Table of Contents
What is Corruption?
The process by which a word or expression is changed from its original state to one regarded as erroneous or debased. Actually it defines that corruption is a form of dishonesty or criminal activity undertaken by a person or organization entrusted with a position of authority, often to acquire illicit benefit or abuse of entrusted power for one’s private gain. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement, though it may also involve practices that are legal in many countries.
Scenario of corruption in Bangladesh
Corruption in Bangladesh is not a new problem. From the history, we can see the bribery and corruption were also there. Corruption destroyed a nation. It hampers a nation’s education systems, public administrations, politics and even a society. Our country is very small but it contains a lot of population. Our government is failing to maintain this huge population. Before Liberation War Pakistani government smuggled a lot of money and other assets from us. After the liberation war, it has been becoming a huge problem for us. Main reason of corruption is anxiety of wealth. The salary systems of our country were poor. For many employees and employers it was quiet impossible to maintain a family with this salary. For this reason they tried and practiced corruption.
Again, we also help corrupting. When we see it is quiet hard of doing anything, we want to use a shortcut way. Even if it would be unethical or illegal, we used these shortcut and easy way. Black-marketing is a way that we followed most. People in our country also love these unethical ways because they don’t know the ethical ways also. Black-marketing is seen in Transportation, Banking and Insurance sectors, Government offices and so others.
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Whoever doesn’t like to use some money rather than waiting? Actually mentally depression, anxiety, lack of wealth, opportunities are the main reasons of corruption. Bribe and black marketing are the scopes of Corruptions. Many poor peoples are mostly affected due to this system. Even many times we see hiring and barging between two parties. It is also social crime. It is mainly seen in appointing jobs, for any constructions, for any factory. Many government and non-government sectors are directly or indirectly lie on it. In fact our life is also affected on it.
Many scandals are seen in news about corruptions. We see the case against various political persons, company managers, owners for corruption. In 2004, Bangladesh Anti-corruption Commission is formed.
Its main objective of ACC is to determine crime of corruption on several way. It is located in Shegunbagicha, Dhaka. Law of corruption is activated on 9th May, 2004. In corruption ranking, Bangladesh has stood on 149 least of 175 countries*. Bangladesh’s all time high ranking was 162 in 2007 and lowest record was 51(according to trading economics).
In last year almost 20,000Cr taka amount was corrupted. Mainly these corruptions occur in Government plants, Teacher appointment exams, LGED, University admission, Tax office and so on. The most recent corruption is found on Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant and Faridpur Medical College.
How can the government prevent corruption?
Corruption cannot be eradicated by one hand. But government can be a good impact to prevent corruption. First of all they need to reform administration, police and judiciary at all levels. Since citizens inter acts with the bureaucracy frequently its reform must take priority. Corruption can be very much reduced if administrative decision making is transparent and when discretion is reduced ,rent seeking opportunity shrink, officials are penalized for deliberate delay and exemplary punishment awarded without loop-holes or exceptions.
No wonder Bangladesh bureaucracy is rated as the worst among the 13 Asian countries in a survey by a Hong Kong based agency. The act has been enacted by the Bangladesh parliament with the view to empowering citizens, promoting transparency and accountability in the working of government, combating corruption and making the democratic form of running the government really work for the people. Corruption occurs due to
- scarcity of goods and service,
- lack of transparency,
- complicate rules and red tapesim which can be overcome and things got done only through ‘speed money’.
- the sense of tribalism amongst the corrupt and the corrupted.
- Reform the outdated land tenure system as well as the and acquisition.
So in this prospect it can be said that government can minimize corruption in a minimum level. It will be very beneficial to our country’s perspective. We should co-operative to government minimize the corruption rate. Thus people livelihood will be better and the future will be secured as well.
Corruption by sectors
Corruption in Bangladesh has become an ongoing process. According to the ranking institutions whose have published the report on corruption in the world, Bangladesh has found herself among them in the most corrupted countries in the world. There are so many sector where occurs in the corruption in Bangladesh. Every sector in Bangladesh has been occurred the corruption in Bangladesh such as political sector, government sector, public service, tax administration, public judiciary, business sector, transportation sector, land administration and taxation sector etc. Now briefly describe those:
Political sectors
Basically political corruption has been occurred by the government office or their areas because of fulfilled their personal gain. Bribery, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influence pending, gift and embezzlement those kinds of corruption occur in the political sector. It may indulge the criminal Enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, human trafficking and so many things. Government power is used by the personal purpose and gain personal choice, is also called political corruption.
Corruption may be defined in many ways. Such as, in simple context, receiving any gift or price while performing or working for government or representative of government is considered as unethical task. Any free gift might be given to get some advantage from the government officers.
Institutional corruption is another form of political corruption. It is different from the bribery and personal gain. When someone has been provided financial aids to the government officers these may conflict the goal of institution.
Business sectors
Many companies in the Bangladesh have been reported to be subjected to expensive and useless license and permit requirements. Business man told that corruption was the largest Hindered to doing business in the Bangladesh. Business people have to pay huge amount of bribe or annual tax to government officer for running business smoothly. Bribes have to pay 48% of the companies and most of the firm seeking license for getting the bribes from those companies, more than 55% of construction permits, 77%of imports licenses, 56% of water connection arrangement and 48% of electricity connection arrangement linking bribes.
Companies have to pay huge amount of money to get signed in the contract. Most of the public contract or agreements are often taken place corruption in Bangladesh. Approximately 48% companies’ executives’ officer said that they have to pay “gift” to sign in the contracts. Basically this “gift” value is the average value of the contract value 3%.
Various international organization provided fund to build up the Padma Multilateral Purpose Bridge near Dhaka in 2011. After that World Bank said that in 2012 a high level corruption conspiracy among political, businessmen, and private individuals is link with the bribes.
Medical sectors
Every sector in the Bangladesh corruption is prevalent. Healthcare is not except from them. The price of the medical equipment is miss-invoicing to pretending to be doctors, many public resources have been manipulated for personal gain. This types of corruption tend to reduce the effectiveness of government spending in medical equipment in Bangladesh. That’s why the quality of the medical treatment is too much lower.
The impact of the corruption in the medical sectors is badly harm to the country as well as anti-social activities. In the corruption in medical sector, people have suffered in many ways. General people are basically sufferings for this. They don’t get proper treatment in the legal price. Although they provide the higher amount, they get the lower quality of treatment.
Tax Administration sectors
There are huge corruptions in tax administration in Bangladesh. If we compare this sector to the others countries sector we can see there is a lot of corruption in Bangladesh. The tax collectors take a low tax rate from the company or people for their personal benefits. Normally people must give their tax to the governments on the basis of their income. But they do not pay their right amount of tax to the governments by using these types of people who are directly involve to this corruption sector.
Transportation sectors
Transportation is one of the biggest corrupted sectors in Bangladesh. Normally in Dhaka city we see a lot of vehicle but most of these are not have the road permit. The owners of these transportations pay a huge amount to the government’s employee for getting the permission. Not only has the transportation the drivers are also paid the BRTC to get the license. If anyone wants to get a driving license from the BRTC, there are some exams or process and these process takes normally 6/7 months but the people who are directly or indirectly involve to these corrupted sectors give the license within 2/3 months without any exams or practical’s.
These people are directly wanting the money otherwise they are disagreeing to sign or give the permissions. If we think about our traffic rules 60% of peoples who never know the rules or never follow the rules of traffic. If the traffic police check them then they pay money and again break the rules. There are some punishments on road accidents but by paying the money the driver never know the punishments. For these reasons every year the accidents are increasing .
There is another reasons that is most of the driver are addicted, they take drugs to wake up at night when they drives. Most of the drivers are uneducated but there is a rule to get the licenses, minimum have an education qualification but by paying a huge amount of money they can easily managed it.
Government sectors
Government offices in Bangladesh are generally corrupted. Many officials take their salaries without accurate works. There are many responsibilities but the government employees do not take it seriously. There is a low rate salary to the government’s employees that are not sufficient to maintain their family. For these low rate salaries they choice the different ways to income more, then they started to take money from the general people by doing any activities.
Normally government should pay enough money that they can lead their life easily without taking any bad activities. Besides these the governments people take a huge time to start their works ,if the working time starts 9am they normally go to the office at 10.30am and come back to home when they want. Many employees spoil the government assets or sometimes they sell it to the market for a little amount of money. These types of activities effect on the society every day. Day by day these types of corruptions occur in everywhere.
Education sectors
Education is the fundamental rights of any human. Most of the people of our country are uneducated. Every year there is a budget for education sectors. Governments set a fixed percentage of budgets for this sector. Now a day normally 50% of these budgets are taken by the corrupted people. There is a lot of budget for the education but there is not enough improvement in education sectors. Every year the passing rate or percentage of education increases but the actual rate is not increase. People are trying to pass the examination by getting question or try to follow the illegal way to do better results. Without these there is a budget for build school in every area, but these are not done for the corrupted people who are always find a profit in any deals.
Agriculture sectors
In Bangladesh, Agriculture is the biggest source of income. Every year 50%/60% income is collected by this sector. But there are lot of corrupted people who are everyday takes the 10%/12% from these income. Governments set many people to work in different sectors. People who are generally see the agriculture sectors they have an opportunity to take the advantage from the budget. The farmers have a right to know the process of digital technologies and others. There are some people who have a duty to show the works free but the employee do not follow their duty properly. They take extra fees from the farmers by giving these types of ideas.
The governments give the farmers medicine free but the employee take money for their personal benefits. If we see the others countries agriculture system they are enough technology have a lot of opportunity to inspire the other people to do the work. But in our country for these corrupted people, farmers are showing the bad impression to do cultivate the land. They cultivate the land but do not get their actual profit from these. If the governments take a step against the corrupted people then these types of sectors will improve in future.
Effects of corruption
Corruption cannot bring any good for our ethics. Peoples cannot trust their governments, teachers and other persons. So a communication or expectation gap is occurred. Many times people fell into pressure whether they are involved into it or not. Some effects are shown below:
- Social effects: Corruption is a social crime. Many years have passed since it couldn’t solve. Socially it is hated and they tried to avoid. But with some unexpected reason it can’t be removed.
- Lack of Belief: Corruption of any kinds has many more dimensions and causes many evils and damages to the ethics. It hurts most poor people disproportionally. People do not believe their government, administrations all time.
- Expensive: Bribery systems are not always sustainable to the people. An expectation gap is occurred and sometimes victims cannot get proper justice. For this reason many times people many times do not believe the ways.
- Injustice: By corruption many times people cannot get the proper justice.
Anti-corruption movement in Bangladesh
Corruption is considered as one of the most sensitive and alarming problems in Bangladesh. Unfortunately we have got a good position in the rank of the corrupted countries in the world. We can find corruption in every sector of the country.
But days are changing. Different conscious minded people or groups are taking various kinds of steps or movements against corruption. They are trying to organize several ethical practice seminars or movements. It is believed that corruption cannot be removed just by restrictions and regulations. Ethical practices and consciousness is a must to reduce corruption.
So just like different countries, the people of Bangladesh are also starting to take various movements against corruption. Some of the most significant movements are briefly described below :
Movements taken by TIB
Transparency International is a nonprofit, non-government organization situated in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1993. This organization takes several measures to make people conscious against corruption and reduce different criminal activities arising from it. The Bangladeshi branch of TI is called the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB). This organization has the same motive just like the initial one. Different social movements are taken by TIB to take a step against corruption.
TIB has also a wing which is called YES (Youth Engagement and Support). Along with this wing TIB organizes different social information programs, seminars or activities to make the youth more conscious and anti-corruption minded. Members from the central office of Berlin also join these activities.
Anti-Corruption Day Observed
December 9th is known as the International Anti-Corruption Day. Most of the countries in the whole world observe this day through various social anti-corruption activities. Various social groups or organizations observe this day through several activities like seminars, rallies, anti-corruption theatres and so on. These activities are taken by thousands of people in Bangladesh including students, business persons, professionals etc.
Activities of ACC
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is the sole government organization established to stand against corruption. The main activity of ACC is to investigate suspicious groups or people if they are connected to any kind of unlawful activities. After investigation if they are proved really guilty ACC takes necessary steps for their proper punishment. ACC had the authority to take measures against any kind of people or organizations. But after a new amendment in their constitution ACC has to get permission of the government to take actions against some significant categories of people. That’s why now a days ACC has become almost an ineffective entity. But however it is still the highly reputed anti corruption organization of this country. Besides of the main actions ACC organizes various anti-corruption training, social movements.
Student’s movement against corrupted quota system
The reform quota movement is considered as the biggest student’s movement of the decade in Bangladesh. This huge protest stood against the unequal and corrupted quota system in the public service jobs. In this country BCS (Bangladesh Civil Service) is considered as the most prestigious job sector. It is the dream of most of the students in Bangladesh. But in this vital job sector there was a surprising and illogical quota system. According to the past constitution, almost 55% of the applicants were being selected from quota holders. And the remaining 45% was for the general students. And there was also a huge impact of corruption and lobbying in selecting those participants.
To stand against these inequality the university students of Bangladesh stood with a huge protest movement in 2018. Students of almost every universities of this country were connected with this movement. There were several clashes between the police and the students in almost every universities. A huge number of students got injured and arrested. But nothing can stand against a noble movement. The government finally considered the demands of the students.
These are the basic ongoing and recent movements against corruption in Bangladesh. There are also various short and minor activities taken by different small agencies or group of students to create awarness and ethical practices.
Conclusion
According to the discussion above we can understand that it is high time to stand against corruption. It has become a cancer of the society. No development or progress can be made if there is this huge amount of corruption in every sectors. So we cannot but remove corruption as soon as we can. But this problem cannot be solved instantly.
The social awareness and consciousness programs should be done more practically and effectively. The government and non-government anti-corruption organizations should be upgraded. Morality and ethical behavior should be learned and practiced from the family starting at a child age. If we can teach our children’s about these morality and ethics our future country and generation will not have to face these huge amount of corruption.
In short, to diminish corruption from the society we have to start changing our our self.
