After the floods, Bengaluru needs to clean up its act

Source: The post is based on an article “After the floods, Bengaluru needs to clean up its act” published in The Hindu on 30^th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2

Relevance: concerns associated with corruption and measures to tackle them

News:  Bengaluru’s floods have gone but they have left difficulties for the people. Difficulties such as flying of the dust in the air.

According to the various analyses rainfall has been expected to increase to an average of 1,000 mm per annum from the current 650 mm per annum.

The flood like situation in Bengaluru is generally blamed on builders, migrant, lack of spatial planning, etc.

However, these are not only the cause of flooding in Bengaluru.

There are other structural issues such as corruption also involved with the government that became the cause of flooding.

 How does corruption affect the system?

Corruption reduces the economic growth.  It transfers excessive wealth to the undeserving.

It also leads to people who are against the anti-corruption process reforms. The corrupt often use the honest to fulfil their agendas. For example, abound.

A government plays a major rule in reducing and increasing corruption. For example, it can make bye-laws so complex that the strictest law-abiding citizen cannot comply with them.

These complex laws provide corrupt officials and politicians to freedom to bend them. These types of laws also provide opportunities for agents who bypass the rigidities of the system.

These agents work parallelly with the government officials and people generally do not complain about them.

The legal definition of corruption enables many in a corrupt system to escape punishment. Indian law recognises only corrupt acts by public servants to be ‘acts of corruption’ under the law.

It gives the way to private corruption. Many government actions are outsourced to private agents who collect handling fees on behalf of the government.

For example, builder’s agents openly asking for bribes. Therefore, corruption can also be blamed for the Bengaluru floods.

Moreover, e-governance mechanism has not helped to reduce corruption.

How has e-governance not been effective in controlling corruption?

E-Governance is often not the effective solution as claimed. E-enabled systems only relocate the place of corruption and they do not solve the problem.

When large databases, such as land records are moved to paperless systems, they become vulnerable to manipulation.

This leads to shifting of power form land administrators to the one who possesses the digital signature.

Therefore, data entry operator becomes an important and corruptible person in the system.

What can be the course of action?

First, there should be regular assessments and evaluations of ongoing anti-corruption measures. They help in alerting new corruption opportunities.

Second, there is a need for a genuine law of whistle-blower protection.

• It assures honest citizens, politicians, bureaucrats and judges of protection, as they otherwise fear the adverse consequences for disclosing illegal activities.
• Confidence-assuring whistle-blower protection measures can lead to exposure of more corruption, particularly at higher levels.

Third, there has to be a conscious move towards promoting ethical behaviour.

Fourth, there is a need for good leadership in order to make anti-corruption strategies successful.