INTRODUCTION

Corruption in administration is a many-sided phenomenon. Naturally, it provokes popular anger and revulsion.Manythinkthat it is retarding economicgrowthand compromising national security. It has become a deep-seated malaise eating into the vitals of the nation.

Although corruption evokes strong feelings, it requires objective study. People generally complain about corruption in administration and politics. One form of this corruption, at the interface between administration and common citizen, is what upsets people most. Government servants at the cutting edge of administration rarely provide timely and quality service that people need. Nor do they render such services without taking money. Besides administration and politics,corruption is prevalent in private trade, industry, professions and non-governmental organizations. Corruption in all these areas needs study.

For understanding corruption and its possible remedies, we have to look at it from various angles. Successive governments since Independence have tried to grapple with corruption. The existing laws and administrative arrangements resulted from steps which various governments took to check corruption. We will, however, examine the present laws and the administrative set up without entering into detailed historical discussions.

In this chapter, we will:

¤ Define ‘corruption’

¤ Try to understand its sources or roots and

¤ Discuss the main institutions which deal with corruption.

There are some issues which are at the centre in current discussions on corruption. We will consider them in the next chapter.