Our Prime Minister Dr.

Manmohan Singh while addressing the cadre of all India

services has reiterated the importance of corrupt free administration and has a
lso rightly pointed out little tolerance to the corrupt practices prevalent int
he country. There are no two opinions on this subject and this sad state of affa
irs has to go sooner or later but Mr. Prime Minister, it is worth while to remem
ber that to become IAS, IFS or IPS is an arduous journey which only few fortunat
e and extra ordinary talented youths are able to overcome and it takes good amou
nt of work and experience to go to the highest level in their career.
On the other hand a man who is not even a graduate but has good political patron
age and backing can become a member of legislative assemble/Parliament provided
he can manage public support one way or the other. Undoubtedly it has become a l
ucrative profession far better than civil services.
You will please recall how the monthly emoluments of MPs were increased and the
bill was passed by voice vote of all parliamentarians without any voice of disse
nt. And now the development fund with each MP has been raised from rupee One cro
re to five crore to develop his constituency. An area MP/MLA has upper hand in d
ay to day matters tackled by administrative machinery. They many times prevail u
pon the honest local officers and force them to do the work in the manner they d
esire. In case of resistance the concerned adhikari faces the wrath. This state
of affairs also gives rise to corruption. The accountability of the officer is w
atched through his confidential report and disciplinary action but our MP is ove
rlord and no body questions him except sometimesa reference in parliament by mem
bers of other parties.
The corruption in our country was inherited from the British Raj and we went ste
ps further after independence and now it is deeply rootedin almost every sphere
of life.
Now Lok Pal Bill is being drafted and will be presented in coming monsoon sessio
n. Let us hope it is passed safely and is implemented honestly. It will be teste
d only if it is able to remove the corruption from top to bottom. It is a matter
of great concern that our leaders, politicians, administrators do not effective
ly address the issues unless there is strong protest- dharna, fast unto death, v
iolent protest, death, loss of life, public and private property which ultimatel
y hamper the progress of our country.