The Fire of Corruption: Why Is It Spreading In Nepal?

Nepal is on the list of nations with a high level of corruption maintained by Transparency International. Nepal received 33 out of 100 points, ranking 117th out of the world's most corrupt countries. Nepal experienced the same situation as last year.

With a score of 88 out of 100, Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand rank among the least corrupt nations among the 180 countries in this year's report. The Varieties of Democracy Project (VDEM) surveyed topics like the incidence of political corruption in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. These regions of Nepal have seen an upsurge in corruption as well. Particularly in Nepal's administrative sector, corruption is pervasive. Large-scale corruption scandals have started occurring in the judiciary, or the courts, even though the Mini Singha Durbar was responsible for the expansion of the corruption web in the administrative and executive authorities. The result is a hollowing out of the nation.

The Fire of Corruption: How is it Spreading?

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority has recently received a complaint of corruption for one billion dollars against Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher JBR, who was suspended for collaboration in the contract of the Supreme Court's office building. Because of this, the Parliament has lodged and is presently debating the impeachment complaint against him.

Pramod Nepal, the deputy secretary of the ministry of culture, tourism, and civil aviation, was caught with 6 lakh bribes two weeks ago. During the critical examination and investigation, an extra 1.6 million rupees were discovered in his car.

On Chaitra 1, 2077, the authorities seized six individuals, including Saroj Shrestha, a surveyor official from the surveyor's office in Bhairahawa, for a payment of 1.7 lakhs.

Similar to this, on Chaitra 28, 2076, Sunil Kumar Jha, the acting head of Malpot Office Dhanusha, was apprehended by the authorities on suspicion of taking a bribe of Rs. 5 lakh from a client. Santamaya Shrestha, the principal deputy secretary of the Charikot Division Forest Office in Dolakha, was apprehended in Bhaktapur Ghathaghar on February 29 of last year with a bribe of 2 lakhs.

On Poush 9, 2078, the Authority detained the head and Amin of Chanauli, Chitwan, after receiving a complaint that they had asked the service recipient for a bribe of 50,000 rupees in exchange for establishing the land ownership and providing the land owner with proof.

These are merely illustrative instances of corruption in government agencies and among their staff. You can find a long trail of such bribes from government personnel if you seek it. Greedy and dishonest behavior, a lack of facilities for salaries and services, undefined behavior, human nature or policy, lax enforcement of laws, hasty customers who need work completed quickly, and a tendency for employees to steal by purposefully keeping files stuck have not decreased.

Every municipality has seen an upsurge in corruption since the local government arrived. Paying employees to write recommendations, pass inspections and sign real estate survey maps has become widespread. As a result, the nation is steadily losing its soul.

Government secretaries, deputy secretaries, joint secretaries, officers, subba, and kharidar have been charged with taking bribes totaling crores with the complicity of the country's prime minister, minister, MP, and leader. Furthermore, cash is constantly exchanged under the guise of work at the cargo office, transport office and department, surveyor department, district administration office, district court, public prosecutor's office, and police office.

Corruption is currently the barrier keeping a nation from becoming one. Corruption severely impacts everyone, not just politicians and government workers but also professionals in other specialized fields like professors, teachers, writers, intellectuals, and police officers. It has prevented Nepal's economy from developing. Why are government workers engaging in such corruption? Why is corruption spreading rather than being curbed? This question has not yet been resolved.

Greedy and dishonest behavior, a lack of facilities for salaries and services, undefined behavior, human nature or policy, inadequate enforcement of laws, hasty clients who need work completed soon, and a tendency for staff to steal by purposefully sticking files in drawers have not diminished. It makes sense that Nepal has experienced a rise in corruption for the same reasons.

Corrupt Practices

The words "corrupt" and "practice" are combined to make the word "corruption." a phrase that means "sloppy business" or "unmannered behavior." In this view, corruption is not limited to money laundering. Corrupt behavior implies that improper routines or motives are likewise corrupt.

The primary reason for corruption in Nepal is corrupt behavior. Whether it be a government worker or anybody else, all of these instances of honesty and moral behavior are lacking in Nepal. The Nepalese are not only rude to the point of killing someone but also accept bribes in exchange for money. Government employees and managers misconception that they need to work hard and make money to reach seven generations. Our crew appears to be lacking in morale. As a result, they engage in corruption rather than upholding the dignity of the position.

Lack of Facilities

The compensation scale for government employees was also raised by 15% when the budget for the upcoming fiscal year was revealed. With the rise, the compensation scale for the Chief Secretary is now 77,211, the Secretary's is 72,82, the Joint Secretary's is 56,787, the Deputy Secretary's is 48,737, the Branch Officer's is 43,689, the Nayab Subba's is 34,730, and the Kharidar is 32,902, which is out of date. If we perform a straightforward calculation, it would appear that the Chief Secretary, Secretary, Joint Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Officer, Subba, and Kharidar of Nepal's lifetime income would not be able to pay for this costly education and medical care. Because of this, analysts assert that corrupt behavior among government officials is inevitable.

The nation has an Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission that acts as a watchdog based on complaints against people who abuse their power and profit from wealth. However, who will acquire how much wealth? The department responsible for looking into asset laundering is the source of wealth. However, since these two organizations cannot operate impartially and transparently, it appears that corruption is rising. The Authority does not dare to look into a corruption complaint even when it involves billions of rupees. The commission has been dragging its feet on minor complaints for years. The commission will only catch little fish even if it makes arrests. It makes sense that this has boosted the morale of the staff members who are negotiating for a sizable sum of money and working in the environment.

On the other hand, the law's execution is likewise ineffective. Although the law is excellent, the appropriate agencies have not successfully carried it out. The organization that investigates and prosecutes fraud and corruption is also engaged in such activity. Even if it is a case, numerous occurrences show that the immune mechanism causes this tendency. Government workers frequently engage in corruption on a scale of crores and lakhs. Even if the corruption is proven, they will still have jobs. Demotion or transfer may result if action is taken. In this nation, there is no procedure for filing charges against them. That is why government workers willingly and risk-free participate in corruption.

The regulatory organizations appear to be complacent, even after the corruption scandal broke, and this kind of trend is gaining momentum daily.

What were the salaries of the officers, secretaries, and joint secretaries? Think about that. Kharidar and Subba have similarly abused their positions to amass a tremendous fortune. It was discovered that Nayab Subba Ganapati Jha made Rs. 4 Crore 87 Lakh 38 Thousand while working at the District Administration Office in Dhanusha!

The Authority accused Bhimkant Bhandari of Gulmi of illegally obtaining property worth Rs. 8 Crore some time ago. Additionally, it was reported that a guy named Subba had acquired the property in 88 locations throughout Kathmandu and was amassing bank accounts at several institutions in the names of his wife and children.

There have been other such events. The wealth laundering department should be informed through the media even when a regular employee contributes to the nation's poverty in this manner. They are still employed despite the revelation of such scandals. Because of this, the corruption web continues to grow.

Dated System

Despite advancements in information and technology, Nepal still uses paper for some services, which contributes to corruption. Economic governance cannot be maintained if such technology is absent from all government and private service delivery sectors. The state has yet to connect CCTV cameras to an online system in any public space. It makes sense that this would likewise favor corruption-related tendencies.

On the one hand, governmental corruption has been committed through the creation of laws, rules, and action plans; on the other side, the working staff has engaged in economic theft and violated social and moral norms. As a result, the nation's economic development initiatives are not being carried out efficiently and openly.

Since they are involved in these scandals and issues, the nation and national politics should be capable of functioning as a country. Therefore, it seems that public officials should first and foremost portray themselves responsibly and honestly to the people to eradicate the root of corruption, which is a chronic sickness. The government should take drastic action against those who commit corruption and, if necessary, remove them from their positions to reward those who perform outstanding and excellent work.

It would seem that corruption, murder, violence, and other serious crimes against the state, such as bribery and bribes, should be criminalized and subject to punishment. Corruption should not be tolerated by the head of state, the prime minister, or any ministry or member of Congress.

By raising the temporary workers' pay, benefits, and facilities, the state should support them. Such inclinations should be watched out for by constitutional bodies like the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority and Asset Consolidation. We should use an electronic system for all of our tasks. It would seem that regular people should give up standing in line while paying bribes. The centuries-old network of bribery can be stopped if the necessary agencies can conduct specialized monitoring in areas where more bribes are exchanged.