POLITICAL DIARY
New Delhi,
6 November 2010
Corruption Unlimited
INDIA’s OSAMA BIN LADEN
By Poonam I Kaushish
Have you noticed how a bunch of
ants surround a cube of sugar? In the Indian lexicon replace the ants with our netagan and sugar with corruption. Voila,
one has the answer: Corruption is India’s creepy-crawly Osama bin
Laden! Which permeates the very core of daily Government functioning and has
ensnared the country in its vicious tentacles with the devil taking the hindmost.
Tragically, this truism was
underscored last week when the media exposed how the aam aadmi’s ‘Adarsh’ leaders
scandalously ‘bombed out’ a prime defence property in Mumbai meant for the
families of Kargil martyrs. By cornering flats for family and friends at a
fraction of the market rate in the 31-storeyed plush Adarsh Cooperative Housing
Society in connivance with the military authorities. From Congress Chief
Minister Ashok Chavan, down
his predecessors Vilasrao
Deshmukh (Union Heavy Industries Minister) and Narayan Rane (Revenue Minister)
all benefitted.
Big deal! In a country where
political morality is non-existent, what corruption are we taking out? Aren’t
we accustomed to an immoral, corrupt, criminal and unaccountable polity who
could stoop to anything for paisa.
Loot, bribe and deals have become the bedrock of our system with none
interested in reforming it. Wherein a ghotala
of a few thousands crores is not worth feeding the chara of morality. Shrugged of as one of the “unlisted” perks of
their job.
What troubles one is the new
dimension of this age-old malaise. That it did not strike any chord among our
leaders who have reduced graft to a farcical political pantomime. There is no
sense of outrage or shame. All conveniently washing their hands off corruption
by calling it a “systematic failure.”
Epitomised by the Congress High
Command’s inability to sack the Chief
Minister on the facetious plea of ordering an “internal probe” and remaining
deafeningly silent on corruption and probity in public life. Just as it has on
the litany of accusations surrounding the Rs 70,000 crore Commonwealth Games
loot, the Rs 65,000 crore 3G spectrum scandal et al. Does instituting various
committees wash of the crimes of Messers Kalmadi, Raja and co?
Look at the irony. The inequity
in the system is such that while a
petty thief languishes in jail for years and a junior babu caught for accepting a princely
bribe of Rs.1000 is immediately suspended, a leader who ‘transacts’ crores goes
scot free. On the facetious plea that
there are “innocent till proven guilty” and the “law will take its own course.”
Or hide behind the smokescreen of "verdict of the electorate" to
escape punishment by manipulating the system.
Till date since Independence no leader has been held
accountable leave alone put behind bars. Cocooned by continuing to be a law
unto themselves and ruling by law.
All following the example of Louis XIV who claimed, “I am the State!” Read
Madhu Koda, Laloo Yadav, Mayawati, Mulayam, Jayalalitha etc. Sadly, the
principle of “sovereign immunity” continues to protect our polity. Operating in
the expanded concept of “instrumentality of State”. No matter that the
principle is a contradiction in a democracy.
Little wonder then that the 2010
Corruption Perceptions Index shows that India has slipped three places in
global rankings of most corrupt countries, from 84 in 2009 to 87 this year
among 178 countries. Not only that. Transparency International recently
released the Global corruption barometer for 2009. It reveals that our neta’s are the MOST corrupt lot even
more than the police and bureaucrats.
Not a few assert that the cost of
corruption to the country might exceed Rs. 250,000 crores. Leading even the
Supreme Court to lament and express concern over growing corruption in
Government machinery. Said an anguished Bench last week, “nothing moves without
money.”
For instance, the total spending
for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections is pegged at a whopping Rs. 10,000 crore.
According to the Election Commission the break-up of monies spent sheds some
interesting insights: Rs 1,300 crore was by the Commission, Rs 700 crore by the
Centre and State Governments while the largest sum, Rs 8,000 crore was spent by
political parties and individual candidates.
Raising a moot point? How and
from where did the parties and candidates get the money? The answer is a
no-brainer. While parties attract money from big pocket industrialists.
Whereby, the favoured are rewarded with huge contracts or large tenders with an
unwritten sub-text: in-built kickbacks.
Candidates, on their part fund elections by taking bribes, getting jobs
done, bluntly, act like venture capitalists, wherein once elected an MP or MLA
will not settle for less than a 10-fold return.
Sadly, our powers-that-be fail to
realise that corruption not only perpetuates poverty but makes the poor poorer.
Think. Sleaze erodes and cripples the capacity of the State to provide the aam aadmi roti, kapada aur makaan forget
bijli, sadak aur paani. Recall, Rajiv
Gandhi’s memorable words in 1984, “Only a mere 16 paisa of Re one spent by the
Government reaches the poor,” he thundered. Thus, the ‘siphoning-off’ by middle
men reduces its capability to offer infrastructural support to the poor.
More. Corrupt Governments at the Centre
and State tend to focus spending of public money on large contracts since bribes
are large. Consequently, public spending on health and education becomes a
lower priority which in turn perpetuates poverty. Resulting in increasing the
marginalisation of the most vulnerable in society, rising discontent,
deprivation, lack of choice and helplessness which if not rectified could
incite the aam aadmi to take recourse
to violence.
What next? As India aspires
to sit at the high-table of nations, it needs to rid it self of the stigma of deep-rooted
corruption at all levels. Time to recall what Mahatma Gandhi said about the
“corrupt” Congress in May 1939. “I would go to the length of giving the whole
Congress a decent burial, rather than put up with the corruption that is
rampant.” His outburst was against rampant corruption in Congress Ministries
formed under the 1935 Act in six States in 1937.
Even as our polity swears by
Gandhi and promises to uphold his ideals they need to realize that license to
govern does not mean license to be corrupt. Gandhiji believed in the need for
creating a social climate against corruption, which meant creating an
atmosphere in which the corrupt could not thrive.
All in all, the UPA and its
leaders, especially Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chairperson Sonia Gandhi
are clearly on test. Are they serious about combating corruption or have they
willy nilly decided to surrender shamelessly to horrendous corruption? Time is
of vital essence to ensure the return of probity, accountability, morality and
good governance for strengthening our nascent democracy.
For this our leaders must devise
a political mechanism to create a social atmosphere by empowering the aam janata. Replacing one corrupt
Tweedledum with another corrupt Tweedledee is not the challenge. Rather, the
challenge is to overhaul politics.
Anyone game? ----- INFA
(Copyright India News
& Feature Alliance)
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