Abstract
Corruption is an all-pervasive phenomenon in the administrative system of India. It has reached such alarming proportions that the entire governance structure of India is affected by the social, economic and political consequences of corruption, leading to the misallocation of resources. Corruption affects India at all levels of decision-making and in the distribution of the state’s largesse. According to the Global Corruption Report 2003, prepared by Transparency International, India is ranked 71st out of 102 countries in the Corruption Perception Index, 2002. Corruption is a major obstacle to development. In the context of India, there are estimates, which suggest that only seventeen percent of funds allocated by the government for poverty reduction finally reach the poor. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi estimated that only 15 paisa of 1 rupee spent by the government on anti-poverty programs actually reached the intended beneficiaries. Furthermore, out of the remaining 85 paisa, at least 40 paisa went into overheads and administrative costs, while 45 paisa disappeared into the corruption column. Corruption in India not only poses a significant danger to the quality of governance, but also threatens in an accelerated manner the very foundation of India’s democracy, rule of law and statehood. There have been efforts taken at different levels in India to tackle the problem.”‘ Until recently, most of these efforts have tended to focus on the problem of corruption from the standpoint of criminal law. Law enforcement agencies have been targeting corruption at different levels of government -central, state and local- to punish the wrongdoers.