Is this how corruption starts? How to do the homework? Time is money and information is money. Ordinary folks at the mercy of those who know.

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After you are armed with information, what is the mechanism for redressing grievances if someone "pulls the strings" to harass you?

The harassment itself can be prevented if all approval queues in all government departments had two rules

• the queue must be visible to all
• the queue must be worked on in "first come first serve" basis. This means, that if there is an application from vasanth, tarle, and mcadambi inthat order, I must clear vasanth's application (approve, or deny, with whatever reason) before I can take up tarle's and then mcadambi's.

Above is simple thing to expect and demand, and could solve a lot of things. For once, we will know how efficient the department is (just watch the queues). Second, nobody will be able to keep files "pending". Files will have to acted upon, because the guys owning files lower in the queue will keep pressurizing you.

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http://indiainteracts.com/columnist/2008/07/31/Raising-Retirement-age-Yeddyurappa-Cannot-stop-there/

It is not enough the Government cheers its employees by announcing a higher age of retirement. It should exercise its authority to improve their functioning. In the last 25 years, a change in government in Karnataka has meant little for the man on the street. "My lot will be the same whoever comes to power" has been his lament. Generally there will be some initial euphoria about a new party taking over the reins of the administration and the installation of a new set of ministers. But at the ground level, it will be the continuance of inefficiency, delays, indifference and the worse bribe taking. Yeddyurappa and his team should strive to bring in a new culture in the administration. The age old malady of government servants stretching their hands for bribes should be tackled. Otherwise there is no meaning in Yeddyurappa attempting to please the employees if  policemen openly demand and accept bribes, sub- registrars extract bribes for registration of documents, commercial tax officials demand bribes even to accept tax returns ,doctors and nurses extract bribes from the poor even to show the newborn baby to the mother, village accountants fill their pockets at every opportunity and even accept cuts from old age pensioners , municipal employees demand money even to bury or burn the dead and municipal engineers expect bribes for sanctioning building plans. Tackling corruption is not the concern of the Lokayukta and the Upalokayukta. The effort should come from the top in the administration.

[....]

The other day the Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi spoke of the way he is dealing with the problem of corruption. He gave the instance of how he was using modern technology like the global positing system to tackle the problem. Using it he had been able to improve tax collection at what was once a den of corruption –a check post on Gujarat's border with Maharashtra. He found that the officials there were taking home a bribe of over Rs.250 crores a year. Yeddyurappa and his team of ministers should adopt the Gujarat model of putting down corruption. It was not Hindutva or the tirade against Sonia Gandhi that reelected Narendra Modi. It is his image as "Mr. Clean" a reputation enjoyed by Rajiv Gandhi till the Bofors scandal erupted.

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but that is a general statement of intent. what can yediyurappa actually do to clear out of the shady areas of governance under which corruption thrives? two such areas is lack of information and procedural freehand that SB mentions. there are others. i think there are two aspects to corruption. one attitudinal and two systemic. attitudinal changes very difficult to achieve. but ultimately necessary. but in the meanwhile system can perhaps be re-tuned to account for deviation in attitude that has creeped in. it is too much expect just the government employees to be honest and true to books.

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