An effective way to fight corruption

Taking advantage of anything that is not our right leads to corruption. Some times greed, some times in search of a little comfort and some times just we are compelled to take the route of corruption. It is not necessary that a big scam is a corruption. If we jump few persons to go ahead in a queue in front of a ticket counter - it is also a type of corruption.
Civil societies are indignant against corruption, administrators are fumbling in devising methods and taking the help of technologies to reduce the level of corruption, if not abolish it. Corruption was always in the society and it will be in future too. The thing we can do is that we have to reduce the motivation for corruption. In this direction some initiatives are taken from several quarters those may prove effective if the Government can introduce them enthusiastically.

1. Adhar the Unique ID (UID): Aadhaar is a 12 digit unique identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India on behalf of the Government of India. This number will serve as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in India. Each Aadhaar number will be unique to an individual and will remain valid for life. The ID number will be linked with the biometric identification of an individual, like finger print, iris, and face. With this UID ration cards, passports, bank accounts, etc. can be verified.
2. An experiment with kerosene subsidy: Government of India had launched a unique experiment at Alwar district in Rajasthan to provide subsidies on kerosene directly to the poor. In this pilot project the ration card holders would have to purchase the kerosene from the ration shop at the market price i.e. Rs.44.50/- per liter.  The subsidized rate was Rs.15.25/- per liter. The subsidy went directly to the bank account of the ration card holders. The result was stark. The district administration found that the monthly consumption of the block fell from 84,000 liters to 22,000 liters that is a quarter of the whole allocation. How did this happened? Previously, people would collect others' ration cards and use them to buy subsidized kerosene. That is no longer possible now. Any one going to ration shops now has to pay Rs.44.50/- per liter. Since the price of kerosene in the ration shops and in public shops are same therefore black marketing had to bite the dust. Earlier a ration shop owner used to make a profit of Rs.2700/- per month by selling the kerosene, which had fallen to Rs.450/- after the project was launched. This success can be replicated in subsidizing diesel, cooking gas, NREGA payments to the labourers etc. where the beneficiary can directly get the subsidy into their respective bank account. This will cut the stupendous subsidy burden the Central Government is bearing now.

Reference: "Sorry, cash only" published in The Telegraph, Calcutta, Sunday 1st Apr 2012.