What is Corruption? How to Control Corruption in Pakistan

• What are different types of corruption?
• How systemic corruption is different from sporadic corruption?
• How strong democracy can control corruption in Pakistan?

Corruption is one of the major and severest issues faced by Pakistan today. Every single individual in Pakistan is under heavy foreign debt. At the same time, the country is at the brink of going bankrupt. If corruption is stopped, the foreign debt can easily be paid.

Suggesting ways how to control corruption in Pakistan requires in-depth understanding of its causes and the ways how it is practiced. On this platform, you will learn about what is corruption in Urdu as well.

Called “بدعنوانی” in Urdu, corruption is a broad term. Generally, it can be defined as the misuse of entrusted power for illegitimate personal or private gains. It can also be regarded as a form of fraudulent and dishonest conduct by the persons entrusted with a position of authority, typically involving bribery and embezzlement of money or funds.

Corruption can be of several different types, such as political corruption, sporadic corruption, systemic corruption, grand corruption, petty corruption, legal corruption and moral corruption.

Here follows a brief overview of different types of corruption.

Political Corruption: This type of corruption refers to the misuse of authority by the politicians and government officials for the unlawful and undeserved political and personal gains. Such an illegal act is often directly related to their official duties and is done under the color of law.

The political corruption may involve transactions between private and public sector actors to illegally convert collective goods into private-regarding payoffs.

Systemic Corruption: Also called endemic corruption, it can be contrasted with agents or individual officials who conduct corrupt practices within the system. The systemic corruption occurs primarily due to the loopholes in a process or an organization. It is embedded in a wider system which helps sustain it.

Sporadic Corruption: The sporadic or individual corruption is the opposite of the endemic corruption as it occurs irregularly and does not threaten the mechanisms of control. This type of dishonest conduct by people in authority seriously undermines the morale and saps the economy of resources.

Grand Corruption: As the name suggests, grand corruption is a high-level corruption that takes place at the level of policy formation by the officials, politicians or legislators. In other words, it is at the highest level of the public sphere where rules and policies are formulated in the first place.

Petty Corruption: This small-scale corruption is also called bureaucratic corruption. It involves the everyday corrupt practices on the part of the officials or individuals in authority at the implementation end of the rules and policies where the public officials meet the public. It may involve bribery in connection with the enforcement of the existing rules and regulations which makes it different from the grand or political corruption.

Causes of Corruption

After you know the causes of corruption, you will be able to formulate the ways how to control corruption in Pakistan. There can be several different causes of dishonest and fraudulent practices by people in authority.

Some of the factors which may give rise to corruption include:

Lack of Accountability: When people in authority know that they will not be brought to book for their corrupt practice, they feel free to make misuse of entrusted power for unlawful personal benefits.

Low Salaries: Low salaries is one of the basic causes of corruption. When people working for an organization are unable to make two ends meet, they may resort to collect money through illegal and corrupt practices.

Mistrust in Government: When the government is not spending the taxpayer’s money on the rightful causes like education, health and welfare of the people in general, people try to evade taxes. The evasion of taxes can also be considered a type of corruption.

Unemployment: When the educated individuals do not get the jobs they deserve and have expertise for, they try to bribe the individuals in authority to secure their place in an organization. Bribery, as you know, is one of the corrupt practices.

Low Press Freedom: When the press and media are deprived of their right to freedom of expression, people in authority feel free to conduct corrupt practices. It is because they know that their corrupt practices shall not be made public and they will have least chances of facing accountability.

Other causes of corruption include:

• Greed of money and luxury.
• Lust for power.
• Political monopolization.
• Less political transparency.
• Weak democracy.
• Inefficient structures of administration, etc.

How to Control Corruption in Pakistan:

Corruption is engulfing the economy of Pakistan. The country is under the burden of huge circular and foreign debts. If the corrupt practices are not controlled, the country may go bankrupt. So, the people in authority need to formulate effective strategies to stop corruption.

Some of the ways how to control corruption in Pakistan are listed below:

Strong Democracy: If the democratic system of Pakistan is made strong, people will reject the corrupt politicians. They will not entrust power in their hand. So, to be voted to power the next time, the politicians will try to keep their hands clean and avoid corrupt practices.

Running Awareness Campaign: Running an awareness campaign about corruption will make the corrupt individuals feel guilty. Meanwhile, they will also become fearful of facing the consequences.

Transparency of Affairs and Deals: If all the financial affairs and deals at different levels of the business of state are made transparent, people in authority will feel reluctant to get indulged in corrupt practices.

Addressing the Causes of Corruption: Corruption can easily be controlled by addressing and paying attention to the causes of corruption.

To control corruption, the state can do the following things:

• Raise the standard of life of employees.
• Work for the welfare of the people.
• Provide better opportunities for health, education, accommodation, etc.