CSE MAIN EXAMINATION 2016 – ETHICS PAPER
"Corruption causes misuse of government treasury, administrative efficiency and obstruction in the path of national development." Discuss Kautilya's views.
Kautilya was deeply concerned about corruption in Mayuran State and the capacity of the officials to find intractable devices of extracting money from citizens. The state therefore must put in place a strong vigilance organization as the temptation to misuse power and to earn money without work is trait common to many especially among those who enjoy power over the citizens.
Large scale corruption is nothing but large scale extortion and in effect is a form taxation that doesn’t go to the exchequer but reduces the incomes of the victims , distorts the market ,creates black money and a black economy that thrives on corruption, restricts delivery of public service and its quality and thereby raise the cost of providing the same for the Government. The cascading effect of corruption is high taxation, budget deficit, high cost of basic service and lowering the country’s position in the ease of doing business which together reduce the competitive strength of the economy. Historically corruption caused loss of credibility of Nation States like Turkey before Kamal Atatürk and USSR before dissolution and it is officially recognized as a major problem in China. It obstructs development in many ways critically like creating an environment of cynicism among the people which discouraged innovations and induced brain drain and foreign investors. Corruption therefore is like a Cancer in the body politic and must be detected at the early stage for its cure. Kautilya’s dictum of ‘eternal vigilance’ to root out corruption holds good for States in the world today.
It is in this line of thought, Kautilya remarked, Peoples happiness should be King’s happiness. Welfare of people is King’s welfare. For a king, there is no task which is only individualistic and pleasurable to him only. It is king’s utmost duty to look after progress and welfare of people of his country. So, it needs to put in perspective, that welfare policies can be put in place, infrastructural development can be realized only when a nation is free from corruptive tendencies. This not only hampers national development but also leads to institutional decay in longer run. And this is the reason, it is said, ” When an individuals fail, it is unfortunate and their families go down. But when institutions fail, it is a national tragedy“, which has a direct correlation with national development.
