Most people remain at the mercy of a venal administration that,
encouraged by the absence of an independent watchdog, exploits them
relentlessly
The state of affairs in the country is characterised by rampant
corruption at all levels leading to a breakdown in the rule of law and
lack of accountability all around. One can say that there is a complete
collapse of governance in the country. Something drastic needs to be
done soon, else the country will become an ungovernable anarchy.
Elusive
The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments of 1992 were intended to
empower the people to plan for their development themselves by providing
for the establishment of self-governing panchayat institutions in
villages and municipal institutions in towns. Unfortunately, even 20
years later, the promise of local self-governance remains largely
unimplemented. Consequently, most people remain at the mercy of a
corrupt administration imposed upon them from above, which has continued
to exploit them. It is this failure which has given rise to militant
Maoism in large areas of India.
The country is blessed with significant natural resources and mineral
wealth. Unfortunately, instead of being used in the public interest,
most of this wealth is being looted by a corrupt government and its band
of crony capitalists. If these natural resources were to be treated as
belonging to the people living in those areas, the people would
cooperate with others for their exploitation for mutual benefit. We will
have to repose our trust in these people if we want to rid India of
militant Maoism.
Let us consider the deficits in governance which have led to this alarming state of affairs.
Corrupt, insensitive organisation
The police impacts the lives of all of us, particularly the poor, in a
big way. The Indian Police is universally regarded as a corrupt,
insensitive, immoral and indisciplined organisation of oppressors, which
led Justice A.N. Mulla to comment even 50 years ago that it is the
largest organised gang of armed criminals in the country. That is
largely because the police in India was set up by the Imperial British
government for preserving British Rule and not to serve the Indian
people. Several commissions, including the Dharam Vira police commission
in 1982, have recommended the comprehensive restructuring of the Indian
police. The Supreme Court ordered such restructuring six years ago. But
successive governments have resisted these reforms, not willing to let
go of their control over the police, which they have abused in their own
interests.
There is tremendous corruption in every department of the government.
The tax authorities often use their powers to extract bribes rather than
honestly collect taxes. Yet there is no independent ombudsman to check
their corruption. Since this suits the politicians who get a part of the
bribes collected, they have done nothing to remedy this. If an
independent ombudsman had been set up, the menace of black money would
not have become so huge.
Does the Prime Minister not know that virtually no building plan is
sanctioned without payment of bribes, that no electricity connection is
given to new houses without payment of bribes, that hardly anything
moves in any government department without the greasing of palms? What
has this Prime Minister or, for that matter, his BJP predecessor, done
in the past 14 years to change this? Everyone knows that the main reason
for this is the lack of an independent anti-corruption agency. That is
why the U.N. Convention against Corruption required every country to set
up anti-corruption agencies (which we named Lokpal) which would be
independent of the government.
Of what use is his honesty?
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not take any money for himself while
others in the Congress as well as in other political parties make money
for not only the party, but also for themselves. But what is the use of
such honesty to the people if the Prime Minister allows his ministers to
make money by corrupt means, even if only for augmenting party funds?
Does the Prime Minister not know the reason why coalition parties insist
on so-called lucrative ministries? If such are the compulsions of
coalition politics, how do the people benefit from such a coalition
remaining in power?
In the 2G case, was the PM not aware that his government was giving away
spectrum to private companies at a tenth of its market price, allowing
them to make profits of thousands of crores at the expense of the public
exchequer? In the “Coal-Gate” case, there is clear evidence that the
UPA government permitted corruption in the allocation of coal blocks for
private parties to go on for years, causing a loss of about Rs. two
lakh crores to public funds.
The documents referred to in the CAG’s report make it clear that the
Prime Minister’s Office knew about the huge undue profits being given to
the chosen allottees of coal blocks. Does it require a Sherlock Holmes
to tell us that where one official allows a private party to make huge
undue gains, it must be for taking from such person a share of their
gain in the form of a bribe?
It was for this reason that Section 13 (1) (e) was enacted in the
Prevention of Corruption Act, making a public servant guilty of
corruption even when no evidence of bribery surfaced but an act of a
public servant caused the receipt of undue gains by some person. The
documents and notings in the files of the Coal Ministry — which the
Prime Minister himself headed from 2006 to 2009 — show that he kept
postponing the implementation of the coal secretary’s 2004
recommendation to auction the coal blocks, even after the Law Ministry
clarified that no legislation was needed to give effect to it. The PM
was fully aware that the coal secretary submitted a note on September
25, 2004 highlighting the different kinds of pulls and pressures
experienced by the screening committee during the decision-making
process and stressing that it was desirable that all pending
applications be decided on the basis of competitive bidding.
Is the Prime Minister also not aware that the coal secretary put up a
note to him on March 7, 2005 stating that if the proposed procedure for
allocation of coal blocks was not put in place quickly enough, pressures
would again mount on the government for continuing with the present
procedure, which might not be desirable in the interests of bringing
about total transparency in the allocation of coal blocks? And yet the
Prime Minister overlooked these concerns and continued with arbitrary
allocation of coal blocks, causing huge losses to the government and
undue gains to all kinds of private companies.
It is obvious that the common man has ceased to matter for those who
govern and what matters to them is the growth of GDP and the massive
opportunities for political parties to make money. It is apparent that
the country needs a peaceful revolution in the country to change this.
The question is, when and how?
(The author is a Senior Advocate and a former Union Law Minister.)
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