Shillong Times: Shillong: Thursday, May 18, 2017.
Political
corruption has once again come into sharp focus. Income tax raid on Lalu Prasad’s
associates, CBI raid on P Chidambaram’s son Karti and allegations of corruption
by Arvind Kejriwal from his ex-minister have hit the headlines this summer
season. While Opposition may scream ‘political vendetta’, Government sends
clear message that ‘the day of reckoning has come for many. They all will be
accountable.’
Further, an
aggressive electronic media has been after these leaders on the basis of tapes
in the case of Lalu, documents in case of Karti and allegations by Kapil Mishra
against Kejriwal. There can be no two opinions that these cases need
investigation, but there should be no witch-hunting.
While the
allegations against Lalu of alleged investments in shell companies and benami
deals worth over Rs 1000 crore, may not be too difficult to believe, given the
Supreme Court reopening probe against him in the Fodder scam. Recently reports
of political patronage too have emerged against Lalu and his elder daughter,
Misha Bharati, the latter having purchased expensive property in Patna at throwaway
prices by buying and selling shares in dubious companies. A property purchased
for Rs 1.41 crores a few years ago is said to fetch anything around Rs 40 to Rs
50 crores now.
While, the
charges against Karti are of serious nature, with alleged irregularities in
FIPB approval of INX Media, in the case of Kejriwal just charges without any
tangible proof cannot be taken for granted. In West Bengal, Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee’s image has taken a beating for scams against her party and
arrest of her party leader in Lok Sabha and also another MP on charges of
corruption. It is said that her elder brother runs the Government and according
to reports her brothers have amassed huge money through unethical means.
Earlier,
corruption cases were reported against Mayawati just before the UP polls.
Lately, an expelled General Secretary played seven audio tapes at a media
conference to prove BSP chief’s “lust for money”. He alleged that Mayawati had
demanded Rs 500 crores from him after the polls.
The present
scenario of corruption in public life has gained momentum. But it is surprising
that there are no such charges against the BJP and its leaders. Many would find
it difficult to believe that persons like Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Chief
Ministers of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Chauhan and Rajasthan’s Vasundhara Raje and
some former ministers of Karnataka involved in illegal mining among others are
‘clean’ politicians as alleged charges of corruption are against them too.
There are
reports that BJP has been instigating journalists and a section of the powerful
electronic media to highlight cases of corruption against their opponents. It
is a well-known how at BJP’s behest, the past and present Lt. Governor of Delhi
had and is harassing Kejriwal since he assumed office. Moreover, there are
allegations that BJP with the help of Central agencies is hell bent to bring
corruption charges against him and destroying the AAP. But this is not to say
that the recent charges against Kejriwal need not be investigated. But there
should be no bias.
Tall promises
of making public life corruption free are yet to fructify. In spite of the
Right to Information (RTI) Act, social audit, which has yet to be undertaken,
and other measures to make the administrative machinery transparent, the
reality is that precious little progress has been made to cleanse the system.
While the Center has sometimes shown sparks of good governance, most State
governments are not free of corruption. Bribe having to be paid to get work
done is no secret.
Political
analysts are of the opinion that as doctors have to struggle before getting
established when they charge big fees, similarly politicians have to spend huge
money to win elections and, as such, they have to recover the money through
unethical means. Moreover, huge amount of funds are required to run the party
machinery and this money comes from bribes, donations for favours extended,
etc. This justification cannot be totally ignored. However, the system cannot
be allowed to continue indefinitely.
At the same
time, it may be agreed that corruption in public life is not a modern
phenomenon. It was prevalent in political and civic life of ancient India too
as has been discussed by Kautilya in his Arthashastra. But since Independence
and specially in the last decades or so corruption has become a chronic feature
of our public life. So much so that people have started treating it as a normal
feature. They no longer show righteous indignation against corrupt practices,
fight injustice or express shock when big scandals like ‘Fairfax Deal’,
AgustaWestland and ‘Bofors Pay-offs’ are exposed.
As such, it
is indeed foolish to assume that the system would become corruption free.
However, it is not intended to justify corruption as most leaders have been
found to amass huge wealth and assets within the five-year term of their
election. The extent and volume of corruption has to be checked so that the
common man is not unduly harassed and forced to pay extra from his meagre earnings.
Prime
Minister Modi’s tall talk of transparency and weeding out corruption from
public life has remained hollow slogans. Previous governments also did not take
any initiative in the matter. Thus, the present situation calls for serious
introspection and drawing up an action plan to curb unethical practices to the
maximum extent possible.
One may
mention here that demonetisation which was carried out with much fanfare was
not really successful in weeding out corruption. The whole system needs to be
reformed for which politicians and the bureaucracy at top levels, need to show
the way. More transparency is required in government functioning and there
should be no attempt to hide anything from the people.
The
Government’s endeavour to ensure good governance and total transparency has
officially been taken as ‘Social Audit of Public Grievance & Citizen’s
Charter’ that has become mandatory once every year for all organisations,
Departments of both Central and State governments that have public interface.
But most of these organisations are reluctant to face an independent third
party audit.
As regards
State governments that receive huge welfare funds from the Centre, no such
social audit has yet taken place except one in Andhra Pradesh on the MGNREGS a
few years back. The reason for the reluctance of States is obviously due to
corruption and mis-governance at the panchayat levels and the benefits not
reaching those for whom they are intended.
It is time
that the Government enforce such audit at all levels where the aam admi is
concerned to ensure how the administrative machinery is operating and whether
they are following their
objectives/charter in carrying out their work. It is only documents that speak
and such analytical reports would reveal the efficiency and credibility of most
organisations.
Though the
task of checking corruption is indeed quite formidable, there has to be sincere
attempts from top to the bottom at reforming the system to the extent possible.
Moreover, there should be devolution of power and responsibilities to curb the
top-down approach which has been an important cause of growing corruption. But
all said and done, a basic change in human behaviour of our politicians and
those in public life is called for to root out unethical practices that retard
development. —INFA