THE COLLAPSE OF TRUST

Mega-scams shattered state credibility, paralysed governance and ignited mass anti-corruption protests, turning graft into a political liability that eroded trust, weakened institutions and damaged the ruling establishment

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This was a decade when corruption did not merely recur as a familiar pathology of Indian governance.

It metastasised into a defining political condition—eroding the moral authority of the state, paralysing decision-making and eventually producing the most sustained mass uprising against graft since Independence.

The rot became visible first in sectors where policy discretion met explosive economic growth. Telecom was the earliest and most devastating example. The 2G spectrum allocation of 2008, carried out on a first-come-first-served basis at 2001 prices, became emblematic of how public resources were monetised for private gain. The Comptroller and Auditor General estimated a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, a figure that entered political folklore and dominated public discourse.