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          Corruption is the basic impediments of economic growth and poverty reduction. The international anti-corruption day was observed worldwide last December 09 with lots of enthusiasm and commitments.
The day comes to us with appealing features as Bangladesh has been appearing in the top of the list among the corrupted countries in the world, in a survey of Transparency International (TI) for the previous fourth consecutive years. Although there are some criticisms on the Corruption Perception Index of TI, there is no denying fact that corruption has been rooted and swelled out in every sphere of life in Bangladesh.
There are various visible and invisible forms of corruption in Bangladesh such as bribery, forgery, nepotism, ransom-taking and rent- seeking, tax evasion through the corruption of tax collectors, corruption in government and private purchases, auditing, bidding etc. Such types of corruption are not only depriving the people of their own rights and justice, the country as a whole is also suffering from a low-profile image, which ultimately denigrated it as a nation. The widespread corruption also indicates its moral weaknesses -- the extent to which corruption has become accepted as 'a way of life' in Bangladesh. Foreign investors and visitors feel scare to visit Bangladesh due to such problems.
Development is hampered to a great extent due to widespread corruption. With this bulge of corruption, a majority of the population who are living in the poverty -- and in rural areas -- are deprived of their basic needs. Nobel Lauriat Amartya Sen used the term 'deprivation' a lack of access to entitled capabilities, which he described by the words, "…what he can or can not do, he can or can not be".
A genuine capability to function -- to choose and to react -- is necessary to quality of human life and hence to absence of deprivation. Although Sen's entitled capabilities include nourishment, shelter, community life, freedom to travel and associate etc., -- that are clearly the legacy of basic needs -- 'corruption' is a factor that can affect all these to a certain extent both from quality and quantity points of view. Therefore, corruption can be an influencing factor to deprivation of the people of their basic needs.
Due to widespread corruption, social and political institutions have become fragile. Systems are not working well, or in some cases, they have become dysfunctional. Strong political commitment is required to combat corruption, but it largely depends on the credibility of the political institutions, transparency in fund raising process of the political parties, and consistency in commitments of the politicians.
Although there is no exact figure on how much the country is losing from all types of corruption, but definitely it can be foreseen that with the reduction of sizable corruptions, a drastic change in life-style and development process is inevitable.
Against this backdrop, there is a ray of hope with the formation of independent anti-corruption commission (ACC). People's expectations are high about this commission, so it has to go a long way. Although Bangladesh is yet to sign the UN Convention on Anti-corruption, its people cherish hope that the Commission will observe the day in the future with lots of gesture and activities to motivate people, to create awareness against corruption etc.
To remove the mountain-like problems, the commission needs to be equipped with modern facilities with young, talented, dynamic and overall honest staffs. Although honesty is a comparative term, there might have some indicators by which minimum honesty of a person can be judged. Some of peoples expectations from the commission can be noted here.
Quick disposal of corruption cases: Quick disposal of 'corruption cases' is very important for the sake of containing corruption. For this purpose, enacting some situation-demanding act is necessary. Special anti-corruption tribunals can be formed for disposing of the cases. The people hope that the ACC will take proper initiatives to convince the government of the need to revise the relevant laws and other rules.
National Data Base: The ACC should have a national database on the claims of corruptions and it should be updated on a daily basis to ascertain the present status of the claims. An IT section can be launched in the ACC by appointing young IT professionals with attractive remunerations packages. This section should be the most restrictive section of the ACC where only the commissioners may have direct access.
Rapid actions against corruption: It is another long-standing desire of the people that rapid action is necessary against bribery and other cases. People do not have faith on the personnel of the recently demolished Bureau of Anti-Corruption, therefore, any new intelligence branch can be formed to help the commission. The intelligence wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) can be a good choice if it is strengthened with sufficient capacities.
Motivation and awareness build-up: As the corruption has become the 'way of life', the country is in the bottom line of morality. Moral education is the foremost necessity for the people so that minimum honesty can be ensured. This moral education should be initiated from the school level, explaining the ethical issues in terms of religious -- for example, Islamic code of conduct point of view as well as that of socio-cultural one. Moreover, strong publicity from the ACC in the media such as in radio, TV networks, newspapers is required to update people about their activities, to make awareness about the anti-corruption laws and possible penalties etc. This will help create awareness among the people against all types of corruption, and to build moral strength of future generations.
Some exemplary actions: Above all, some quick exemplary decisions could be helpful to enhance the credibility of the ACC to the people.
To create a just society and to enhance the development process, there is no way other than combating corruption and improving law and order situation. Corruption is one of the important factors behind the bad law and order situation.
Making the systems transparent and accountable is crucial for combating corruption. This is also necessary for the overall development of the country. Because, ''development is a process of societal transformation that takes place over time…[And] lasting development and poverty reduction require a true transformation of society…A transformation of this magnitude will entail changing situations so that they are accountable to all, including the poor'' [World Bank, 2000].
The people are waiting for such a transformation in the society and polity where the institutions will be accountable to the people and transparency will be ensured so that the growth path of the economy can get an accelerated momentum.