It is virtually impossible to quantify the actual cost of corruption since payments of bribes are not publicly recorded. Take, for example, a power plant being built at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. It could be argued that, were it not for corruption, the cost could have been as low as Rs 700 crore. The financial damage to the public would then be Rs 300 crore. In practice, quite often projects are planned simply so that those involved can make huge private profits. Assuming that the power plant was superfluous, the financial damage would have to be assessed at Rs 1000 crore. In addition, all major power plants leave a trail of environmental destruction. The results are increased pollution, a lowering of land prices, resettlement of local residents, an increased debt burden for the country, and so on. This calculation is immensely complex. Corruption impacts people’s lives in a multitude of ways. It costs lives, freedom, health and money. Those who died in the Uphaar fire, for instance, were victims of corruption.

Corruption thrives where temptation coexists with permissiveness. Where institutional checks on power are missing, where decision-making remains obscure, where civil society is thin on the ground and where great inequalities in the distribution of wealth condemn people to live in poverty, there corrupt practices flourish.

The writer is a retired major