DailyPost 2734
CORRUPTION – THE ULTIMATE FACILITATOR
The Indian democracy, governance and the consequent way of life, is facilitated by corruption in every way and presumably at every level, directly or indirectly. Better and finer ways of corruption are being worked upon with every passing day and it takes sometime even for the investigative agencies, to catch up with the game. What number of cases actually happen, how many are registered and how many of those see the light of the day in the form of conviction? How best you manage corruption from your point of view, for your work and come out unscathed is the professional skill you need gain perfection in, to be a success.
If we add lack of integrity, nepotism and using legal loop holes successfully, we already have large number of operational experts to complete the story. If we add creation of a bogey and be a rabble rouser to make your political and other ends meet, then it makes our democratic existence surreal. There are large number of governments / ministers / CMs who have been the shown the way, but the malaise keeps increasing with every passing day both by newer modalities and break taking horizontal extension. Corruption has become “Stigma Agnostic.” Swiss bank accounts have been a part of our political discourse for a long time and would continue to hit the headlines for all times to come, given the nature of politicians we have. In every major global disclosure Panama Papers etc, we have our own fair share.
The exponential growth of wealth of elected representatives and ministers’ needs be investigated en masse to understand the true magnitude of political / governmental corruption. Even a few instances leave us gaping. It has been hitting the roof since ages and has not left any single sector from defence to coal to telecommunication. PMs have lost at the hustings but the cancer keeps on turning more and more malignant. How many of our elected representatives spend within the limits prescribed by the election commission is one question and even more important is how many of the well-educated and professionals are ready to spend that minimum amount to enter politics.
The fate of precarious governments is directly proportional to the money being pumped in for saving them or the lack of it. The herded MLAs are an eye sore for our democracy. It cannot be more blatant. The political parties have been transformed into political companies and they have to take care of the investor wealth and the return in investment. Helicopters and private jets vying compete with each other to get poor man’s vote, who only has the government food grains to live on. From even before Bofors days our procurement system has remained creaky to say the least. It continues to get better in its own way. eProcurement and digital transactions have hardly any difference. The project execution is equally pathetic. The social sector schemes have their own financial circus. CAG can keep on writing till the time cows come home. Electoral bonds are adding multiple dimensions to political corruption saga, inclusive of weaponization of agencies. We are living through troubled times; hafta, firauti and extortion are being referred to in public discourse. I just hope and pray, that it all turns out to be conjecture.
HAVE WE REACHED A CORRUPTION DEAD END?
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.