“Corruption exists and has always existed. It is perrasive and has for- reaching consequences. Corruption is one of the major hurdles to overall development and economic prosperity. It distorts functioning of the democratic institutions and is a system of deeper institutional weakness and legal loopholes. This malaise has been eating into the very polity of societies and distorting development resources to the extent of under mining democratic institutions and their values. Civil Society has become one of the most effective allies of the state in forging anti-corruption coalition in many countries. Even India has successful stories of portnering with civil society organisations from awareness raining to policy formation to monitoring of the implementation of anti-graft legislation. With such coalition approach, India has augmented its capacity to contain corruption in recent decades. The level of empowerment and involvement of civil society in Anti-Corruption policy formation and implementation is a yardstick to measure the success of partnership approach in any country.”
