‘India does not suffer from shortage of laws or institutions to fight corruption but from a lack of credibility’

India does not lack laws or institutions to fight corruption, but the existing system suffers from a lack of credibility, independence, accountability and effectiveness, former special director of the Intelligence Bureau Yashovardhan Jha Azad said on Tuesday.

Delivering the Venugopal Rao Memorial Oration at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) in Hyderabad, Mr. Azad said India had spent decades creating laws, investigative agencies and institutional mechanisms to tackle corruption, but the battle remains unfinished.

Speaking on ‘How India Fights Corruption: The Institutional Criminology Test’, he proposed six tests to assess the credibility of anti-corruption institutions — independence, impartiality, competence, timelines, accountability and courage.