International Journal of Research in Arts and Science, Vol. 1, No.

1, February 2015

Iron India Rusts by Corruption

G. Ajifa Jeya Priya
Abstract--- This paper examines the three key bodies of the
society namely Media, Social Workers and NGOs in
connection with their fight against corruption and their
integrity and responsibility towards the society and also how
far their impact can succeed in combating corruption. The
study reveals that these three key bodies have their major part
and prominent role in eradicating corruption from the
country. Their participation in the movement of anti
corruption is highly important as they have a larger potential
to influence the society. The results show that these three
bodies should possess a qualitative approach and efficient
practice with ethical standards in delivering their work and
should have collaboration within them so as to progress in the
crusade of anti corruption.

ideas or suggestions that can be implemented for progressing

efficiently in the anti-corruption movement. The study made
an analysis of the aforesaid three distinct bodies of the country
sampled through various scholarly journals, articles, papers,
discussions that were published through the print, news,
internet, and press releases and public statements from NGOs,
reports on corruption activities etc. These sources were used to
get wider knowledge about the corruption that takes place
within the country and to fetch information regarding the
media, social workers and NGOs. Extensive analysis was used
to identify the current situation and issues on corruption and
the three key bodies and to find solutions that can be
implemented for effective role playing of media, social
workers and NGOs.

Keywords--- Anti-Corruption Movement, Collaboration,

Media, NGOs, Social Workers

The study reveals that these three key bodies of the society
have its major part and prominent role in eradicating
corruption from the country. Their participation in the
movement of anti corruption is indeed important as they have
a larger potential to influence the society. The result shows
that these three bodies should possess a qualitative approach
and efficient practice with ethical standards in delivering their
work by means of collaboration within them so as to progress
in the crusade of anti corruption.

I.

INTRODUCTION

ORRUPTION is an ethical impurity or dishonest action

for ones private gain. It causes nationwide threat that
adversely affects peoples living conditions and standards and
is spreading like an incurable disease all over the world. It
endangers countrys economy level and has already reached
its peak in all fields, particularly in politics. Most of the largest
sources of corruption in India are entitlement programmes and
social spending schemes enacted by the Indian government
[1]. In recent days, India has placed itself among the three
most corrupt countries in the world. The main reason behind
corruption is the connection between Bureaucracy, Politics
and Criminals. It is revealed that Indian bureaucracy as the
least efficient among the leading economies of Asian countries
and also that working with the civil servants of India is a slow
and painful process, in a survey conducted [2]. Many of the
biggest scandals have involved high level government
officials. In India, a bitter truth is that the criminals come into
politics for making money and earns the name called Leader.
Therefore, these three aforesaid evils combine together
resulting in a dangerous disease called Corruption. This
growing evil menace of the society can be curbed by the
effective role playing of Media, Social workers and NGOs of
the country in its collaboration with each other possessing
high ethical standards.
The aim of the present study is to examine the nature of
the media, social worker and NGOs and how their effective
role can combat corruption from the society. To give new
G. Ajifa Jeya Priya, B.B.A.,B.L(Hons.), Student, Department of Law,
Saveetha School of Law, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. E-mail:
[email protected]
DOI: 10.9756/IJRAS.8008

The main contribution of this paper is the new techniques

or improvement over the existing techniques which can be
used for the future purposes of the Anti-Corruption institutions
for their progress in curbing corruption throughout the
country. The overview of this paper is as follows: Section II
gives a brief description about the nature, objects and
functions and roles of the three key bodies namely Media,
Social Workers and NGOs.
II.

TRILATERAL INFLUENCE

A. Media as the Tool to Fight Against Corruption

Generally, media is called as the pillar of a democratic
country. It has to play two crucial roles in combating
corruption from the country. One is exposing corruption and
fraudulent practices in government, private sector and even
among civil society organisations. The other one is to promote
good governance and human rights. Media is one of the major
sources in spreading information regarding the corrupt people
and practice. Chowdhury [3] says that corruption tends to be
lower in the countries where the citizens have higher rights to
participate and have access to free media. Lindita Camaj [4]
gives out her hypotheses on the relationship between media
freedom and control of corruption that the correlation will be
stronger in countries where there is a parliamentary system of
governance, high judiciary independence, high voter turnout,
high electoral competition, more developed civil societies.
There are three mechanisms through which the media
influence our perceptions and norms: media act as watchdog,

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International Journal of Research in Arts and Science, Vol. 1, No. 1, February 2015

agenda setters, and public forum for a diverse set of voices

Anne-Katrin et al., [5]. In many countries, media has played a
considerable role in combating corruption by making political
and social changes in the country. Media, by acting as a
watchdog, can make aware of the corrupt activities that are
taking place around the country. This makes the public aware
of the corrupt politicians and makes the politicians cautious of
their power given to him. As an agenda setter, it can try
exposing the status quo of our country in its aspect of corrupt
activities. By doing this, there is a chance of compelling the
legislature to enact stringent laws on Corruption. Media has
the influential option of setting up a public forum where the
public can raise their issues, portray their perceptions and
suggest their solutions in order to prevent or combat
corruption to its larger extent. Nowadays, Internet and Smart
phones has become a part and parcel of our daily life. Through
these kind of technological development, one can access to
any kind of information he/she wants. Therefore, through
social media such as facebook, twitter, whatsapp, youtube, the
youth society can be influenced and be made aware of the
corrupt activities which could be impliedly understood that
every general public has also become aware of those activities.
Mass media is the major source for spreading and
disseminating the information as it reaches every kind of
public. It includes Print (newspapers, books, magazines etc.),
Radio and Television etc. Through the print media, various
scams and scandals about the corrupt activities and the
connected person can be exposed to the general public to a
considerable extent. By means of television, a large number of
audiences can be swayed by projecting the corrupt persons to
make the public aware about that corrupt person. Radio is
widely used mode of entertainment which includes much kind
of programmes for entertainment purposes. In such aspect, it
delivers current news and updates about day-to-day events.
Therefore, radio can also be used to serve as a media for
exposing the corrupt persons and their activities. This shows
that there is a huge power in the hands of media to expose and
show the corrupt persons and activities in the county.
B. Social Workers as the Helpers to Fight Against
Corruption
There are different perspectives and definitions are given
to describe the nature of a social worker. But the general
perspective about a social worker is that any social change in
the society can be brought by the social workers. This
perspective therefore includes any social movement or crusade
which is for the accomplishment of any social goals that
benefit the entire society of the nation. In this regard, the anticorruption movement can also be included as the work or duty
for every social worker to participate and to progress in the
movement for achieving a social change which is for the
betterment of the whole society. A social worker who is
regarded as an agent of social control should work with a
conservative force in bringing a harmonious social system in
which the people of the country can live in peace. One should
work with set of values and principles that induces him/her to
fight against corruption. In the role of fighting corruption
against the country, since a social worker possesses qualities
such as perseverance, commitment, kindness, hard work etc,
the tasks on curbing corruption can be accomplished by them

in an effective manner. Social work is committed to rights and

justice [6]. In India, an anti corruption movement was started
in the year 2011, in which the main protestants were social
workers (or activists) namely Anna Hazare and Ramdev. They
made a huge attempt in curbing corruption in our country by
implementing a hunger strike for many days which resulted
positively. The main concern behind every social worker is
having a set of values and principles, only upon which the
social work is relied on. The trends may have been changed in
the social work but the set of principles and values are the core
processor of every social worker to deliver their work in a just
and fair way. The base of the social worker on these key
principles and moral values project them as a distinct
profession in the society. Though the profession of social
worker seems to be exhaustive in nature, it paves the way for
them to indulge in every issue which allows them to work on
such issues and give out the solutions i.e., changing the
imbalanced situation to a balanced one. Therefore, the
indulging of a social worker as a helper in the Anti-corruption
movement has a wide impact for the positive results in the
country.
C. NGOs as the Catalysts to Fight Against Corruption
NGOs are the Non-Governmental Organisations that work
for the welfare of the society. The NGOs are widely
categorized into many kinds. One of a kind is Public benefit
NGOs, which are the organizations working for the
improvement of conditions of society as a whole or of a
segment of society. These kinds of NGOs can participate in
the movement of anti corruption since their establishment is
mainly concerned for the accomplishment of social goals that
target on the betterment of the society. Such NGOs are largely
present in our country and hence they can have more access to
the general public. They should have more commitment in
spreading of information and promotion of sustainable
development initiatives, where they find social injustice or
imbalanced social system in our country. Firstly, the NGOs
should raise the awareness among the general public about
their rights and duties that are fundamentally available to
them. Secondly, they should try forming a group of citizens
and should empower them to make them engaged in the anticorruption movement so as to bring a uniform action against
the corrupt activities taking place in the county. Then, the
NGOs should have collaboration with the service providers for
more response which make them to monitor the changes
periodically so that feedback can be given to the concerned
community and authority. By doing these steps effectively,
these NGOs can bring a notable change in the society that
enable the people to be aware of the status quo of the nation.
NGOs has a general perspective that it collects the information
of social issues and expresses the problem emerge to the
government which make them to improve their governance to
take action against such problems and they also try promoting
the countrys key principle called democracy. Thus, NGOs act
as the catalytic agent to fight against corruption.

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III.

FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Limitations in Media & Solutions

There are lots of difficulties and obstacles that are been
faced by the media in our country which prevent it from
progressing in helping out the society from the possible evils.
There are strict libel laws in the country which prevents the
media from exposing the true facts about the corrupt person or
activity which may be falsified in the name of defamation.
When media exposes the corruption or other forms of
wrongdoings done by the powerful, their license granted to
operate may be cancelled. The medias integrity and autonomy
are generally at risk by factors such as medias ownership,
regulations, resources and capacity which make themselves
vulnerable to corruption. There are many factors such as
market failures, lack of professional standards, weak civil
society, and limitations in media literacy and public access to
the media [7] which acts as hurdles for the efficient delivery of
work by the media. Other factors such as lack of training and
technical skills, limited financial resources, inadequate legal
frameworks and an undemocratic political system paves the
way for a media to be ineffective [8]. The possible suggestions
that can be recommended for the effective role playing of
media in the anti-corruption movement are as follows:

Media is been put into threat by the so called libel

laws. Therefore, the legislature must make some
exceptions in the libel laws, thereby ensuring media
freedom to expose the corrupt activities taking place
in the country. While making the concerned
exceptions in the libel laws to set media free for
exposing the corrupt activities, the legislature must be
careful enough in providing such exceptions that it
should not make any loopholes which may allow the
media to expose the unwanted or obscene stories.
Nowadays, media is lacking ethical standards which
make themselves vulnerable to corruption. A few
types of corruption that are taking place in the media
itself are Bribery, Gifts and Advertisements,
Nepotism and Media Capture [8]. For eliminating this
kind of corruption in Media, the following steps can
be taken.
Bribery It is mainly caused in the media
institutions in which the bribe givers ask for
manipulation of facts or to disclose the facts by
giving a huge amount of money. The bribe
takers, in turn, due to the thirst of money, do the
same as recommended by the bribe giver. This
potential threat to medias integrity can be
prevented by appointing the self-regulated
employees who is dedicated to the field of
media. Such kind of personnel can be found by
interviewing with the criteria that he should have
achieved some tasks through honesty.
Gifts and Advertisement In this regard,
journalists are easily vulnerable to this kind of
corruption especially in a developing country
like India. The main reason behind this is the
journalists low salary which induces them to be
easily corrupted. To remove this corruption in

the media, journalists can be given monetary

benefits such as being paid high, giving
incentives and bonus or be given non-monetary
benefits
such
as
giving
award
for
accomplishment of any tasks, providing vehicle,
rent-free house, giving electronic gadgets,
arranging parties etc. This kind of non-monetary
and monetary benefits may make them feel
satisfied with their jobs that prevent them from
being corrupted.
Nepotism It is favouring of any employee by
hiring or firing at the institution. This is done
mainly by the government that it has the power
to appoint employees and so such provision is
likely to be misused for giving jobs to their
family members which is to show that the
governments actions are fair and just in nature.
Media Capture It is now a serious threat in the
developing countries like India. By getting bribe
money, the media may cover and capture the
stories that are favouing the bribe giver. This can
be eliminated by adopting strong moral and
ethical principles within the institution by
creating their own legal framework for their selfregulatory purposes. According to which, if any
employee found captured stories that favours one
political party, he can be suspended for his/her
immoral action. This makes every individuals be
cautious of their positions and jobs in the
institution. In case, if the media institution that is
been running by the ruling party indulges in
favouing their own party by covering false story,
then the media that does not favour any of the
parties can prove it false.
The person involved in corruption may claim under
the libel law that he/she is been defamed to affect the
reputation, if media exposes his/her corrupt activity.
To prove the person as wrong, media should provide
sufficient evidence which must be believable. For
which, media can seek help from the social workers
who can find such proving evidence by doing an
underground process. As we discussed already, social
workers are the ones who work for the welfare of the
society. Therefore, the media can join hands with the
social workers to get wide information regarding the
corrupt activity done by that person concerned. In
such a case, each social worker should work
dedicatedly for the media institution. But, at times,
even the social workers who work on an underground
process may get bribed.

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B. Limitations for Social Workers & Solutions

C. Limitations in NGOs & Solutions

Social workers are also called as social activists. They

are the ones who work untiringly for the betterment of the
society. However, they face lots of difficulties and struggles
during they work on their goals. The movement by a group of
social workers may consume more time since it is a long term
process. It is the movement where the nations people are
given awareness about the evil of corruption and so the social
workers should reach every kind of public which needs more
money. The movement needs many volunteers but there is a
lack in number required for it as the people are more
concerned about their own life rather the countrys future. In
our country, a main obstacle to do the social work for a good
cause is political pressure. So, the social worker may be
coerced to withdraw from the movement by threatening their
life. For all the aforesaid limitations that is been faced by the
social workers, the solution would be nothing but joining
hands with Media and NGOs. Because, by doing this, the time
consumption which is one of the limitations mentioned above
could be rectified. Since media can project the social workers
selfless dedication to the anti-corruption movement to all the
general public, the time consumption by the social workers to
access the general public could be ultimately reduced as the
media makes people know about the initiative and objective of
the social workers regarding the movement. Secondly, one of
the factors of limitation is money. It is the major requirement
for every social worker as they already lack in financial
support for their own lives. Therefore, in this regard, the social
workers may seek help from both the media and NGOs. As
NGOs could provide sufficient money to the social workers by
means of their funds collected from many sources and media
could easily influence the public about the cause of social
workers of financial unsteadiness. This may bring a financial
support to the social workers who work for the anti-corruption
campaign. The third limitation which is mentioned above is
the lack of volunteers for the movement. This could also be
rectified by the help from media. Media has a wider access to
the public and has the power to influence the public which we
have already discussed. So, this tool can be used effectively
for bringing in the volunteers for the movement. The last
limitation said above is the threatening of life of the social
workers in the movement. This could also be resolved by
joining hands with media. Media can expose the true nature of
the person or the party who threatens the life of the social
worker in the movement for reverting back from the
movement, provided that there is a sufficient evidence for
proving the wrongful act of the person or the party. So, the
social workers can work without the fear of being killed or
injured. For providing such evidences, a committee called
Anti-corruption Committee could be formed by a group of
social activists in every states approved by the State
governments where they work for collecting such evidences.
This could eventually bring many volunteers to the movement
as there is guarantee for their lives. This could also be
regarded as a solution for the lack of volunteers which is one
of the limitations that is been already mentioned above. Thus,
the role of social workers in the anti-corruption movement is
important as they enhance the crusade in an effective way.

It seems to be optimistic that NGOs participation could

make a considerable change in the social system of the
country. But there are still issues arise in the effectiveness of
NGOs which participate in the movement of anti corruption.
Most of the NGOs start the movement with a false perception
that they have public backing to fight against corruption.
NGOs generally have the opinion of themselves that they
work for the cause with relation to laws. But the actual status
of an NGO is that it is of the opinions of a group of selfselected individuals in whose mission they have formed their
organization. The limitations [9] that are generally found in
NGOs are less local funding and less foreign funding for the
running of their establishments. Then, it is to be noted that the
anti-corruption movement is a new phenomenon in the field of
NGOs. Because, from the earlier stages, NGOs are the
organizations that generally work for the welfare of the society
in means of social, economical, educational, environmental
and such. The other main limitation is a serious issue that the
NGOs which fight against corruption are themselves gets
corrupted in some situations (Loss of Credibility by the
public). To resolve all these limitations, the following
solutions can be used.

The NGOs themselves must be clean first. They

should not be influenced by the big political shots by
keeping themselves far from the bribing tactics. For
which, the NGOs should follow the key principles,
ethical and moral standards that they do not tend to
get corrupted.
NGOs could earn their credibility by doing good
deeds which could be projected by the media to the
public that makes them to trust on NGOs.
To increase the local and foreign funding, the NGOs
could go for a campaign or could seek help from
media to show their need; thereby they would get a
huge response.
Since the anti-corruption movement is a new
phenomenon to the field of NGOs, they can undergo
a training for making themselves strong to face all the
circumstances and problems that may arise in future.
For which, they can seek assistance from the social
workers who are well aware of the potential threats in
this movement.
IV.

CONCLUSION

Corruption is a serious issue to be paid attention that it has

a corrosive impact on the country. It has become necessary to
fight against this evil as it threatens the countys integrity. It is
an indigenous disease that has grown significantly over the
past decades. The three distinct key bodies namely Media,
Social Workers and NGOs are the vital elements to be present
in the anti-corruption crusade as they have a major impact on
the society. The study suggests the formulation of a clear
hypothesis that the Media, Social Workers and NGOs should
have collaboration within themselves for delivering an
efficacious work to progress in the anti-corruption movement.
They three should be interdependent with each other that they
can seek support from themselves which would result

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International Journal of Research in Arts and Science, Vol. 1, No. 1, February 2015

positively. The findings from the study show that the existing
techniques are not to the extent in combating corruption. The
suggestions or solutions are given for future applications in
case if any anti-corruption movement is started by Media or
Social workers or NGOs of the country.
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