Journal Press India^®

Author Details ( * ) denotes Corresponding author

Purpose: Corruption has become major threat to good governance all over the world and India is no exception. United Nations in its sustainable development goal no. 16 has stressed the need to substantially reduce corruption and bribery, strengthen national institutions, ensure equal access to justice for all, and the promotion of peaceful society. The major challenge before the state is the corrupt behavior of individuals working in the government institutions. The study aims to measure the performance of Anti-Corruption Institutions for implementation of anti-corruption strategies to build trust and satisfaction among different groups of stakeholders using balance scorecard for eradication of corruption in Sustainable Development.

Research Methodology: Geographically, Himachal Pradesh has been divided into twelve districts. Out of these 12 districts, selection of three districts namely, Shimla, Kangra, and Mandi districts was made on the basis of highest number of registered corruption and trap cases. Data were collected from 360 public respondents and 85 police officials through rational sampling method. The present study is based upon stratified random sampling from general public and police officials who are directly dealing with the corruption cases in the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) in Himachal Pradesh. In this study, descriptive statistical analysis has been employed to interpret the data and Chi-Square test has been applied to test the hypotheses.

Findings: The study was designed to find out the performance of State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) at state level with long range perspectives applicable in macro level to the world communities for combating corruption. On analyzing the balance scorecard, it was found that satisfaction and trust among public and police officials remained low towards Anti-Corruption Institutions in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The result of data analysis revealed that lackadaisical anti-corruption strategies, for combating corruption at regional and national level to strengthen Anti-Corruption Institutions, are associated with building trust and satisfaction among different groups of stakeholders in the global perspective in sustainable development framework which, have been proved significant.

Research Limitations/Implications: The sample size and area covered in this study were limited to three districts of Himachal Pradesh. The study recommends that administrative machineries of Anti-Corruption Institutions should become flexible and should be able to respond quickly and effectively to the changing environment. A responsive administration providing an effective and efficient governance will remain a dream unless it has a motivated, trained, and developed work force in the form of public servants.

Practical Implications: The study is one of the few systematic empirical researches which has evaluated the various dimensions responsible for building trust and satisfaction among general citizens’ in the socio-political as well as administrative environment. The study also attempts to recommend suitable revitalizing strategies for re-building trust towards the governance of Anti-Corruption Institutions not only at regional, state, and national level but also its recommendations are applicable in global perspective for combating corruption.

Originality/Value: This study provides a detailed analysis of performance of Anti-Corruption agencies and building a strategy-based scorecard for creating high level trust in Anti-Corruption Institutions. No such empirical research has been conducted in Himachal Pradesh before this study.

Keywords

Anti-Corruption, Combating Corruption, Institutions, Public Trust, Sustainable Development.

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