The Indian Congress and corruption

The response of democratic governments should be different from non-democratic ones.


Kuldip Nayar April 09, 2011

Although a democratic polity with all the outlets, India has been seeking to be heard on corruption. There have been so many scams running into thousands of crores of rupees in the last past few months that the average person has come to believe that the entire system is reeking of corrupt practices. Therefore, when a Gandhian comes forward — Mahatma Gandhi is the only person who evokes respect all over the country — to voice his objection against the sham of the Lokpal (ombudsman) bill the Manmohan Singh government has brought to fight against corruption, people rally around the Gandhian, Anna Hazare, because they find he is correct in pointing out that the measure was fake. His fast unto death that began on April 5, at New Delhi, shook the nation. There were 200-odd rallies in his support in different parts of India. The government compromised because in Hazare’s movement it saw the defiance of civil society, the backbone of the system itself. He broke his fast on April 9 when he had his way.

Hazare’s step was, no doubt, extreme. But nothing else had worked. He met the prime minister one month ago to inform him that the anti-corruption bill the government was piloting was too weak. Hazare also wrote letters to the prime minister and the Congress president to beseech them to give teeth to the bill. Both Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi did not even acknowledge his letters. When the nation demonstrated its anger, the ruling Congress spokesman said that they were willing to discuss all amendments to the bill, provided the gun was not pointed at the ruling party. He meant the fast unto death. Who is to blame? Hazare gave the government ample notice.

The bill provides for the establishment of the Lokpal institution which will be headed by the current or former chief justice of India, with two former chief justices of state high courts or Supreme Court judges. The Lokpal is authorised “to inquire into allegations of corruption against public functionaries”. But the effort comes to naught when complaints to the Lokpal have to be routed through the Lok Sabha speaker or the Rajya Sabha chairperson from the ruling party. Lokpal cannot initiate any action on its own. If it cannot do so, what is the purpose of having such a body?

Obviously, the government wants the person in which it is interested to go scot-free at the time of sifting complaints. Even the New Delhi-controlled Central Bureau of Investigation has powers to go into all cases where public money is involved. But the topmost anti-corruption body, Lokpal, will have no such authority. If the institution comes into being, as laid down in the bill, it will have the topmost judges dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. As for jurisdiction, the Lokpal has no authority to look into the “charges of corruption against the prime minister in matters of national security, maintenance of public order, national defence and foreign relations”. Practically, all other top positions in parliament and government-appointed commissions have been kept out of the purview of the Lokpal. Since ‘public functionary’ is defined as a person who is holding political office or who held it at one time, all bureaucrats are excluded from the Lokpal’s authority. The Manmohan Singh government has once again underlined the fact that the nexus between the rulers and the bureaucrats cannot be even questioned, much less touched.

Ironically, the bill has been brought after 42 years and still it falls short of what is required. It is a tragedy that the Manmohan Singh government has not learnt, even after ruling for eight years, that the Indian people have changed. They want action. When it is not forthcoming, they are not going to sit idle. A joint committee of ministers and civil society activists will meet to draft a new bill and present it to parliament. The government should read the writing on the wall. Some authoritarian rulers in the Arab world did not listen to the outcry of the people and have been consigned to the dustbin of history. The response of democratic governments should be different.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 10th, 2011.

COMMENTS (12)

Mohil Patel | 12 years ago | Reply What is my opinion on Anna Hazare (Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare) fasting? I have recently heard in the news and read in the Internet article about Anna Hazare, known (Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare), who is known as an Indian social activist, have been fasting for 98 hour, which is 4 days to fight the corruption that have spread all over India. Many people that celebrities and non-celebrities had decided supporting him in this campaign. Also they have been fasting with him. Everyone had also broken their fasting when their demands were agreed to go ahead with. Is this approach not right? What is Corruption? The simple meaning of corruption is cheating the public. This is one of the ways that people decide not to be honest and achieve their goal by not being honest. This approach is going to be used in many different places for example politics, business, organisation, education and so on. This means for people to be the boss anywhere and be famous in front of those people. In return, the rights that general public own, they would not get them and would have to go by the boss that rules them. Is corruption right if others are going to be cheated? Corruptions have taken place in many different nations and the result is that general public in those nations have to pay the price. The boss can get away because of higher contacts and support. What does corruption mean to India? Corruption is not going to be appreciated by anyone in India. This is because; general public in India are aware the affects and they would be victimised. In this case, Indian public have decided to fight corruption. It has been happening for a long time in India and now Indian public have decided to go against this and destroy the corruption. In many ways, India has been destroyed because of corruption and so many peoples right have been ignored. Are the India public ready to fight against corruption bring an end to it? What I believe about this approach by Anna Hazare (Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare? I totally agree with Anna Hazare (Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare) taking this step. The whole point of this step was to dissolve corruption in India and make the nation free from it. The fasting was done by Bhagat Singh and his friends in that prison for their rights in the prison. Also Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had fasted for India’s independents movement. Beside also had gone to prison and died for India as well. In this case, Anna Hazare (Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare) has taken this step. I believe this is very dedicated way of dealing with corruption in India. What do Indian people in and out of India think? How India has been affected by Corruption? I believe that there is a lot of corruption in India and most of India has been ruined because of this. In terms of cultural understating, a lot of Indian culture is forgotten. The way how to achieve the goal has been forgotten and it results people in India not being treated fairly. A lot of people are being cheated in India. They are common people in India that want to have a simple life. But are they given they type of life? Many people that are in India have been victimised in this. This is related to their rights that they are liable to not given to them. Any part of India, if they have any issue, without bribery, it is not going to get solved. This would even cost an innocent person life or career. On the basis of this, a lot of people in India do not have the opportunity to extend their career opportunities to a higher level. Is this how their life is to continue? Is this the future of India? In common, the system is going to have the structure and that is how it should be followed. Is the system followed like that? On many occasions, I believe this is not the case, and people that are in suffering are because; the system is not followed in a particular way it should. This is the case in many places like school, college and universities. Also after finishing educations and degrees, the people apply for jobs that they believe that they are capable of. The system is made to give them the opportunity to get that job and progress in life. But within the organisations that employee staff would be changed and other would be given that opportunity. If they get that job, they would be given problem regarding to work, which is known as “Office Politics”. Corruption is going to be benefiting the people and they would take that advantage all the way through and all the time. It would mainly be the boss or the politicians that would make the use of the power because; of their higher contacts that they have in variety of places. This will clearly mean that whoever would be the “boss” would be able to change and tamper what they feel would be right. As a result, they will other people shoulder would be used to fire the bullets and by the end of the day, the one that is victimised, would be blamed and will face the charges. Would this be fair to them? The corruptions in India have destroyed the education system. There are many students in India that are not able to get the admission in what they want. Is this right? There are people that have the capability to go for higher degrees in universities and other that do not have the capability. The ones that do not have the capabilities bribe the trustees in the universities to get their admission. In contrast, the students that have the intelligence are left out because; they cannot pay for their fees and have to do something else. Also during exam, there are some students that cheat and pass. The most common way is by leaking paper and those students are able to pass their exam successfully. In future, when they have to make the use of their education, they are not able to this and later cause a lot of problems to other people because; their response to them is very bad. Is this going to make them intelligent? In India it has been thought that education is like a goddess of Saraswati that gives a human a knowledge and understanding about not just how to read and write, but how to view the world and people. Is it right to bribe the education and purchase it like that? In sport, Cricket in India is the most popular game. Many people watch the game and India have also won the ICC World Cup 2011. But the question still remains, that for India winning the ICC World Cup 2011 is enough? Most of the players in the team are not selected because; the selection committee in India do not select the right players. The players that have the capability are left out in major tournaments. The issue underneath is simply on the basis of, which state they are from and their personal relation. Is it right for the players to be judged from where are from or on their personal relation? India is very good at Hockey and Football. Have the Indian government ever thought of developing those sports. Hockey is India second best sports. In this case, the players do not get enough salary and are not given opportunity to bee famous. Also Football in India is very famous and in 1950, they had qualified. But they had to withdraw because; they did not have trainers. Since then, Indian football have never developed and have never played in the major tournaments for example Asia Cup and World Cup. What did the government do to develop these sports? Promotion in job is also part of corruption very much as anything else. In an organisation, there are going to be many different workers with different intelligence and in contrast, there are going to be workers that are at lower levels. They are employees that cannot come to work in time, do any work, just go round talking to people, or if they do work, it spoils the work up. As a result, other have to cover it and they end up doing a lot comparing to what others are suppose to. Later on, the employees that are not able to work are the ones that would want to go at the higher position. They would then want to bribe their manager or anyone above in that position for a promotion. Once they get that position, they do not have the ability to handle work either control the staff under their observation. Is this not corruption in the office? This is where the office then faces the loss. But the bribery and someone knowing someone can totally change something in their favour. As a result, this NEEDS TO STOP. Only employees that have the capability, ability and intelligence should go ahead in this. Recently in India, the Commonwealth games were played at New Delhi in the year of 2010. A lot of money was spent to prepare equipments, stadiums and facilities. Later in the news on this case, I heard that preparations were ruined, the ceiling had the water leaking and the players were not given good rooms to stay. There were many other problems involved during this competition. As a result, the problem was that bad materials were used and not a lot of money was spent. Who was to be blamed? Is there not corruption in this? The people from different nations were really disappointed on this and had given negative comments. Is this no going to defame India? A lot of money had gone missing and no one knew anything about it. On 26 November 2008, Mumbai had terrorist attack, which lasted for four day and finished on 29 November. In this tragedy, 166 people were killed and more than 308 injured. In the shoot out 9 terrorists were killed. One of the terrorist was caught. As usual, they had hearing and appeals in the court. After 3 years, the decision had come out that he is to be sentenced to death. This might take up to 10 years to give the death sentence. Can he not escape in 10 years and go somewhere else? In whole of this issue, Pakistan was the prime accused in this case. A lot of difference evidence were given to them on this case. Still nothing in 3 years has come out. I believe this is only because; of the corruption in India that the truth is not coming out. The politicians are supporting the culprits to get away and they have the culprits have the upper hand on that. The victim’s family did not get compensation for their family. Through out the days, they would have suffered and struggled a lot because; of no food, water, education and so on. Are the victim’s family not going to feel left out? There are many different terrorist attacks that happen in India and many people have been affected because of that. What have the Indian government done on that issue? A lot of the terrorist attacks are happening and they are never able to catch the real culprits to get to the bottom of that issue. As a result, later on in the future, the same people would take chance and more people will end up dieing and having their life ruined because of that. Should it continue all the way through? It is very common that ordinary public that live in India are going to have problems. If the problems are going to get serious, they would need to go to the police and file the complaint to have it handled according to the law. Police complaints in India are not taken or if they are taken, they are not going to be given any importance. This implies that the legal system in India is not given any value. As a result, the public would have to solve the matter their way and it may go wrong. But why does this have to happen in the first place? Election is one of the biggest competitions not just in India, but anywhere round the world for seat. There are going to be several candidates standing in the election for that one seat. Are they all going to be honest? The candidates standing in election are going to do all their best to win the election by making promises that they are going to be doing everything for the community and public. Do they do that after winning the election? Once winning the election all the money that they get all goes in their pocket. In return the public that had voted for them gets nothing. What sill the general public do then if they do not have the facility? India is a very cultured nation with variety of cultures. Everyone follow different cultures according to what their religion, caste or community they belong to. But now days, there are very few people in India that choose to follow the culture or custom. Many families are really devastated because; this conflicts their belief and risks their family honour. On the other hand, India have grown a lot modern and people in large or small cities, towns or big or small villages see different ways to live their life. They want to ignore what they have to follow compulsory. Is family honour not important for any family? Also, there are various people that need money and they do all sort of things. As a result, they have to go against their culture and do what they need to. Should people in that bad position to ignore their culture? Overall, corruption is used all over in India. All the money that is to be used for the public and public service does not get used for them. This clearly means that money is goes missing and they are given to the wrong people. This makes more wrong development in India and creates more problems in India. This has been going on for a long time and the politician, government or and type of community did not raise voice against it. Has this not made it worse and worse for the people in India? The right time for people to take advantage would if things are going to benefit them and other that are like them as well. This would be time when they can benefit money wise and are able to get the attention that they want. As a result, wherever they have their relevant contacts, they are going to have their access. On the other hand, those people will forget their roles in their job and go after money. The boss is the one that would have the control in all over the place. If the boss wants to have something done for his benefit, it is obvious that he or she would need to bribe someone to get far on that. As a result, they would not care even of someone would be victimised of many people may loss their life. On the basis of this some many people have been ruined and if they want someone or make a genuine request to their boss they would not. Is this why everywhere they have the boss? Is this not cheating the Indian public? Recession is all over the world and also India has been affected as well. India is facing too many drawbacks and this is regarding job losses and lower incomes in their salary and wages. No politician of government had thought of this that is going to create problems to Indian public because; they are going to not have money to feed their family or live on. The job losses are taking place because; the companies do not have the money. If employees have their jobs secured, their wages or salaries are not raised. If they go out to do shopping, the food prices or any items prices are “totally shocking” because; they have gone up. Is this how the India public is going to be live? Is their no response to their problems? The politician would do this when they want to attract the public for them. If few people that wants facilities that are not really wanted, they would look into that a lot more. In contrast, if more certain facilities have to created regarding giving money to poor or fighting corruption, they will not step up on that. They will say few things but no actions would be taken on that. Should poor people and corruption be ignored and things are not needed have importance? This implies that poor people have no future in India and they are to remain what they are. What if the politician were in those poor people place? The system will get ruined and not rule or law would be followed by the end of the day. The people that are corrupted are gaining benefits that they are not liable to. But if it gets worse in future, the people that are honest will decided to be dishonest to approach their rights. Would this approach be nice? In future, this is how the nation will become and will continue. India are having problems not just India but outside of India as well and are caught up in several problems. One of the main issues they face in regarding racism and this happened to many Indian in Australia. What did the politician or government do in regards to that? It is not only one country, but in many different countries they are having problems. Are Indian save in other countries? What is final opinion on Anna Hazare (Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare) fasting? In conclusion, I believe the way the approach is taken to stop the corruption is right. India was independent from British rule in India. I see this is going to be the second time India is going to be independent and this time it will be from corruption. Does India see them getting independent the second time? I believe India is able to fight corruption and finish it off. In India, the laws are strict and according to that, corruptions can be destroyed. The people that are at the higher level and are the politicians are the main culprits. They are all aware of what should and should not happen. This should be the approach carried out by all the people if they see that corruption in ruining their and other people’s life. I look forward for this approach to be successfully in India and the general public that are not given their rights, will get their rights. As a result, this would make India function smoothly and people in India feel a lot safe afterwards. Is this going to change the image of India completely afterwards?
joy | 12 years ago | Reply respected sir. u know sir.......the most popular lines spoken at Jantar Mantar have been the famous lines of Faiz.... Hum dekhenge.................. Sir.... ham dekehenge
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