In the last nine years after Narendra Modi assumed office as Prime Minister of India, there is no doubt that India has achieved significant progress and has made rapid strides in multiple directions. Several infrastructure projects, welfare programes, proactive policies toward industrial development, and a number of reform measures have been implemented.   However, one area where there is not much of a difference is in the level of corruption at different levels across India.

While Modi has ensured that the top administration in central government is nearly transparent without corrupt dealings, this is not so in the case of lower levels of administration and in several states in the country.

A cross-section of people living in various parts of India in different age groups, educational levels and economic strata are of the view that the most serious problem confronting  India today is the widespread corruption in government departments and public life. Not only several politicians, and bureaucrats, but government employees at various levels are also indulging in corruption,   widespread corruption is prevalent in private educational institutions, private hospitals, real estate, and even in places of worship and other areas from the bottom level to the top level. Of course, occasionally, it is also seen that there are honest and incorruptible people in government departments and public and private sector organisations .  They are few and far between.  The noncorrupt person today is considered an exception rather than a rule.

It is extremely distressing to note that many people have started thinking that corruption is the order of the day, whether in private or public sector activities.  As a matter of fact, corruption has become cyclical, in that one person who takes bribes at one place also gives bribes at another place to get things done.

Only Modi can do it

In spite of such conditions, Prime Minister Modi remains as the most popular leader in the country enjoying public confidence, as people believe that he is a man of great personal integrity and if anyone in India can root out corruption in India today, it can be achieved only by PM Modi.

On more than one occasion, Modi has said or given an impression by his decisions that the best way of rooting out corruption in India is by making changes in the system of transactions and administration.   He has been stressing the importance of massive and large-scale digitalization as the best method of promoting transparency and rooting out corruption.

Modi has taken some steps in this regard by opening zero bank accounts for millions of poor people in India and ensuring that welfare funds for the poor people including agricultural farmers would be provided by bank transactions so that middlemen would be avoided and siphoning off the fund would be eliminated.  This is good as far as it goes, but certainly many other stronger steps are needed. 

It is well known that most of the corrupt dealing takes place in the form of cash transactions.  Therefore, a high level of digitalization and a minimum amount of currency in circulation is the strategy and pre-condition that is required to root out corruption.

Reduce high-value currency circulation

While the level of digitalization in the country has been steadily increasing, currency circulation has also increased to a high level. The currency circulation in value terms has soared from ₹17.74 lakh crore on November 4, 2016, to ₹32.42 lakh crore on December 23, 2022.  Currency in circulation, which was ₹18.04-lakh crore in end-March 2018, jumped to ₹31.34-lakh crore in end-March 2022 and further to ₹32.42-lakh crore as on December 23, 2022.

With huge currency in circulation, many raids carried out by investigating agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department have seen a huge bundle of currency notes worth several crores of rupees kept in the raided premises. Obviously, this bundle of currencies is the 'black money' and corrupt money accumulated by evading taxes and indulging in corrupt dealings.

While campaigns for honesty in public and private life by various sources have been taking place for a long time in the country, this has not seen any reduction in the level of corruption in India. The repeated catching of corrupt persons by the vigilance department has also not yielded many benefits as they are only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

The only way is to reduce rapidly the circulation of currency notes in the country, which inevitably would lead to a greater level of digitalization and transparency in transactions and bring down currency-led corruption. The recent rapid increase in currency circulation by the Reserve Bank of India is a mistake with serious adverse consequences.

This situation has to be retrieved by steadily decreasing the level of high-value currency notes in circulation.  

(The writer is a Trustee, NGO Nandini Voice for the Deprived, Chennai. Views are personal. He can be contacted at nsvenkatchennai@gmail.com)