, Social welfare offices that dealing with social schemes have not shown accountability as there are no checks and inspections. If there is a CCTV for every ATM why cant there be CCTVs in government departments and offices? The chain of corruption needs to break. People should raise their voices against corruption which has paralysed the state. Easy communication channels should be thrown open to public so that they can report cases of corruption. Grievances and complaints by public on corruption should receive an answer within some weeks. Government should give exemplary punishments to a person indulged in corruption.
Corruption in our valley is now stirred from the grassroot level. If a retired employee apply for his genuine right i.e. pension. Inorder to complete the formalities he/she has to pay bribe to complete the list of formalities, otherwise he/she has to face the tour from office to office. This is the only problem in the work culture of our government. Even the student who successfully passed their examination he/ she has to pay bribe on the name of ‘chai’ to get their Marks sheet. This defines how the roots of corruption has been embedded into the Saint soil of the valley. Corruption is now becoming an obstacle for doing any sort of work in the valley. It is not only the government who is responsible for the growth of Corruption. People have been lured towards greed by and for the benefit of some cunning politicians. The minds and attitudes of youth have been made materialistic.
The ‘ I Don’t Care’ attitude of youth towards the politics is one of the causes, which is responsible for enlarging the circle of Corruption in the valley. And it is because of this attitude we have suffered a lot. It will continue to be as such until we do not change our opinion, idea and outlook towards it. As rightly said by Pericles (495-429 BC) in his book The Olympian : Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesnt mean politics wont take an interest in you.
Another reason for being dwarf regarding corruption is that we have become double faced. Wherever we find our individual benefit we run towards it, sabotaging the brotherhood we once had and it is all because of the materialistic policies. Instead of talking about futile topics like new I phone launch, new car model, new gadgets etc. we must talk and discuss about our own state affairs and problems. The time has come to unmask our ideas, our attitude towards it. We must strive to reform ourselves, because being in a state of dilemma is like being in comma, you can feel and see everything but you cannot do anything. Only a strong determination and rebellicious attitude against Corruption can bring us out of this disease. As rightly quoted by Sir APJ Abdul Kalam:
“If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly believe there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the Father, the Mother and the Teacher.
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