A solution for curbing India's political corruption
December 14, 2012 15:19
Tackling political corruption at its root must involve amending antiquated, and often absurd campaign finance laws, and forging an alternate source of electoral funding that is paid for by the taxpayer, writes Rakesh Mani in the Wall Street Journal's India RealTime blog.
He goes to quote from the essay 'Funding Democracy' by Keerthik Sasidharan showing that electoral reforms typically arise following corruption scandals, mounting campaign costs and a lack of equal access to participate in the political process.
What is Sasidharan's solution? To collect 1,000 rupees from each of India's 40 million-odd taxpayers and launching a ring-fenced electoral fund. At their discretion, citizens could allocate an additional maximum of 5,000 rupees to a favored candidate. Under this system, the fund will slowly swell. Candidates can either opt for this public financing or forego it altogether, with their choice signaling who they may be more beholden to, he says.
Of course, this approach ignores a key reality -- changing the rules of the game so radically is unlikely to gather much support in the legislature, since it goes against the short-term interests of all major political parties, concludes Mani, here.
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