Corruption has no agreed common definition but it is broadly known as people in an office of political or economic power who perform secretive actions for their personal gain. Corruption as defined by Macmillan English Dictionary is “The dishonest or illegal behaviour by officials or people in positions of power, especially when they accept money in exchange for doing things for someone”. It is evident from the very definition of corruption that corruption is not only accepting bribes for doing some undue favour to someone but it also encompasses unwanted behaviour by the officials in position of power. Corrupt practices can occur in both public and private sectors, usually involving an abuse of power, amounting to a benefit for a person or a group. It occurs when indicators like good governance, including transparency, rule of law; accountability and fairness break down, resulting in an opportunity for private gain.
Corruption is much wider and deep rooted in our system and it has taken many forms and manifestations called by different names they are nothing but very beautifully and carefully decorated forms of corruption. There are several types of corrupt practices that can occur at various levels of society but here I am going to focus on behavioural corruption / administrative corruption. Corruption is present in one form or other in every department/ Institution of Jammu & Kashmir but presence of corruption menace in higher seats of learning of this Union Territory is a matter of more worry and concern.
The corruption in administration from top to bottom has polluted the whole work culture of the offices meant for delivering public services and social justice and has opened the new ways of injustice and rough treatment. There are hundreds of examples where in set service rules has been thrown to dustbin and people favoured unduly and promoted to higher positions through administrative jugads only on the basis of cronyism, patronage, nepotism and favouritism by ignoring merit altogether. This form of corruption has broken all records in institutions especially higher seats of learning in Jammu & Kashmir. The worst part of this situation is that these institutions in the veil of being autonomous have broken all records to adjust their near and dear ones on higher posts without any fear as neither have they been made accountable by the previous government for these shameful acts nor they have ever been prosecuted in the court of justice.
One more form of corruption is lack of friendly approach to deal with the issues of common people though exceptions but generally the way people are dealt in our offices and the way there issues are mishandled and the way they are misbehaved by the bureaucrats and their allied staff is a worst form of corruption which need to be addressed at an earliest. Our officers need to learn a friendly approach to talk and deal with the public who visit their offices with high hopes.
Some officers suffer with a disease of ego problem which must not be hurt in any way otherwise their only aim becomes to satisfy personal ego for which they go to any extent to make subordinates kneel down to toes by throwing all principles of humanity and rules of service to dustbin.
Wrong policies adopted and lack of youth friendly policies and approach from bureaucracy in Jammu and Kashmir has destroyed lives of thousands of well educated, qualified youth especially in Higher Education Sector. The appointment policy on contracts/academic arrangements has destroyed life of hundreds of PhD scholars and has pushed them to a miserable condition to live in.
Corruption is, In fact, a multi directional process. On one hand, it provides benefits, but on the other it hits hard the Victim. It is not only a sinful act but it has a great social impact as it destroys the much needed social fabric of the society because it sends back deserving and genuine people to pavilion by snatching their genuine and legitimate rights.
Corruption practices like Unnecessary delays and time consuming process adopted for settling genuine issues are highly and widely influencing society in terms of creating trust deficit in the law and rule of law, put question mark on quality of education provided in educational institutions, creates the wider gap of financial inequality and finally affects the quality of life. The trust deficit between the public and the public servants is a gruesome matter which needs immediate attention. Due to Administrative Jugads and the failure of system to address the genuine concerns/ demands of youth. Many of our youth are forced to take extreme steps and unfortunately we are losing our youth potential and youth resource which is very painful. If we sincerely look into the case studies of the youth taking such extreme steps where their life is at stake we will definitely find that among other reasons the element of anger and revolt against system cannot be altogether ignored.
Not only this but Administrative Corruption has a negative impact on economic growth also through the allocation of talents since corrupt system paves ways for the ineligible/ undeserving people to move on the ladder of success and the eligible, gifted, deserving and prospective people are driven out in the race with the tag of being failures which in reality they are not. This humiliation isolates them from the society and to get some sort of solace either they go into depression or become victims of drugs. There are some who want to give vent to their anger and revolt against system by taking some dangerous and unwanted steps in every case we lose our youth power to corruption. (To Be Continued)

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