Why Scams are Here to Stay: Understanding Political Corruption in India

Corruption in India today is pervasive, omnipresent, and diverse, covering every branch of the Indian state and key sectors of the economy. Far from declining and fading away, as predicted, with deregulation and liberalization, it has increased exponentially in the twenty-first century at all levels-central, state, and local. It can be seen today as a normal, not a pathological, condition within the political economy. In several states, corruption involving politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen,