Open Forum
New Delhi, 19 May, 2017
Corruption In Public Life
POLITICIANS MUST
ALTER OUTLOOK
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
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
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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