Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Corruption was especially prevalent before India's independence in the police and in rev-
enue and public works departments (as it is today). Most British colonial officials saw what
they called 'customary' arrangements as an intrinsic part of Indian society, and they relied
on them to underpin their authority. 'Powerful landowners might control the local police
constable, or compel free labour among the landless poor. The Raj needed them to help
local revenue official might take a commission (or dasturi - customary payment) to allow
cultivators access to land records, or a railway official might accept a “gift” (daalii) to ar-
range faster carriage for consignments of goods'. Gould notes that the first officially co-
ordinated predecessors of anti-corruption drives, which have become an important part of
the Indian political scene in the past few years, were run by provincial Congress govern-
ments in the late 1930s to contrast their democratic principles against the corrupted coloni-
als.
Given that history, it is ironic that the Congress party, especially over the past 30 years,
has encouraged corruption and protected its perpetrators. There were scandals in independ-
ent India's first government when the prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, seems to have
been reluctant to institute inquiries and take action. Among the most famous cases was a
foreign contract for army jeeps and the allocation of a quota for cycle imports.
Indira Gandhi, when she was prime minister, encouraged the collection of bribes both
within India and on international deals, partly in order to enable her party to have to rely
less on funds raised by powerful regional party bosses, known as the Syndicate, which she
was trying to downsize. The system of licences she introduced for industrial production,
restrictive trade practices and foreign exchange regulations opened the way for extensive
graft that increased during her controversial 1975-77 State of Emergency. Institutionalizing
corruption, she put L.N. Mishra, minister of state for commerce, in charge and he 'attached
a price tag to every licence, permit or clearance that he issued', writes S.S. Gill, a seni-
with sealed envelopes dispatched 'to a variety of beneficiaries who included not only politi-
cians but also journalists and all sorts of touts'. Unlike today's politicians, however, Indira
Gandhi was not generally perceived to be making her family enormously rich, though there
have always been rumours about the avariciousness of other members of her household.
specifically closer to the family after Rajiv Gandhi succeeded his mother as prime minister
in 1984. Despite a basically clean personal image, there was (and still is) a widespread sus-
picion that his family and (or) his friends benefited from a Bofors howitzer gun contract.
Ever since, there has been frequent (unsubstantiated) gossip in Delhi about the family, now
headed by Sonia Gandhi. These rumours have been sharpened by controversial business
dealings, especially Robert Vadra's. Relatives frequently use their proximity to a politi-
