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Presently, most of the Indians think that corruption is a problem bigger than pollution, poverty, poor infrastructure, delayed judgments, etc. It seems true to a great extent because we would have been in a better condition, had there not been corruption.
It is a known truth that bureaucrats or politicians work only when they have some personal interest. Likewise it is also well known that we the public make bureaucrats or politicians corrupt for our personal benefits. The result is that the two parties involved are benefited, but India suffers.
The public becomes a part of corruption willingly or unwillingly due to unnecessary legal requirements and tedious procedures at government departments, which lead to the need of a mediator, hence corruption.
If we take a look at working in our field i.e., chartered accountancy, we will find that to set up a business a client needs to get various permissions from government departments in the form of registrations, licences, NOCs, etc.
To be more specific, to start a business as a private limited company, a client has to apply for the following registrations, licences and numbers:
- Registration — Company registration, Industry registration, Service tax registration, VAT & CST, Gumashta or Nagar Nigam, STPI registration, etc.
- Numbers —Director Identification Number, Permanent Account Number and Tax Account Number.
- Codes and Certificates — Import export code, Digital signature certificate. The main problems in getting the above are:
- All these are government agencies, but act as independent to each other.
- Most of the documents needed by the various government departments are the same and the businessman has to resubmit them again and again to these departments/agencies. A businessman collects registration from one department and submits it to another department for further registration or licensing.
- The businessman also has to fill registration forms in various formats and deposit the registration fees in various challan forms with typical challan number system at pre-nominated deposit centres or banks.
- This is a tedious process and leads to birth of agents or mediators, which in turn leads to bribery or corruption.
It will be a repetition to say that technology can control or stop corruption in the government departments. The government has already taken successful steps by making Income tax, service tax, and registration of company work (MCA) online. A solution can come if a centralised system can be designed:
- where documents once submitted or generated by one government agency can be used again and again by various departments.
- where available information can be automatically used to fill various registration forms and challans.
- where a businessman can amend his details and they are automatically intimated to various authorities.
- where a businessman can himself apply for registration and pay the required fee online through credit card or online bank account.
In my view all the above are possible through a single-window (SW) registration website. This Single Window Registration website will be an attempt to expedite and simplify information flows between trade and the government and bring meaningful gains to all parties.
In practical terms, an SW environment will provide one entrance (either physical or electronic) for the submission and handling of all data and documents related to the release and clearance of a transaction. This entry point is managed by one agency (may be like NSDL) which informs the appropriate agencies and/or performs combined controls. Centralised registration server may work in the following way :
It is important to mention here that many state governments have worked and are already working through single-window registration. So, the new website will be an attempt to link all departmental websites with single-window registration website. In turn the new website will provide all necessary details directly to the concerned government department.
Public key and private key concept may also be implemented. Public key will be given to various departments to view business details and private key will be given to business for alterations or modifications in its details.
(Paper formalities for registrations, licensing, etc. in the proposed system is illustrated in Annexure.)
Conclusion:
If this suggestion is implemented, then in my opinion this would be a great relief to businessmen and will lead to lesser dependency on mediators, resulting in less corruption.
