Encouraging whistle-blowers is essential to stem the rot affecting our institutions and organisations. People Matters explores how ethical crises can be averted by creating a culture of speaking-up. The fraud at Ranbaxy Laboratories is the latest in a string of corporate scams to hit India. What caught the attention of the world was the size and scope of the fraud and it has raised serious questions about the regulatory oversight in India and beyond and the legal frameworks that govern organisations in the country. Corruption seems endemic in India, according to the 2012 KPMG Fraud Survey, where 71 per cent of the respondents believe that fraud is an inevitable cost of doing business here. India was ranked 94 out of 174 countries in the Transparency Index, which ranks companies on the perception of corruption. It is ranked 132 among 185 economies ranked for the ease of doing business, where a high ranking means that the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and ope...