"Corruption" by Shri Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha)

PDF Hindi Format

CORRUPTION
Shri Arun Jaitley,
Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) published

Courtesy : India Today

While I grew up as young political activist through the 1970s and the1980s, at all forums where eradication of corruption was discussed, the key suggestion was to get the government out of discretions in economic decision making. Once government controls and de-licensing took place, elimination of corruption would be a natural consequence. De-licensing and freedom from controls was indeed a welcome decision. Over the next two decades as the Indian economy moved from shortages into surplage, black marketing, hoarding, excessive profiteering and bribery in these areas was reduced. Various departments of the Central government became cleaner and discretions were eliminated. However, the worst was yet to come.

The economy grew and urbanization was inevitable consequence of the economic development. Infrastructure creation, industrialization, expansion of townships necessarily involved land and its’ control. Land, thus, became the main source of corruption. Acquisition of land, change of land use, municipal permissions necessarily involved a huge amount of discretions. Land decentralized corruption. Exploitation of natural resources, be it mining, oil and gas or spectrum were still the government largesse. The State kept to itself the power to allot these through policies such as ‘first-come first-served’ or other discretionary methodologies. Public assets then got allotted for a song. The revenue realization was meagre and the profits made by the beneficiaries were huge.

The State had meagre resources to ensure education for all. Expansion of State schools, colleges and specialized universities slowed down. The private sector entry into education expanded the network of education in the country. A large number of institutions have been created. This was welcome. But with an inadequate regulatory mechanism in play private sector education became a big source for capitation fees and black money generation. The Alcohol trade, which was earlier considered the bane of all corruption, flourished on the strength of discretion in allotment but became a small scale industry compared to these larger areas.

Infrastructure creation has always been considered a necessary and essential for India’s progress. The NDA government made a sizable advancement in several infrastructure areas such as national highways, rural roads, power sector, telecommunications and ports. A framework for change and growth was created during that period. There was hardly a controversy with regard to infrastructure contracts. The UPA singularly deserves credit for diverting infrastructure success stories into scandals. The choice of personnel to man infrastructure ministries was dubious. Discretions involved in the award of contracts and public private partnerships were fully exploited. The current upsurge of anger against corruption is directly attributable to the government’s unwillingness to act for years against this accumulated corruption. Discretion in the matter of award of contracts continues to be a key area of corruption. Revenue departments of the government municipalities, with which the common man has a lot to deal with, are amongst the most discredited and corrupt departments.

The Environment Ministry was intended to protect India’s green cover. It converted itself into a licensing department. Every real estate project involving an investment of Rs.50 crores or more has to be cleared by it. Thousands of files have been pending with the Ministry for clearance.

The Indian judiciary remains a ‘Touch me not’ institution. Judges have essentially eliminated external scrutiny. Judges appoint judges and judges hear complaints against questionable judges. The consequence has been that judicial corruption in India has remained untouched. My own experience of the last three and a half decades of my association with the judicial institution has been that what was unthinkable decades ago is now evident by the day. The corridors of the courts are full of rumours about what has been actually transpiring. A casual reading of some case files confirms this suspicion.

The world’s largest democracy is still without a transparent and visible methodology of political funding. Even though political donations have been legitimized and tax-exempted, many people have been still reluctant to switch over to more transparent system of political donations. The result of this is that political donations are accompanied by a quid-pro-quo where the donor benefits from the donee once the latter acquires a position of importance.

How does one deal with this situation?

Unless India can find a transparent system of political funding it will not be able to tackle the menace of corruption. The source of funding of India’s democracy cannot be black money. One is always puzzled to see a class of Indian politicians live well without a transparent source of income. This has understandably reduced the legitimacy and credibility of both politics and politicians. There is no greater threat to parliamentary democracy than a loss in the credibility of politics. Caste has provided a social sanction to a caste criminal. Corruption has rarely been a reason why candidates have lost elections because of corruption. The politics of Uttar Pradesh is a case in point. India needs an awakening of the electorate. An environment of revulsion against the corrupt must be built up. It is only then that the maturity of Indian politics will be fully realized.

There is a misguided sense of compassion which favours the corrupt. When the corrupt are penalized a sense of compassion is built up against them. An environment of sympathy is generated. Some media articles and discussions in relation to the 2G accused are a case in point. It is time that law is allowed to take its own course.

India has to evolve an administrative system where every action of the government is informed by reason; discretions are eliminated; controls reduced, Government’s monopoly on land and land user must be replaced by non-discretionary plans of land user. The mining industry in India has become a scam. The exchequer gets while the miners make huge profits. The whole concept of first-come first-serve as a basis of allotment of mines is designed to favour non-users. Public assets such as spectrum, mineral, land, oil and gas cannot be left to discretions. Their full value must be realized. There must be a defined criteria for allotment.

Independence and autonomy of the investigative agencies has to be restored. Political governments appointing investigators and seeking to influence them in selective cases cannot be accepted. The integrity institutions intended to be established must be professional and idependent. The dangers of those who man the integrity institutions being either subservient to the government or prisoners of their larger than life image must be seriously introspected.

How does one tackle judicial misdemeanors? India’s judiciary has failed to stem the rot within. It can no longer be trusted where judges alone judge misconduct of judges. A National Judicial Commission comprising of members of the highest judiciary, representatives of the political system and eminent citizens must now be entrusted with the responsibility of appointing and judging judges. This system has to be experimented since the alternatives have failed.