Bribe-givers from abroad, beware!

UPA-II has been under enormous pressure to put in place legislative measures to curb corruption.

On the last day of the budget session, it expedited a long-awaited enactment to fix foreigners who grease palms of public servants, including ministers and bureaucrats, and businessmen.

Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organisations Bill, 2011, seeks to prevent corruption in international business and tie-ups. The new law makes acts of corruption punishable with imprisonment of up to seven years and monetary fine.

An economy rated 3.3 on a scale of 10 (best) to one (most corrupt) by global watchdog Transparency International, India, however, hasn’t yet signed the UN convention against corruption. This is also because of the fact it hasn’t met conditions considered a must for pure governance.

In sharp contrast, the anti-bribery law in China, which has been rated 3.3 by Transparency, was recently amended and the sentence for bribery enhanced to 15 years.

How effective is India’s new law only time will tell, but the government hasn’t been able to curb native bribe-takers for sure. The country’s wretchedly poor pay bribes for 11 types of services, including police, healthcare, revenue and education.

Police are the most corrupt, with two of every five people surveyed by Transparency saying they had to pay bribe to get help. At least 4 million below-poverty-line families had to bribe staff in state-run hospitals.

According to an estimate, bribe paid to hospital staff over a 12-month period was around $21.75 million. Nearly one million households were denied hospital services simply because they refused to bribe or could not afford to do so.

The government must know charity begins at home. It’s better to put your own house in order before finding faults with foreigners.