Bangladesh has been doing envious success in every sector of economy. Though people all around the world are observing visible development works nowadays, but they firmly believe that the country could be developed earlier if diversified and intensified level of corruption could be controlled. People here mostly are acquainted to fiscal corruption i.e. bribery and embezzlement of money in public and private organizations. But a few numbers of people have clear and conspicuous idea about intellectual corruption that also massively cripples country’s economy.
Beside effective uses of all resources, holistic development of a country significantly depends on controlling of corruption. Corruption creates many obstacles to economic growth and has a negative effect on economic and social development. Corruption undermines beliefs and moral values in the society. Corruption also weakens the whole endeavor of government policy and its implementation towards making country’s visions a success. No country can ever claim to remove corruption permanently. Rather each and every country should emphasize on controlling intensity of corruption. Development and excessive extent of corruption can never run simultaneously in a developing country like Bangladesh.
It is said that intellectual corruption is more detrimental to development than fiscal corruption. It is as heinous an offence as fiscal corruption. Intellectual corruption is ignored a lot as it has no direct linkage to bribery or embezzlement but it is one of the root causes of occurring financial or monetary corruption. It has some dimensions like administrative corruption, policy corruption and political corruption. Although a common type of corruption i.e. fiscal corruption is also seen to occurring in aforesaid dimensions of corruptions. The root causes of committing intellectual corruption are nepotism (favoritism), sycophancy, fraud, injustice, blackmail etc.
Administrative corruption is violation of a law for personal benefits by utilization of job position. Administrative corruption is a problem with which the country has been grappling to a larger extent. This erodes people’s trust in government and non-government organizations and increases indifference and inefficiency in society as well as hampers development and undermines the rule of law. The consequences of administrative corruption appear in the forms of abusing one’s authority position, leaving the client (beneficiaries) dissatisfied, appropriation or abuse of property and assets of the organization, selling secret information of the organization etc. Administrative corruption also occurs in the forms of providing fake or wrong information to policy makers, compelling colleagues to commit unethical or unlawful action, committing unnecessary field visit in the name of organization interest, compelling field level offices to bear all expenses during authority position officials’ field visit, buying equipment or stationeries for organizations with excessive price than market price etc. Intellectual corruption goes intelligently but applying dirty tricks, emotional skills, blackmailing, fraudulence and exercise power of authority positions.
Political corruption refers to abuse of power, make false promise and then make a turn around, violate government rules and regulations and instructions of circulars etc. beside nepotism and injustice. On the other hand, policy corruption is a massive threat for economic stability, development and dreadful wastage of country’s scarce resources and money. It is highly detrimental to advancement of economy as it increases costs of implementing projects and hampers the growth of competitiveness. It may bring benefit to other countries or organizations.
Intellectual corruption brings incompetent and unskilled people to the authority positions in policy making. It never ensures right people to right positions. It ridiculously ensures reward to bad people and punishment to skilled people as well as increases dissatisfaction and disinterest among dedicated workers to perform duties with commitment and sincerity. It deprives the country to chalk out people friendly and welfare oriented policy that eventually brings a massive loss for the country in the long run. It squanders national resources and reduces the efficiency of government as well as workforces in running policy-implementing machineries smoothly. This erodes people’s trust in government and non-government organizations and increases indifference and inefficiency in the society.
As Bangladesh is going through its best phase of development in all indices, so considering dreadful aftermath of intellectual corruption the government should be awarded now and stressed on controlling it. On the other hand, social security network works massively all over the country and the government is committed to continue as well as expand the welfare oriented program by any means. Moreover, like other countries in the world Bangladesh’s economy is slowing down due to impacts of corona pandemic. So, the government needs to ensure transparency and accountability in running its administrative and other machineries. And this is possible only government can take stern steps to control intensity of intellectual corruption as an initiative to combat it.
Fiscal and intellectual corruptions are committed by a few numbers of so-called educated people of the country. Country’s huge numbers of illiterate and poorly literate population are innocent regards to commit corruption but are the victim of bearing pinch of corruption in everyday life by a meager numbers of advantaged corrupted people. Father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman rightly said, “The farmers of Bengal are not corrupt, neither are our labourers. The educated class — we are the ones who are corrupt”. While addressing parliament in 1975 he uttered, “We have to work sincerely and honestly for the emancipation of the poor people of the country”. So, the government should become more strict to the few numbers of people who commit corruption to curve or control corruption from the society. It is said that government’s hand is so tall that nothing is impossible to government to materialize.
(Mr. Md Bayazid Khan is a columnist. Email: [email protected])
