Tackling graft - no silver bullet

Most middle class Indian adults have colourful stories of dealing with corruption in their lives. We all have wondered about the possible solutions. This piece by Aravind Subramanian seems to rule out any real help from our political class.

" So, what can be done? Controlling corruption is related to the quality of public institutions, including democratic accountability, the bureaucracy, the police and the judiciary. And this quality is determined by history and politics, is generally difficult to change, and is glacially slow when it does. Show me an economist who offers a cure for corruption, and I can show you a quack or a snake-oil salesman.
The Lok Pal Bill under discussion will have limited impact, if any. Convicting and jailing the culprits in the 2G spectrum scam would certainly have some benefits, but, judging by the Indian record on convictions, the prospects for this are not bright. And broader reforms of the police and judiciary are, sad to say, pure fantasy. "

So , should the common citizenry just give up? There is reason to be a little more optimistic. For starters, there is the social media. Have a look at the India against corruption page on facebook. There are websites like i paid a bribe and janagraha.  In essence , there is a lot of activity from the ground up.
 And then , there is the promise of aadhar.

The media landscape has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. For all it's loud and aggressive style it is still doing a lot of good in highlighting corruption.

The much needed police and judicial reform may not happen in the foreseeable future, lokpal bill may well turn out to be toothless. But the pressure for change from an increasingly educated country will not stop. In a democracy, that eventually leads to somewhat meaningful results.