Corruption in various forms has become the mainstay of our national polity in the recent past. It is needless to say that the evil of corruption meaning bribery and graft is not conducive to social stability and equilibrium. It invariably involves negation or betrayal of normative values of society, which are essential for the smooth functioning of society.
Definition of Corruption:
1. The dictionary defines corruption as “an inducement to wrong by bribery or other unlawful means: a departure from what is pure and correct.”
2. Bhargava says that “act of commission or omission by a public servant for securing pecuniary or other material advantage or indirectly for himself, his family or friends, is corruption.”‘
3. C.B. Mamoria writes: We may define corruption as an improper or selfish exercise of power and influence attached to a public office or to a special position in public life. 
Corruption has Become Pervasive
Corruption has not only widespread everywhere, it has innumerable forms and dimensions. With the passage of time, corruption in India has become a ‘convention’, a ‘tradition’, ‘psychological need’ and ‘necessity’. It is a regular practice, in business transaction or deal. It manifests itself in a variety of shapes varying in heinousness.”
Corruption is there at the very root of our social life. Suresh Kohli points out in his “Corruption in India” “There is not a single individual who has not been lured into corruption, if corruption is accepted in a wider perspective, exploitation of any kind is corruption; shirking work is corruption; waste of time, energy and money is corruption ; deceiving or betraying is corruption ; mismanaging of public or private funds is corruption ; undue use of authority, force or power is corruption ; smuggling is corruption….sex has become one of the biggest areas of corruption Corruption is the driving force and part of national character.”
Most of the people are guilty of corruption in one way or another; at one time or another, for one purpose or another. G.S. Bhargava observes: “Again the milk vendor, who adulterates milk; the sanitary inspector who connives at it; the grocer who uses false wieghts; the contractor who does a shady job of road building; the engineer who puts the seal of approval on it and the city father who has a ‘cut’ in the contractor’s ill-gotten wealth, all these are corrupt.
But there is an even more banal form of corruption when men who wear the purple of commerce control party machines and political power and those with political power trade it for money. This type of dishonesty is more dangerous because it sets in motion the machinery of corruption, eating into the very vitals of the society.”
Corruption has been with the Indians since the mythological times and is found in every walk of life. “The Far Eastern Economic Review” has called corruption. “The Asian Lubricant”.
It says: Like the gods and goddesses who abound in Asia [of course in India too], each with many faces, many hands, and many names, corruption has diverse aspects and numerous ingenious ways of extorting an illegal “luck”……… corruption in Indian public life is all pervasive…”