Why Bangladesh is different from India in curbing corruption?

The Prime Minister of India, Manmahon Singh, told senior journalists recently that his government has taken the matter of corruption centring 2G mobile phone licences very seriously. He also said that none will escape the law by indulging in malpractice. Obviously, this declaration has assured his people, at a time when severe criticism is mounting over the allegation of corruption against some central government ministers and high officials in India. In the meantime, the ministers allegedly involved in the scam were forced to resign and a minister has also been arrested for his alleged involvement. Undoubtedly, the Indian government's sincerity in rooting out corruption becomes clear by these steps. But the scenario in Bangladesh is different from India. Though, in our country the opposition leader and members of parliament belonging to her party blame the government of corruption and failure every now and then but regrettably, they do not make the parliament effective by attending its sessions. Besides, the government remains always busy in inventing conspiracy theories on all issues raised by the opposition party. But nobody can say that the country has been governed properly at any time by any government so far. It is generally acknowledged that corruption occurs in most government activities. It has become difficult to punish corrupt persons due to loop holes in the laws. Recently, the cabinet has approved amendments to the Anti-Corruption Commission Act that could weaken the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC). The amendments would restrain the ACC from filing any case against civil servants without prior permission of the government. It will become impossible to investigate allegations of corruption against government organs and its servants under such circumstances. Besides, there is also the lengthy judicial process and flawed interpretation of the law of the land that is creating obstacle to uprooting corruption from society. The Indian prime minister has admitted candidly that corruption exists in his country. But no government in Bangladesh seems to accept the fact that corruption prevails in our society. But after being ousted from power, many hair-raising tales of corruption are exposed and every government blames its predecessor for rampant corruption. It is not possible to verify the truth of such assertions for the lacking of investigation. Very few corrupt politicians or bureaucrats have been taken to task in spite of Bangladesh being identified as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Besides, ensuring trial of the identified corrupt persons, the government should also give ACC full independence to deal with corruption in society. Why should the ACC take government's permission before instituting corruption cases against government functionaries, if the CBI of India does not need any permission to investigate against corrupt ministers? The government should investigate those ministries and government institutions which have complaints of corruption and mismanagement against those. On the whole, the corrupt persons will be encouraged more and the government's anti-corruption stance will fall flat on its face, if the government and the opposition blame each other for corruption without during anything about it. (The writer can be reached at e-mail: lutfor81@gmail.com)