Corruption has its origin in moral decay

Admittedly, corruption is one of the national problems in Bangladesh. Not long ago, Bangladesh was five times champion in the corruption perspection index published by the Transparency International, a Berlin-based rights organization. Although corruption is marking a decline, albeit very slowly, right now Bangladesh still finds itself among the most corrupted countries (16th from the bottom in 2013) of the of world. Additionally, according to TIB, sixty per cent of Bangladeshi respondents think the level of corruption has increased in the last two years. The  result emerges from a survey among 1,822 Bangladeshis between February 10 and March 15. Corruption is a deep-rooted evil and universal malady afflicting Bangladesh society. It is a matter of national disgrace. It has now turned into a serious national problem. In a poor and underdeveloped country like Bangladesh the effects of corruption on economy and politics prove devastating. By resorting to corruption, a section of powerful people amasses huge wealth and lead a very carefree and luxurious life.
Corruption has a negative, deleterious and discouraging influence on investment and economic growth, administrative performance and democracy. Endemic corruption in a country leads to economic malpractices and squandering of public resources, tells on administrative performance, adversely affects overall morale in the public service, and jeopardizes administrative reform efforts and accountability measures, and perpetuates social and economic inequalities (UN, 1990). Corruption reinforces political instability and underdevelopment. In short, corruption impedes economic growth, stifles entrepreneurship, misuses scarce national resources, weakens administrative capacity, contributes to serious political decay and undermines stability, democracy and national integration (Theobald, 1990).
According to the US ambassador to Bangladesh John C Holzman, corruption raises business costs directly and makes Bangladesh less competitive in world economy. In the past few years, especially in the last two, issues of the proposed Padma bridge, Hall-Mark, share market and corruption in railway recruitments had dominated discussions in the public domain and they influenced people's perceptions. However, sectors are rare where corruption is non-existent. According to the former chairman of Anti-corruption Commission (ACC), corruption has got an institutional form in the country.
Corruption can be defined in simple term as an unethical and unfair practice or means to drawing any profit or benefit that goes against law and harms others' interests. In broad terms, corruption is abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Ramnath Sharma, an Indian sociologist, in his book 'Indian Social Problem' defined corruption as "In a  corruption a person willfully neglected his specified duty in order to have an undue advantage." Nevertheless, bribery, graft, embezzlement, nepotism, patronage, unholy alliance are the forms of corruption. The former chairman of the ACC said, more or less there are 3,000 forms of scam in Bangladesh.
In quest of the core causes of corruption, apparently poverty, high ambition, social competition etc. can be found responsible in various sectors in the country. But the million dollar question is, is it possible for a person who cherishes high standard of morality to be involved in bribery, embezzlement or unholy alliance? Can one abuse power or neglect one's specific duty in any circumstance prompted by poverty, social competition or high ambition? The answer is that a person who possesses high moral values cannot compromise on corruption. Because, morality -- obtained mostly from religious orientation -- consists of honesty, compassion, courage, modesty and forgiveness. Honesty is the source of integrity. Compassion makes one sympathetic to others. Courage gives bravery to overcome life's challenges. Modesty keeps one focused on something and humble. Forgiveness allows one to be emotionally stable because it helps one to give up anger and resentment. Effective moral education helps people to understand and apply values such as care, doing your best,  freedom, trustworthiness, integrity, respect, responsibility, understanding, tolerance etc. Moral education gives people a sense of understanding things and enables them to choose between what is right and what is wrong. A person without moral values is like a lost ball in the high winds.
For this reason psychologists and sociologists pointed out that moral degradation and ethical decadence are the main cause of corruption. People's immoral activities, avarice, craze for amassing wealth, materialistic attitude of life together  breed corruption.
Finally, the government is adopting many remedial measures to curb corruption from Bangladesh such as, strengthening the ACC, proper implementation of rule of law etc. But along with these initiatives, the government should emphasise moral education with a view to building a society for people with high standard of morality. Then it is presumed that pervasive corruption will ultimately be a thing of the past, since immorality is the root cause of corruption.
The writer is an Assistant Professor at Social Work, Centre for General Education, Northern University Bangladesh, Email: [email protected]