The World Bank defines corruption as “Misuse of official position” However; it deals with only one aspect of corruption. It tends to show that public servants occupying key positions misuse them and acquire wealth beyond their known sources of income.
In common man’s parlance (words, language) it is called assets disproportionate to one’s income.
Many political leaders and civil servants have been hauled up in courts of law on this account. There is hardly any State in India which has not figured in this black list. The most scandalous case happened in Punjab where a former Chief Minister was said to have amassed a fortune worth 4,000crores. The case is still pending in the court.
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The second scandalous case concerns Punjab Public Service Commission (Ravi Sidhu, Chairman). The ex-chairman had collected over (more than) Rs. 100crore by selling jobs. The scam, which came to be known as “jobs for money”, created a sensation and the chairman of the commission was arrested. The case is still in the courts.
A similar case/scam/scandal was witnessed in the state of Haryana. An IAS officer, then director of School Education, was caught/arrested for his involvement in a corruption case. It was said that he had collaborated with the then Chief Minister for changing the entire list of selected teachers with a fake/fictitious list.
The Himalayan heights of corruption were touched in the stamp paper scandal. The amount involved in this case was Rs. 36,000crore (Telgi).
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Corruption is usually acquitted with bribery. But the wider implication of it are moral degradation and human rapacity (greed). Mahatma Gandhi has said, “All public money should be treated as Scared Pubic Trust.” If this principle is followed, corruption automatically is eliminated.