Can IT help in handling corruption ?


Anna’s JLP bill assumes that what’s broken can’t be fixed.But actually it is not the case ,we have a lot of good laws and regulations ( and if not then why he is not asking for specific strict amendment to law) but implementation is somehow bogged down at many level of system. 

Being an IT professional and believing in the fact that India is IT capital of the world, I always think and try to find out - How to use IT strategically to tackle( I am not using the word solve ) the problem of corruption in India.So here are the points that I come across :
  
Electronic Identity : Government has already taken initiative by creating Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and soon under the visionary leadership Nandan Nilekani, we will see its impact in reducing corruption. Though there will be hiccups but remember this is herculean task , so one should not lose hope towards best possible finish. Once each Indian is covered ( even if 70% coverage we should treat it 100%) we will identify the real beneficiary and slowly and slowly each and every transaction done by AADHAR holder will be traceable which will certainly control the corruption.

Online Legal information system : Anna’s JLP grants powers to initiate Prosecution against anyone found guilty.  This implies some kind of a parallel judiciary and law enforcement mechanism. Do we need one more court in country of 1.2 Billion people? Why not make reforms to our current courts system and law enforcement enterprises and expedite the pending 30 million cases first to reduce the burden from judiciary. Justice delayed is justice denied. Why can’t we have a electronic system of managing the legal cases , so that people get justice in a specific time-frame and long pending cases get priority and a transparent system of appraisal exists for judges and advocates.   

Integration and Networking: We have experienced that ATM have revolutionized core banking and reduced the burden of banks and so banks are engaged in more productive banking work. Similar reform is much widely appreciated in railways where Centre for Railway Information Systems (or CRIS) is doing fantastic job. So networking and integration is the key to reduce corruption as manual intervention will be controlled, limited and transparent. For example:
-          -   Integration and networking of police stations
-         - Integration and networking of different municipal agencies like Nagarpalika and development authorities (DA).
-          -  Integration and hospitals and Nursing homes and if possible then even medical stores.
-          - Integration of traffic police and transport department

Online Tendering and Evaluation : Since tendering in government departments plays a very important roles in boosting corruption, so computerizing this tendering process will certainly help in transparency. Government can create a specific department for online tendering processes and ask enforce all the government agencies to publish tenders via this interface. Another option is to outsource this online process to some IT company like TCS or Infosys.

Understanding the differences between Govt. Lokpal and Jan Lokpal

For many days , I was trying to understand the differences between Govt's differences on Lokpal and so I tried to do get some comparisons before commenting. Here is the difference in excel sheet format :





Practical meaning of Minority ?

I am member of one yahoo group for foreigners in Norway and there very recently an American guy put up the following question :

"I'm applying for a job and one of the questions is this:
Har du minoritetsbakgrunn? Minoritetsbakgrunn defineres som personer fra Europa utenom EU/EFTA, Asia (inkl. Tyrkia), Afrika, Sør- og Mellom-Amerika og Oseania utenom Australia og New Zealand.
I translate it as:
"Do you have a minority background? A minority background is defined as people from Europe outside of the EU/EFTA, Asia (including Turkey), Africa, South- or Middle-Americas, and Oceania outside of Australia and New Zealand."

I'm from the USA so I'm not from the UE/EFTA but I'm also not from any of the areas listed above. Do you think I *am* considered a minority or...?Do any Caucasian Americans out there know from your own experiences whether you've been considered a minority?

and generous members of the group helped him by following responses :
  • I do not believe that a white American will be considered a minority in Norway.
  • I normally choose : Prefer not to answer :)
  • I am a white American and for the past 6 years here have been told not only that I am not a minority, but also that I am not a foreigner. Technically according to the dictionary definitions I am both in Norway, but that is not how the words are used on a daily/practical basis here.What it meant is pridomantly people with non-white skin colors who come from non-western cultures or countries.
This raises some more questions  like :
- Do Swedish people are minority in Norway or do Swedish people are immigrants ?
- Do Polish people are minority in Norway or do Polish people are immigrants ?

These are the questions which should be well answered in near future by Norwegian politicians.

Diluting discretionary powers of the Ministers and Diplomats

In India corruption often comes in forms like favouritism and nepotism. It is difficult to stop these practices in practical sense. Looking at the debate which is happening in political circle now , it seems that policies which will be part of Lokpal Bill will be sufficient to solve all the corruption issues India is facing now. I understand that policing is important, but will not eliminate implicit corruption from root. Systemic action calls for focusing on electoral funding reforms,govt-transparency  and the steady reduction of discretionary government power should also be there so that we fill the loopholes in system.

Out of these 3 it looks like that GOI has taken some initiative is diluting the discretionary powers of the Ministers. Though it is just a part of initiative but still worth to start with....Read the following report in indian express.

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