Dismantling corruption from India (S.L. Rao, South Asia Monitor)

In the last 12 years, the amount of money illegally diverted to private hands from national resources has reached astonishing proportions. Some instances have gained their fair share of notoriety by now. The CAG estimated presumptively that the country lost well over Rs 1.7 lakh crore in the 2G spectrum allocation scam and Rs 1.86 lakh crore in the coal-block allocation. Praful Patel, as the civil aviation minister, ordered the ailing Air India to buy 68 planes and not 28 as was originally approved, and in order to do this, Patel gave “long-term perspective” as an excuse, while releasing valuable Air India routes to private parties. In 2010, the country lost R70,000 crore in the Commonwealth Games scam. Welfare schemes also have been marked by theft and diversion of national resources to private hands. The public distribution scheme is said to have made rich men of many officers of the Food Corporation of India. By creating millions of bogus ration-cards to divert subsidised grains to the market, many bureaucrats and traders made big money. It is estimated that 40% of subsidised kerosene for the poor is diverted for adulteration with diesel for trucks. Money from the MGNREGS is said to reach perhaps just 50% of its targeted beneficiaries. Most government projects and welfare schemes have substantial illegal diversion of resources to private parties. These are said to include low- and high-level bureaucrats, politicians, ministers and intermediaries. Intriguingly, though there are many newspaper reports—and other documentation—of such corruption, it is difficult to name more than a handful who were arrested, punished and whose illegally gained assets were confiscated.

http://southasiamonitor.org/detail.php?type=n&nid=16110