If financial corruption would endanger the progress of our nation, the political corruption of exclusiveness and hatred would endanger the unity of India, opines NAVAID HAMID
Corruption has become a major issue of concern for a good number of Indians during the last few years. Major scandals of recent past have shaken the ordinary people. But are we, as citizens, serious about confronting this menace once for all? This needs to be understood with an open mind.
Those who believe that corruption is a recent phenomenon lives in illusion. ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of Indian politics, Chanakya commented, “Corruption and governance are like the fish and water.” A political strategist, who commands such large following in India for centuries and is considered a political ideal by majority of the politicians and by those who are part of the governance, needs to be commended for his transparent and factual position in Indian ruling class on this important issue.
The question arises: who is not corrupt? Anybody who got an opportunity to exploit the entrusted trust and loopholes of system in one’s own favour but refused to be tempted by the greed and lust is a person of integrity. An individual who never got an opportunity to indulge in corruption can be a person of integrity only till he gets a chance and prove otherwise.
During the last quarter of a century the issue of corruption remained an issue of politics. All those having political aspirations exploited the issue to get either prominence or political power. Unfortunately, a majority of these voices exposed themselves to be not more than the bubbles which explode before taking the issue to a decisive stage.
With the rise of Indian middle class, unfortunately the country has seen the rise in corruption. According to an estimate, every 12th house in posh localities of Delhi and every 10th industrial unit, big or small, in Delhi indulged in past, or still indulges, in electricity theft. While travelling in public transport buses, one would usually come across a good number of ticketless commuters saying ‘staff’ in case of their being confronted by ticket checkers. These self-proclaimed ‘staff members’ are even ready to react violently if asked to purchase tickets or else give fine.
A majority of the Indian newspapers furnish frivolous data to be bracketed into the category of maximum rate slabs to get government advertisements. The menace of paid news has reached an alarming proportion and innocent Indians are forced to see what paid journalists and electronic channels tend to show.
One would be amused to see in newspapers an advertisement of a tender inviting by government departments for goods and work projects. Most of the times, the cost of advertisements surpass the estimated cost of the goods or work. Also, if one minutely follows tender advertisements, the inviting department announces the estimated cost of the goods or that of the work in the announced tenders. There have been known instances when the tender inviting departments raised the cost of the goods or work in collision with the suppliers and the contractors. But if one follows the tender mafia minutely, there are more ways to plunder the taxpayers than that of raising the cost of the goods or work. Most of the times, tenders are awarded below the announced estimated cost, too.
It is difficult to understand how government officials, who announced calculated estimated cost of the goods or work, issue supply or work/contract orders below the estimated costs. If construction of a km of road stretch, estimated to cost a million of rupees, is awarded to a tenderer who offers to complete the project in less than the estimated cost, then the officer who calculated the estimated cost needs to be grilled for his incompetence in calculating right estimate.
No doubt, any tender below the estimate cost affects the quality of the goods and that of the project because it is an open secret that the supplier or the contractor needs to grease the palm of every officer in the department besides keeping the concerned local politicians in good humour. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi once rightly commented that only 15 per cent of the sanctioned amount reaches the people.
The process to seek permission to initiate prosecution of government officials and ministers is next to impossible. Most of the times, the higher-ups sit on the files for the permission submitted by the investigating agencies. Governments, irrespective of the political class, easily slow down the process of prosecution or even ensure that offenders are never prosecuted.
Between 2005 and 2009, on the recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commission, the premium institution to fight corruption at the central level, the Central Government sanctioned just 6 per cent of the cases. And the remaining 94 per cent of the cases were let off with departmental enquiries and minor penalties.
As per the records available of the period till 2010, the Central Government did not even respond to 236 requests of the investigating agencies to prosecute the public servants on corruption related charges. Sixty-six per cent of these 236 cases were pending before the central government for more than 3 months.
Various state governments, irrespective of their political colours, have not responded to the 84 requests of the investigating agencies for prosecuting the officials on corruption charges during the same period.
Slow process of criminal justice has become one of the factors for the steep rise of corrupt practices in public life. By the end of 2010, there were nearly 10,000 CBI cases pending in the courts, and close to a quarter i.e 23 per cent of these cases were pending for more than 10 years.
In the early sixties, in 1963 to be exact, the idea of Lokpal or the office of Ombudsman was first floated during a parliamentary debate. After the recommendation of the First Administrative Reforms Commission under the Chairmanship of Morarji Desai, who later became PM too, since the year 1968 there have been eight unsuccessful attempts to introduce Anti-Corruption Bill in the Parliament but political parties failed rather miserably to have a consensus on the office and powers of the Lokpal.
The huge amount of wealth being exposed in recent scandals prompted the civil society to initiate the process of having a Jan Lokpal Bill with a demand to have a strong and effective Lokpal to tackle the menace of corruption where the citizens can directly file complaints about any act of omission that constitutes an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, against any public servant including the PM, ministers, Members of Parliament, Government servants and employees of Statutory Corporations with powers of enquiry, investigation, prosecution, enforcement of orders, tapping phones and intercepting messages, confiscating properties of the accused, etc., all proposed to be vested in one single window of Lokpal.
But there are fears that the concept of single authority with wide ranging powers and functions to investigate and prosecute goes against the basic principles of separation of two functions in the criminal justice system. The independence of the prosecutor would always be in question if the prosecutor and the investigating agency both are under the overall control of Lokpal.
Another highly contentious provision in the Jan Lokpal Bill is to limit the powers of the President to sign on the dotted lines of the recommended names of Lokpal snatching the right of the President to satisfy him/her that the procedure of selection as laid down by the law have been properly followed or not.
The draft persons of Jan Lokpal Bill have enthusiastically ignored another important independent side of fairness by insisting to have videography of selection procedure and making it public. There can be instances that if all candidates qualify and get same marks in the interview process and there is deliberation to select the best from among them, the freeness of the discussion is likely to be affected if discussions are allowed to be made public.
Another surprising aspect of the Jan Lokpal Bill is the provision of having absolute discretion of the Lokpal over the use the funds generated through the share of 10 per cent of the confiscated money and of the penalties. This provision is against the basic powers of legislative checks on the spending of funds collected from the public.
Yet another flaw in this proposed provision is that it is silent on its source of income in case Lokpal fails to reach to any conclusion on the complaints against the officials and is not able to generate the required funds for its functioning.
Also if the provisions of the Bill are accepted in its totality, there are fears that the provisions would encroach upon the independence of even the Supreme Court and thus the jurisprudence.
Another anomaly in the draft Jan Lokpal Bill is the provision to cover the corruption of the Central Government officials only. It is totally silent on role of Lokpal vis-a-vis the cases of corruption at the state level and its authority in case the state Ombudsman fails in its duty to act or ignores the complaints against the politicians and the government officers of the states and that of the officials of the powerful Municipal Corporations where the level of corruption is unimaginable.
The draft gives an impression that Lokpal would be an authority above authorities and constitutional institutions like the controversial super authority of ‘‘vilavyate faqih’ under the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Iran.
Anti-corruption campaign is an important issue for safeguarding the foundations of any society and nation at large. But sincerity of all would be at stake if one fails to see the dangers of inequality, exclusiveness, criminalisation in politics and communalism.
The denial of the rights to oppressed groups of tribals, scheduled castes and minorities are major issues which would endanger the progress and unity of nation. Few talks about the important provision of fraternity enshrined in the constitution. The concept of togetherness is missing just because of the indifferent and biased approach of the ruling establishment irrespective of the political colours. Sachar Committee revealed that the country had failed in its paramount duty to do justice to the second largest section of its society, the Muslims, who have become backward in every walk of life. Denying rights to the oppressed and the minorities is nothing but political corruption. If financial corruption would endanger the progress of our nation, the political corruption of exclusiveness and hatred would endanger the unity of India.
No movement against corruption would succeed if we fail to educated people about the dangers of temptation to vote for note at times of elections. It is the general public, who intentionally or unintentionally, encourages the malpractices and corruption by selling his/her votes to those who are desperate to intrude into the institutions of power for minting nothing but money. For a free and transparent election, the political parties and the civil society should launch an agitation to have law for the state funding of the elections for eradicating the menace of financial corruption and nexus between leaders, officers and the corporate houses.
It is irony that in the past campaigns against financial corruption have been hijacked by the communal forces to pursue their agenda to reach the corridors of power. Mr. Anna Hazare cleverly understood the anguish of the younger generations against the corruption and proved himself to be the Pied Piper to start a campaign for the Lokpal Bill. It is need of the hour that all those who are associated with Anna should ensure that Anna keeps the campaign against corruption from the influence of agents of communal forces and their mukhautas (masks) because they are more dangerous than the cause for which he wishes to fight.
[The writer is Secretary, Peoples’ Integration Council and Member, National Integration Council, Government of India]