Status of corruption cases in Odisha and India; Odisha number 3 in the volume of corruption cases, has 33% conviction rate, leads the country in value of property recovered
Odisha govt. action April 26th. 2011, 12:35pmThe following is from http://prsindia.org/corruptioncasesindia.php based on data from National Crime records bureau. The data in excel format is available at http://bit.ly/corruptioncasesinindia.
What does the above mean with respect to Odisha:
- Odisha is number three in terms of number of corruption cases. This could mean there is a lot of corruption in Odisha. It could also mean that the government and people are vigilant about corruption in Odisha and hence so many cases are filed. I think it also implies that people and government in Odisha are not afraid of filing corruption cases. There is almost no individual or group or mafia or … who can do corruption in Odisha without risking corruption cases being filed against it. People and the the government are not afraid. The absence of such sacred cows also means that the higher levels are not much corrupt. Otherwise they would not go after the other corruption cases that easily.
- The 33% conviction cases is comparatively low. This could mean that the bar for the filing of the cases is low. It could also mean that the agencies that are supposed to participate in the conviction process are not very efficient or are themselves corrupt. On the other hand Odisha is way ahead of all the other states in terms of the value of the property recovered. That speaks well of the agencies that participate in the conviction and property recovery process.
- Taking all the facts together my overall interpretation is as follows: There is a lot of corruption in Odisha. The people and the government are vigilant and are not afraid of filing corruption cases. There are no sacred cows or dreaded organizations. While the conviction is low at 33%, the high value of the property recovered points to the government being not afraid, being good at recovering property and suggests that the highest levels are not much corrupt.
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April 28th, 2011 at 9:26 am
“The absence of such sacred cows also means that the higher levels are not much corrupt. Otherwise they would not go after the other corruption cases that easily.”
I am not quite sure I agree with you here. I think there is tremendous corruption at high levels in Odisha. I have a feeling there are certain people ( a minority )in power who are going after corruption.
Indians because of the social milieu that they grow up in (competition for scarce resources, educational institutions etc.) are ‘naturally’ corrupt.
April 28th, 2011 at 10:59 am
I think the CM is not corrupt. The CMO and the bureaucrats he relies on are not corrupt. Most (almost all) of the ministers have very little authority to take decisions and hence do not have the opportunity to be corrupt. Most of the other bureaucrats are either kept on a tight leash or are not given authority to take decisions and hence do not have the opportunity to be corrupt.
Most of the corruption is at the level below that and they are not shielded by anyone big; so corruption cases are easily filed against them and money (small in absolute terms, but compared to other states, it is very high) is recovered.
April 28th, 2011 at 11:01 am
The flip side of this is that most of decision making happens at CMO and now also at the CS level, slowing down the decision making process.