Corruption: The most formidable obstacle in the way of social justice and good governance

December 9, 2010 is celebrated as the International Anti Corruption Day. Corruption is a hazard that is engulfing almost all the societies of the world. A country may be big or small, rich or poor, democratic or totalitarian; it is hardly safe from the ill of corruption. The countries, who boast of their excellent governing system, independent judicial system and an immaculate system of accountability, cannot claim to be clean of corruption. Not to mention the developing countries of third world where the organs of the state may be in infancy stage, the highly developed, literate and prosperous countries like Japan and America are also notorious for some of the most awful instances of corruption.

Transparency International (TI) has released a report on the occasion. According to Global Corruption Barometer report the world has gone more corrupt over the past three years. In all the countries surveyed the police department has been termed as the most corrupt, followed by judiciary, revenue, land, customs. One forth of every person surveyed has admitted to pay bribe. The report says that the poor and the young are the worst hit by the corruption.

Indian poor- the victims of corruption

The international watchdog has stressed that the financial and monetary processes of the governments must be made as transparent as possible. The public should also be involved to the maximum in order to avoid the dubious deals. An independent and impartial judiciary coupled with a free media will be a great help in fighting corruption.

However the most important factor to guard against corruption is the character of a person. The strength of inner character is the ultimate power that can over come any degree of lust and temptation. The world societies must lay a renewed emphasis on building the character of their respective people and making it a criterion / pre-requisite for allocating the responsible positions in the government.