Corruption corrodes the prospects for India's development

New Delhi, 2 March 2009. - With its powerful bureaucracy, untouchable political class and the ubiquitous middlemen, India faces poorly armed to massive corruption, which remains to GDP, according to estimates by economists, annual growth 1.5 percentage points .
Although there is no complete picture of corruption in India, there is evidence to suggest widespread fraud in some of the public financing schemes: at least 70 percent of rural funding does not reach its destination, according to experts quoted in "Hour of the economic reforms" Gilbert Etienne.
"We have identified three types of corruption: the corporate sector, and political corruption that affects the common man, from day to day," he said in an interview with Efe vice president of Transparency International India (TII), SK Agarwal .
Her organization launched in 2008 a report on the perception the poorest families on corruption, with devastating results for institutions like the police, political parties or agencies responsible for food distribution.
More than 40 of respondents from families living below the poverty line, said he paid bribes or used their contacts in relations with the police and housing and property services.
The total illegal amounts contributed by the poor to obtain basic services such as IIT, amounted last year to $ 180 million, a significant amount if you consider living with just 12 rupees (0.23 dollars, current exchange rates) per person per day.
"There is no political interest in rooting out corruption, lamented Agarwal. Bureaucrats and politicians are responsible and benefit fraud, for example to finance election campaigns. So they who will not change things. "
In recent years, have been notorious in India several cases of murder or degradation of labor "whistle-blowers" (informers), as known to those who report cases of fraud and corruption within their institution.
One is the official MN Vijayakumar, who fight against corruption in public institutions in the region of Karnataka (southwest) and is being subjected to relentless harassment, told Efe by telephone his wife, Jayashree.
"He's fighting alone. Has been shifted eight times and suffered three assassination attempts. No one investigates. Corruption is massive, occurs openly, "denounced Bangalore housewife who created a website to report fraud and has come to seek the suspension of her husband" to protect ".
According to Jayashree, police in the region need to pay amounts up to $ 30,500 for promotion, which leads them into debt and then take bribes and practice extortion to pay that debt.
In Karnataka, one of the most corrupt in India, has come to move a form with "rates" for the cremation of the dead: two dollars out of the van, three body wash, $ 20 for burial.
According to economist Sanjay Sanyal, for every 100 dollars spent to build roads in the regional capital, Bangalore, only 40 are employed in it: $ 20 is the builder's profit margin and the other 40 going into the pockets of politicians.
"The tentacles of corruption affecting the corporate world, small and large companies. Except perhaps the Tata family, the great names of Indian companies, Did they reach the top without blemish? "He questioned Agarwal.
According to Transparency International, Indian companies are among those that pay more bribes when doing business in the world, behind Russia, China or Mexico and ahead of Brazil.
India suffers unpaid phone bills, theft of coal mines and electrical connection, a multimillion dollar tax evasion, embezzlement bad bank loans and public funds often go unpunished by the slow pace of justice.
According to Agarwal, a long-term solution will come from e-government: if people can solve network problems, he said, will reduce its dependence on middlemen.
And the search for settlement in India proliferate original but insufficient private initiatives against corruption, like a partnership that created zero rupee notes to pay them to corrupt traffic wardens.

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