2010

The Year of the Scams

It won’t be an exaggeration to call India a country of scams. Scams are so rampant and so severe here that the country’s top governing body the Parliament remained paralysed throughout its winter session. To hold only the opposition guilty for such an impasse won’t be justified. The sole demand of the opposition parties was to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate corruption related charges but the equally adamant government (ruling party) was ready to appear before the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) to answer any query related to big scams and corruption.

The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has written to the PAC asking their permission to appear in person before the body. His move is a clear indication that he does not give the opposition’s demand any importance even though all the fingers are pointing towards the Prime Minister’s Office.

On the other hand, opposition parties are also not in a mood to quit. They have decided to take the battle to the streets. In this connection, the BJP organised a massive rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on 22nd December, immediately after the winter session of the Parliament was over. In the rally, leaders of the NDA put up a fresh demand for the Prime Minister’s resignation. Clearly, both the ruling and the opposition parties are getting ready for a long - drawn battle and are flexing their muscles for the next general elections due in 2014. Obviously, corruption and scams have become the talk of the day. Those involved in the corruption cases are in open denial of the charges and claim innocence. However, at the international level this corruption and scam related reports have tarnished the image of India.

Transparency International (TI), an acclaimed body on corruption has tagged India as one of the most corrupt nations in its list of Corruption Performance Index 2010. India occupies the 87th position in the list, whereas our trans-Himalayan neighbour China, at 74th place is slightly better than us in terms of corruption. Should we presume that it is the system here that makes us a corrupt nation?

At the time of Independence India embraced democracy giving her people the right to vote and the power to elect their government. At the same time, we also adopted a socialist model to implement mega-projects for the benefit of the masses. The same model also ensured that all the business is conducted behind a heavy curtain in the name of secrecy. The very process of electing popular representatives is the breeding ground of corruption. It is alleged that earlier, the Congress used to purchase votes in order to remain in power. Naturally, the candidates thus elected would like to make more money than they had spent to get elected. Once elected, they were, and still are free to do whatever they deem right for their own benefit in the name of secrecy. No one was there to question their conduct as public servants.

However, it would be a bias to blame only the socialist model for all the rampant corruption. In fact, what India opted for in the beginning was half socialist and half capitalist model. It was then hoped that the country could reap the benefits of both the systems. But this calculation went wrong from the very beginning and India and her thriving masses were compelled to bear the evils of both the systems. The public was being fooled and their lands and basic rights were snatched away in the name of socialism and bringing about equality. Capitalists on the other hand, were allowed to plunder the precious natural resources of the nation mercilessly. Besides this, they were also allowed to develop close relations with the politicians in power. It is not uncommon when during the elections rich businessmen become active in the corridors of power to act as brokers. It was these power brokers who made odd alliances possible. A famous capitalist in the 60s declared openly that he had 80 MPs in his pocket and could form or deform the government at will.

A glimpse of this grave reality was seen recently when the tapped conversations of Niira Radia, a top brass corporate communicator cum lobbyist, with some of the noted journalists (of approach) was published by a magazine. The conversation made it clear and beyond doubt that a top notch corporate house played a vital role in bagging the profitable telecom portfolio for A. Raja, a DMK MP from Tamil Nadu. Now, the deeper layers of a big scam are being exposed.

During his first term as the Telecom Minister, it is alleged that A. Raja functioned arbitrarily and even ignored the instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office in allotting 2G spectrum to his favourite operators, Tata being one of them. His actions caused a loss of around 1.7 lakh crore to the exchequer. After the UPA won the 2009 general elections, A. Raja was not the first preference for the telecom portfolio. The top brass of the UPA wanted to give this Ministry to Dayanidhi Maran, the son of late Murasoli Maran. However, as the published tapes reveal, the Tatas deployed Niira Radia to lobby in favour of Raja. Radia allegedly hired the services of veteran journalists Vir Sanghavi, Barkha Datt and Prabhu Chawla in lieu of hand some paybacks. Even DMK put it weight behind Raja. What transpired thereafter is history.

The matter would have been suppressed by no one else but by the Prime Minister’s Office itself but for the timely intervention of the Supreme Court, which asked the Prime Minister’s Office to break its silence over the episode. It was only then that things began to come out in clear light. Now, the Supreme Court has taken the matter into its own hands and has asked the government to initiate a CBI enquiry on the whole affair. The CBI is now grilling Raja as well as the mandarins of his ministry. The entire nation is awaiting the outcome and wants to see if the people propagating corruption at the top levels are booked.

The shadow of the 2G scam fell over the auction of 3G spectrum also which took place recently. Demands are being raised in political circles to reinitiate the auction procedure of 3G spectrum. If this happens, the country will have to wait a few more years to enjoy the advanced features of 3G services. This is a classical example of corruption corroding the country’s progress. In foreign countries, especially Scandinavian ones, they have already ushered in an era of 4G telecom services. But alas, in India if at all these services are introduced they will not be without scams and the Indian public will be made to pay for the greed of our politicians.

Corruption is rampant in other areas also. Two prominent sports events that remained in the news for bad reasons are the IPL and the Common Wealth Games. In the beginning of the year 2010, scams related to the IPL hit the headlines. Shashi Tharoor, a Union Minister was found to be facilitating the auction process of Team Kochi to provide undue profit to his girlfriend. When the irregularities were exposed, Shashi Tharoor and his friend Sunanda Pushkar denied both foul play and allegations of a relationship. The subsequent burgeoning pressure forced Tharoor to resign from his post. Now, the two are happily married after the episode. The promoter of the IPL Lalit Modi has fled from the country amidst charges of serious irregularities and providing his relatives undue profits running into thousands of crores. He is now in London and refuses to return to India. Reports appearing in the newspapers suggest that he is planning to take asylum in Iceland-.

Then there were scams related to the Common Wealth Games (CWG). Though the Games had been allotted to New Delhi in the year 2003, yet the preparations were incomplete till the eve of the commencement of the Games. What had the organisers been doing during all these years? Actually, the Games preparation provided a golden opportunity for all those involved to make big money. No one was willing to lose the chance and everybody worked at leisure. When light was shed on the complacency which resulted in unnecessary delay which became apparent in finishing the work, the Chairman of the Organising Committee, (OC) Suresh Kalmadi came under direct attack and it is alleged that he is involved in scams running into around 77,000 crore rupees. Even the Chief Minister of Delhi Shiela Dikshit behaved in a dubious manner and made hollow promises time and again. It was actually the indomitable spirit of the public and sports persons that the CWG could be held successfully. CBI and CVC are now interrogating Kalmadi and the nation is waiting for the outcome of this interrogation. In hushed up voices, people say that nothing will happen because Kalmadi and his men have already destroyed all the evidence.

Housing is one of the basic necessities of human life. But of late property prices are skyrocketing particularly in the metros where property prices are rising out of reach of the common man. This sector too is full of corruption. So far, it has been a common impression that government agencies and armed forces observe honesty as far as accommodating their personnel is concerned. But the exposure of the Adarsh Housing Society scam shattered this myth. Flats in this Mumbai society were meant to be allotted to the war widows of the Kargil War but politicians and top brass army officers shared these flats among themselves and their kith and kin while the intended beneficiaries of the schemes are still pining for a ‘sweet’ home of their own. Preliminary investigation reveals that the building has flaunted environmental norms also. On this basis it could be demolished even as politicians and army officers are making concerted effort to save it.

The year 2010 had left-many scars in the shape of scams. Let’s hope that the culprits will be booked in the New Year and others will resolve to abstain from such ill doings.

Parveen Shrivastava