ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the state-led measures to curb corruption and also points out to the limitations of the same. It argues instead for a human rights approach for the same, thereby, resolving the vast economic inequalities among people in the country and dealing with the corruption and inefficiency. The concept of human rights, as she suggests, provides a firm anchor for raising ethical concerns about policy, and for creating clear, comprehensive and practicable guidelines for fighting corruption fairly and sustainably. The author articulates that a human rights approach to anti-corruption reform will shift its focus from a negative objective of ‘framing and catching’ individuals to a positive goal of the realization of human rights, especially those rights whose fulfilment is obstructed by corruption. The chapter argues that the Indian government’s approach to fighting corruption, exemplified by its recent experiment with ‘demonetization’, is an example of how anti-corruption reform can adversely impact the most marginalized and deprived sections of society, which are also the ‘worst casualties of corruption’.
