More people today are ready to fight corruption in India’s public life than ever before. Very few, however, know what it takes to achieve corruption free governance. The causes and manifestations of corruption are multiple and complex. In the final analysis, it is actions by the state, its institutions and civil society that are critical to achieving corruption control. We need both preventive and punitive measures to successfully fight corruption.

This book examines the phenomenon of corruption from multiple perspectives and proposes an agenda of reform that has the potential to achieve corruption control. The contributors to this volume believe that without a major reform of India’s rather opaque and dysfunctional governance system, corruption free governance will remain a mere dream. Reform of the financing of political parties and elections, ways to minimise conflicts of interest and the capture of policymaking and regulatory regimes, redesign of service delivery systems, the scaling up of e-Governance to enhance transparency and accountability, and support to several important reforms already under way in government, are the way forward to effectively bring corruption under control.