It is an image that has become wearily familiar to Indians in recent days. On the front cover of its new year issue India Today ran pictures of four men under the headline "2010 – year of the treasure hunters".

Inside an editorial said bluntly: "One word dominated the national vocabulary [last year]: corruption." The men pictured are high-profile businessmen and politicians variously accused of graft, complicity or tax-dodging.

Written by Aroon Purie, one of India's best-known publishers, the editorial summed up what many are saying from well-heeled Delhi sitting rooms to bus stop tea shops: "In India, the sheer banality of the word evokes a sense of deja vu … [but] the size and frequency of corruption in 2010 made it the theme of the year."

India has seen many scams before, but few have been as brazen and on such a scale as those that have come to light in recent weeks.

Today officials from the ruling Congress party, aware that the issue could derail their second term in power, announced plans for a new law to fight corruption among public servants, including politicians. Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, promised last weekend to "cleanse" the government.

Such promises, commentators say, are unlikely to mitigate the disgust felt among ordinary people. Arvind Kejriwal, a veteran social activist, said: "Every single scam undermines the faith of people in the system. There is an explosion of anger in the media. People have tried protesting but it doesn't seem to work. They are more and more disillusioned."

The four men on the cover of India Today are accused of various offences. They all deny any wrongdoing.

Suresh Kalmadi, the head of the organising committee of last year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, is under investigation for fraud.

The former telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja is being investigated for his role in the sale of licences for 2G mobile phone technology at a fraction of their true value – an alleged scam that government accountants say may have caused a potential loss of £25bn to the Indian exchequer.

Ashok Chavan, chief minister of Maharashtra state, resigned over his role in an alleged building scam that saw flats meant for war widows diverted to his family members, top bureaucrats and generals.

Tax inspectors want to interview Lalit Modi, the man who created the £2.7bn Indian Premier League cricket tournament, who is currently living in London.

Another scandal, involving food aid in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, is thought to involve up to 7,000 officials. In the southern state of Karnataka, corruption is blamed for uncontrolled mining in vast areas of protected forest.

One of the highest profile recent scandals saw several of the country's best-known journalists accused of writing editorials according to the wishes of industrial tycoons. Leaked government wiretaps also revealed the role of lobbyists hired by businessmen in the appointment of key ministers. One tape featured Barkha Dutt, India's best-known news journalist and presenter, discussing candidates for posts with a lobbyist and promising to talk to senior government figures. Dutt denies any wrongdoing.

The wave of corruption has yet to provoke large-scale protests, but a host of anti-corruption websites have sprung up. One, Ipaidabribe.com, is run by Raghunandan Thoniparambil, a retired official from the elite Indian administrative service. The site was launched four months ago and more than 3,000 people have posted their own stories of graft.

On one day alone – 30 December – those posting on the site included a restaurateur forced to pay 25,000 rupees (£350) to clerks to have his dossier forwarded to senior officials at a Delhi licensing department, a traveller who had to give 100 rupees (£1.30) to get a berth on the otherwise full express train, a dozen or so drivers who had to pay traffic police after being accused of fictitious offences, and travellers intimidated into paying customs officials large sums to allow electrical and other goods into the country.

"The aim is not to identify people but to identify the problem," Thoniparambil told the Guardian. "Crowdsourcing is a way of finding out what is happening but won't alone alter anything. We need change from within government that is properly monitored."

With low internet penetration in India and most of the sites in English, the reach of such ventures is limited. However, sites in India's many vernacular languages are also being created, several run by Indians overseas. One popular site makes public details of MPs' often unimpressive attendance and voting records.

In the global list of perceptions of corruption compiled by Transparency International, India remains ranked the 87th least corrupt along with Albania, Jamaica and Liberia. China ranks 78th and Pakistan 143rd, local commentators have noted.

Brahma Chellaney, a respected Indian international affairs analyst and author, has called corruption an "existential threat" to India.

Kejriwal, the activist, is realistic about the potential impact of his own site, Indiaagainstcorruption.org. "The activity on the internet shows people are angry but … won't make a difference alone," he said.

But the broader discontent may find an outlet in a number of marches planned for this month. Whether they will make any difference to "the treasure hunters" remains to be seen.