Since the whole rationale for the Royal Committee on Corruption Control (RCCC?) is to root out corruption in Nepal -- a task in which it appears to be muddling through -- I asked the following question to Steve Levitt and Steven Dubner. (Levitt is an economist, known for his work on the economics of crime, corruption and cheating; Dubner is a journalist. Both are authors of this summer's bestselling book "Freakonomics". They have started writing a monthly column on economics in The New York Times Magazine.) My question was: "Corruption is rife in many developing countries. It siphons valuable resources into officials' pockets. In recent times, most countries have set up anti-corruption bodies that try catching, trying and punishing corrupt officials. But these bodies usually fail to do any of the things they are set up to do. Is there a better way for third-world governments to a) identify corrupt officials b) catch them and c) punish them so as to deter others from engaging in corruption?" Levitt and Dubner answer: It is tough to catch corrupt individuals by establishing new governmental bodies because the people you send to catch them are likely to be just as corruptible! One approach is to do what we do in "Freakonomics" ? use the data in unusual ways to detect the cheaters. (The cheaters we write about include schoolteachers, sumo wrestlers and ? though some people do not count this as cheating ? people who take a bagel from the office snack room and fail to put money in a lockbox.) Another approach is to set up incentives so that officials do not want to be corrupt ? if government wages are high, for instance, and if anyone caught stealing is immediately imprisoned. Ultimately, the people who use government services need to believe that it is in their own best interests to turn in corrupt officials, either by getting bounties (which can lead to false accusations) or perhaps just making it easy and safe to report bad behavior. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/readersopinions/questions-freakonomics.html?pagewanted=print ********* My question to Sajha friends: What could be the effective ways for Nepalis to root out or mitigate the effects of corruption in Nepal? oohi ashu oohi ashu