The day comes to us with appealing features as Bangladesh had appeared at the top of the list of the corrupt countries in the world, in a survey of Transparency International (TI) for the 4th consecutive year. Although there are some criticisms on the Corruption Perception Index of TI, there is no denying the fact that corruption has been rooted and swelled out in most spheres of life in Bangladesh.

There is no doubt that corruption is the basic impediment to economic growth and poverty reduction. Although there is no exact figure on how much we are losing due to all types of corruption, but definitely we can say that with a sizable reduction of corruption, a drastic change in our life-style and development process is inevitable.

There are various visible and invisible forms of corruption such as bribery, forgery, nepotism, ransom taking and rent seeking, tax evasion through collaboration with tax collectors, grafts in government and private purchases, wrong auditing, false bidding etc. These types of corruption are not only depriving the people of their own rights and justice, also the country as a whole is suffering from low-profile image. The widespread corruption indicates our moral weakness.

Development is hampered to a great extent due to widespread corruption. Due to this corruption, majority of our people who are living in abject poverty, and in rural areas, are deprived of their basic needs. Nobel Lauriate Amartya Sen used the term 'deprivation' as lack of access to entitled capabilities, which he described as, "…what he can or cannot do, he can or cannot be". A genuine capability to function -- to choose and to react -- is necessary for quality of human life and hence for 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 from both the quality and quantity points of view. Therefore, corruption can be an influencing factor to deprivation of people from their basic needs.

Due to widespread corruption, social and political institutions have become fragile. Systems are not working well, or in some cases are 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 implementation of commitments of the politicians.

In this backdrop, there is a ray of hope with the formation of independent anti-corruption commission (ACC). People's expectations are high on this commission, so the commission has to go a long way. Although Bangladesh is yet to sign the UN Convention on Anti-corruption, we hope that the Commission will observe the day in future with lots of gesture and activities to motivate people, to create awareness against corruption etc.

To remove the mountain of problems, the commission needs to be equipped with modern facilities with young, talented, dynamic, energetic and overall honest staff. Although honesty is a relative term, there might be some indicators by which minimum honesty of a person can be judged. Some of our expectations on the commission are as follows:

Quick disposal: Quick disposal of 'corruption cases' is very important for containing corruption. For this enacting some situation-demanding law is necessary. Some special anti-corruption tribunals can be formed for disposing of the cases. We hope that the ACC will take proper initiatives to convince the government to revise the relevant laws and other rules.

Data base: The ACC should have a national database on the claims/allegations of corruption and it should be updated daily basis on the present status of the claims. An IT section can be opened in the ACC by appointing young IT professionals with attractive remuneration packages. This section should be the most restrictive section of the ACC where only the commissioners may have direct access.

Rapid action: It is another long-standing desire of the people that rapid action is necessary against bribery and other cases. People do not have faith in the personnel of the recently abolished Bureau of Anti-Corruption. Therefore a new intelligence branch can be formed to help the commission. The intelligence wing of the RAB can be a good choice if it is strengthened with sufficient capacity.

Motivation and awareness: As the corruption has become the 'way of life', we are 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 code of conduct point of view as well as socio-cultural point of view. Moreover, strong publicity from the ACC in the media is required to update people about their activities, to crease awareness about the anti-corruption laws and possible penalties etc. This will help create awareness among the people against all types of corruption, and build moral strength of future generations.

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 major factors for deterioration of law and order. Making the system transparent and accountable is crucial for combating corruption, which 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]. We 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.

Monzur Hossain is a Ph.D candidate at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo.