Times of India: Jaipur: Friday,
October 14, 2016.
Former
chairman of Transparency International-India PS Bawa delivered a lecture in the
state capital titled 'How to stop corruption'. Bawa explained that corruption
was not merely a matter of enriching oneself by diverting money meant for
public causes. He described one instance where a large corporate firm had
procured admission in foreign universities for the children of top bureaucrats.
"The
matter was taken to the court, but since there was no evidence of wrongdoing
and there were no laws to establish that the practice was wrong, nothing came
of it," he said.
Bawa stressed
that there was a non-monetary aspect to corruption - an official might be
honest, but if he is incompetent and does not discharge his duties, then he is
taking a salary and enjoying the perks of office for nothing. He will also get
a pension on retirement - that is corruption too, Bawa said. He cited the
example of tonnes of wheat going waste because rodents eat the grains or stocks
lie exposed to rain in Punjab. "No one is held responsible for this
colossal waste, which I read about year after year. This too is
corruption," he said.
Bawa said the
rule of law cannot be upheld because corruption allows the twisting of rules,
leading to chaos and inept governance. "The trust in government falls to a
low," he said.
Since a good
number of the people in the audience were young people from rural areas of the
state, Bawa laid the ground by beginning with three currents of thought that
led up to the formation of Transparency International - he recalled the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948, the growing
awareness beginning with the 1970s of the need to protect the environment and
the formation of the Germany-headquartered Transparency International in 1993,
after Peter Eigen, a former regional director of the World Bank, was
disillusioned that funding to some poorer nations was not reaching intended
beneficiaries. "We cannot protect the dignity and rights of people or our
environment if systems are riddled with corruption," he said.
Bawa asserted
that informed and engaged citizens who have a high level of empathy could lead
the charge against corruption. "Make a noise, do not silently tolerate
corruption. The Right to Information is a hammer one can use in this
effort," he said, adding that truth must be spoken to power. He explained
that Section 4 of the RTI Act provides for voluntary disclosure of information
- governments must be pressed to follow this. He said Transparency
International also had a cell dealing with advocacy and legal advice and those
who had no prior experience of approaching the courts would find this useful.
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