Thefamous economist Warren Buffet says “In looking for people to hire, look forthree qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy; and if they don’t have thefirst, the other two will kill you.” This goes a long way in hiring thesuitable candidate and ensuring that the principles of honesty & integrityare adopted in letter and spirit. Apart from business and recruitment,integrity is the building block of a stronger and morally purified character ofan individual that determines the behavior displayed by him in variouscapacities. Integrity is vital for economy, government, business, publicservice and, above all, national security. India and the world have been facingthe challenge of lack of integrity since ages. Although, the world has beendoing grave efforts to strengthen the crippled state of integrity, yet there isa long way to go.
Literatureand language define integrity as the practice of being honest and showing anunshakable association with moral and ethical principles. Everybody understandsthe importance & meaning of integrity, but, upon analyzing the reality, thestatus of corruption and disunity leave one in dismay and astonishment.
Today,India ranks 78th on the index of the least corrupt countries. Thismeans that half of the world is less corrupt than India! Professor Bibek Debroyand Laveesh Bhandari claim in their book “Corruption in India” that publicofficials in India may be cornering as much as US$13 billion, or 1.26 per centof the GDP, through corruption in various forms. A report on bribery in Indiapublished by Trace International in January 2009 states that 91% of the bribeswere demanded by govt. officials and 77% of the bribes demanded were foravoiding harm rather than to gain any advantage. Of these 51% were for timelydelivery of services to which the individual was already entitled. Publicprocurement is another sector prone to corruption. According to an estimate bythe World Bank, on an average, 15% of the contract value must be fed to get apublic contract.
Indiais fairly placed among the biggest economies of the world. The country standsamong the first 30 countries in terms of business sophistication, technologicalinnovation & financial robustness. But, it lags behind many countries onthe Transparency International’s Bribe Payer Index where we are ranked 19thout of 22 members. It means that India is being perceived as a country likelyto demand bribe while carrying out business. Lack of integrity and moral valuesleave a country shattered; it distorts the markets; deteriorates quality;promotes inefficiency and under-utilization of resources. The national securityof a country is at risk due to such practices of dishonesty and unfairness.Black money, tax evasion, money laundering, terrorism and the like aremanifestations of lack of integrity and ethics. We all know how badly India andthe world are affected by these serious crimes. In March 2018, it was reportedthat the amount of black money that was pooled into Swiss banks and otheroffshore numismatic organizations stood at staggering US $ 1500 billion equalto Rs 90 million crores! The causes of these nuisances are many: clandestineofficial practices, rigid bureaucracy, poor regulation, outdated internalcontrol to name a few. In the presence of such toxic blemishes on the face ofour country, we stand at an unfavorable destination from the point of view ofthe outsiders. Amid such disturbing and chaotic situation, the only possibleremedy that would come handy in repairing the system would be to check thepractice of unethical and dishonest affairs. Efforts at individual andcollective levels are needed to curb this menace. It’s very encouraging to seevarious efforts being done at various levels that have evolved in the recentpast.
Today,integrity, accountability & vigilance have become the order of the day.Governments and organizations have understood the importance of integrity inday to day dealings. This is the reason behind the emergence of CentralVigilance Commission. Although CVC was established way back in 1964 but itgained its ‘statutory status’ in 1998. After approval from both the houses ofthe Parliament in 2003, the President gave assent to CVC Bill on September 11,2003. Thus the Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003 came into effect. Today,CVC acts as the apex body that controls, reviews, reforms and executes variousmatters pertaining to the vigilant work of various central government authorities.It observes “Vigilance Awareness Week” every year to spread awareness aboutvarious measures put in place to report and check corruption. It also motivatesemployees of various organizations and departments to take the “integritypledge” and act in an ethical manner while performing their duties. This year’s’Vigilance Awareness Week’ was conducted from Oct 28 to Nov 02 with the theme”Integrity-A Way of Life”.
Anothermeasure adopted by organizations and government departments towards acorruption-free environment is the automation of activities exposed tocorruption. CVC has advised organizations to adopt Information Technology (IT)in their systems so as to leave miniscule opportunity of misuse by unscrupulouselements. Automation and computerization have miraculously reduced the chancesof misuse by eliminating the off-line and physical handling of documents,processes and operations. DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) is one such initiativethat has transformed the way in which public payments were made in the country.Today, more than 70 schemes pertaining to more than 17 ministries have beenautomated with the help of DBT mechanism.
WhileCVC, government departments and organizations have made efforts to deal withthe menace at the levels of public sector, also known as ‘demand side’ incorruption economics, various steps have been taken at global level to dealwith the practice of feeding money by the private sector. It’s actually theprivate sector that pays the payola. Corruption economists use the jargon’supply side’ to refer to this section of people and organizations. Variouscountries have articulated ‘Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’ to deal with the’supply side’ of corruption. Those who haven’t formulated such acts aresignatories to ‘Anti Bribery Conventions’. Therefore, international pressure isbuilding over countries to adopt stricter laws to ensure the presence ofintegrity among people.
Inthe fight against corruption, there have been a number of developments. Indiajoined United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) alongwith 160 othercountries in May 2011. Similarly, Company Bill 2012, Public Private Partnership(PPP), Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials ofPublic International Organizations Bill 2011, The Anti-Corruption Action Planset out in 2010 at the Seoul G20 and so on are examples of how the world isrecognizing integrity as one of the most important implementations to be done.
Nowadays,there is no escape from integrity; integrity is now indispensable; it’s not achoice anymore but a necessity of life. However, it’s needed that public bemade aware of the laws in place. It’s also needed that public be encouraged tomake use of these laws and raise their voice against the demand of backhandersand inducements. When these goals are achieved, the world will become a betterplace to live in and a place where integrity is the way of life.
Theauthor is MBA, IBPS, NET. He is Officer In charge at a PSU bank. The views arepersonal.