Posted on: 20-07-11 21:07:00
Now this seems to be a novel idea to combat corruption in India. Legalizing bribing gives an incentive to the person to name the person who has taken the bribe. India needs such out of the box ideas to combat corruption.
More here
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/software/infosys-chairman-narayana-murthy-backs-kaushik-basus-proposal-to-make-bribe-giving-legal/articleshow/9299479.cms
NEW DELHI: A pioneer of India's outsourcing industry and leader of one of country's biggest IT firms has argued that legalising paying bribes would help reduce endemic corruption in the South Asian country.
N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman of Infosys, said he fully supported proposals from economist Kaushik Basu to make paying bribes legal because this would help members of the public blow the whistle on corrupt officials.
Under Basu's proposals receiving a bribe would remain illegal.
"If bribe giving, and not bribe taking, is made legal then the bribe giver shall indeed cooperate with the authorities to expose the bribe taker," Murthy said in a speech in the western city of Ahmedabad on Tuesday, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
"This seems to be an interesting idea and I think it should be implemented," he added.
He said graft had damaged India's growth prospects, adding that "the double-digit growth that has eluded India could have been ours if we had combated corruption,".
Transparency International, the global anti-graft body, puts India 87th on its corruption perception index - 10 places below China - with a 3.3-point rating, out of a best possible score of 10.
India's government is currently battling a series of scandals, including a telecom scam which the national auditor said may have cost the treasury up to $40 billion in lost revenue.
But corruption is most often felt in people's everyday lives, with officials demanding bribes to secure everything from phone connections to birth certificates and driving licenses.
When the government's chief economic advisor Basu first announced his proposal to legalise bribe giving, commentators attacked his plans saying it would legitimise corruption.
Basu had argued that his policy would ensure that "the bribe giver will be willing to cooperate in getting the bribe taker caught. Knowing that this will happen, the bribe taker will be deterred from taking a bribe."
Murthy is due to retire from his position and become chairman emeritus at Infosys at the age of 65 next month.
He founded the company with six other entrepreneurs in 1981 with an investment of just $250.
In fact this recommendation was made by Mr.Cho Ramaswamy, a tamil lawyer and a reputed journalist. He said that when it is so clear that no one can get a job done without paying a bribe and all of us are resigned to this fact, why not display outside how much bribe has to be paid for each job like, changing name, registering a marriage, issue of death certificate etc. This way, the public would pay it up along with the fee, and get the job done on time, rather than being shunted from table to table!
Balaji
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Good luck to everyone
Quote:
Originally posted by ashedfc
Like they do here:
1. Driving test is 75$, but you will fail 3 times (on general average), so the bribe is 75x3 +75 (for passing test) = $300..
2. Cops wont take money from you (if they stop your car) rather the Govt. & Insurance companies will take it from you...
& the list is endless....
oh totally agreed....traffic tickets including red light camera tickets, parking tickets are not meant to really protect people but to get revenue/high salaries for cops and crowns....total dhandha....
Quote:
Originally posted by ashedfc
Like they do here:
1. Driving test is 75$, but you will fail 3 times (on general average), so the bribe is 75x3 +75 (for passing test) = $300..
2. Cops wont take money from you (if they stop your car) rather the Govt. & Insurance companies will take it from you...
& the list is endless....
Completely baseless comparison..
Bribe is paid to get work done.
I know several people who got their drivers license in the first try. We do not have very disciplined driving habits (becuase of back home and we complain about the system)
Strict driving test is one of the reasons there are so few accidents. In India people fold the side mirrors of their new cars so that they dont get damaged and the rear view mirror is mostly used by drivers for makeup. Here we actually use it. Imagine the conseuqnces if peolpe start changing lanes on the 401/407 without looking at their mirrors.
2. The money that cops take dosent go in their pockets. It is paid to the government. While a lot of speed traps are traps and unnecessary and uncalled for it also ensures that people are not driving at 100kmph outside schools. Ontario has pvt insurance so rates are high, they are not so high in other provinces.
I still do not see how this can be compared to giving a bribe...
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Live and Let Live
Quote:
Originally posted by ashedfc
Like they do here:
1. Driving test is 75$, but you will fail 3 times (on general average), so the bribe is 75x3 +75 (for passing test) = $300..
2. Cops wont take money from you (if they stop your car) rather the Govt. & Insurance companies will take it from you...
& the list is endless....
Now, this is funny. I expected better from you ashedfc.
Canadian system is nowhere close to the Indian curruption. If you didn't have the above what you mentioned here, then the fate of the 401s, 407s, etc. would've been in God's hands just like in India. Can you believe, in India in some instances, people get their licenses without appearing for the test and sitting comfortably in their houses. Now, this is called height of curruption.
I believe the same funda should apply in India - hit people on their pockets, and they will behave.
Coming back to the Murthy's recommendations - utter gibberish. This is to say,'if you can't beat them, join them.' But, I believe India's system has become so rotten and currupt, it doesn't yield any hope for the future. Congress will still get elected, currupt people will still hold offices, people will still move on, and so on with 'chalta hey, hota hey, ho jayega' attitude.
So, instead of suggesting ways to stop curruption, this nonsensical Murthy (expected better from him) is asking people to pitch in. Disappointed.
Quote:
Its an indirect way of collecting money....
In India we call it bribe & Here they call it fee's
You are forgetting what the money is used for ......
The "fee" collected from red light cameras goes into more red light cameras so that more "fee" is collected. On the side it does reduces the number of times you jump red lights. So there is a positive effect.
On the other hand the "bribe" is for the full comsumption of the cop. It is in his ineterest that more people jump the red light. On the side if it leads to fatalities, he can make more money. So there is a negative effect.
This is the big picture .........
Quote:
So, instead of suggesting ways to stop curruption, this nonsensical Murthy (expected better from him) is asking people to pitch in. Disappointed.
Did you read the full article? What is proposed is that giving bribe is made legal and not taking bribe. Right now a person is forced to pay the bribe because he needs something done. Once the bribe is paid, that person stays quite becuase technically he has taken part in an illegal act and he is as much guilty as the person who took the bribe. But their positions are different as he has been forced to pay this money otherwise he will not get the job done which might be legit to begin with.
