Corruption at the Grassroots: The Shades and Shadows

In the past three years, the people have expressed their growing anger through spate of public interest litigation petitions which in turn has touched off a spurt in judicial activism and brought politicians, government and even office of the Prime Minister into contempt. Yet corruption remains, as it has taken firm roots in the soil. Organised movement to fight against the corrupt practices especially at the grassroots are yet to emerge. The reason is corruption is institutionalized. It is against this background that a two-day national workshop on corruption was organised. Experts from different institutions, judiciary, development departments, universities, research institutions, NGOs, local bodies and political parties participated and presented thought provoking papers. These papers dwelt upon the roots of corruption, causes of corruption, consequences of corruption on administration, economy, political system and government, morale of the public, the effectiveness of the existing policies and programmes designed to control corruption and the strategies planned to eliminate corruption at the grassroots. The book is a compendium of insightful and stimulating articles presented at the workshop. This book would be of immense value to planners, policy makers, administrators, development officials, researchers, academicians and research scholars who are concerned about corruption and its ramifications in the polity, society and economy.