Corruption, Punishment and Justice
O f late, any news about the corruption in public life in India is drawing much attention. Hitherto, most of us had resigned to our fates and consoled ourselves believing that the institutionalized form of corruption is here to stay and the so called intelligentsia can not do much about it. Thanks to people like Anna Hazare, Vinod Rai, Julian Assange and innumerable functionaries in various places like the judiciary, our pessimism is gradually waning like snow in the sunshine. What is probably desired in India is perhaps not to introduce new laws but the implementation of the existing laws with a heavy hand to ensure punitive action. Of course, many modifications in existing laws may be required for this. Last week, the hedge fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam of the Galleon Group who was convicted by a court in US for 11 years in prison was also made to pay 63 Million US Dollars as penalties. There are additional civil penalties of US Dollar 97 Million also being claimed f