-S. KRISHNA KUMAR

Today, India is one of the most corrupt nations..... India has slipped several places on the global transparency index, indicating a rise in corruption levels. No wonder indeed!

Our country, even today, has not been able to make vast progress mainly due to rampant corruption and bureaucracy in each and every field. From birth certificates to schools admissions and professional course admissions, from rations cards to railway tickets, from gas connection to re-connection, in tax departments, telephone and electricity departments, RTO & police departments, from admission and treatment in and even in the discharge from hospitals to even get the “dead body” of your kith and kin to obtaining (hold your breath!) death certificates too, and to get your own money against your bills for supplies made/ services rendered to departments, one can get the necessary work done only if the officials and the staff concerned are "duly taken care of ". You name the department and the kind of work to be got done, you will not escape the "devil of corruption" in the process.

There is no morality and honesty to speak of at all today. Just recollect those cases wherein several top-notch bureaucrats and even ministers had been raided and found to be in possession of disproportionate assets worth crores of rupees. These officials and bureaucrats and those at the helm of the affairs are really corrupt people who rob the exchequer of crores and are hoarders of black money worth crores of rupees. And we have never heard of such officials being punished and put behind bars indefinitely (like in Saudi Arabia, Korea, Japan etc...)?

The period of 2010-12 had been termed as the period of "Scams, scandals and corruption". I need not elaborate... but to name a few which involved lakhs of crores of rupees in scams like, the CWG Scam, 2G Spectrum scam, defence deal scam, coal-gate, telecom companies sale scam, mining scam , railway contracts scam, fodder scam (!), Adarsh society scam in which the martyrs & the families of our soldiers were let down and many … many more. Sadly, in many of these scams, none other than the ministers and top officials concerned were involved.

We have been also reading from time to time, about the ED, Tax Deptt., and CBI raids on several government officials and ministers too, who were found to be "proud owners" of hoards of cash, jewelleries and documents related to assets & investments worth crores of rupees which were totally disproportionate to the "known" source of their income. Shocking that these officials were literally running a "parallel economy" or in possession of wealth and money equivalent to a big municipal corporation's or an average sized state's annual revenue & budget!

Today once a politician, even with a very humble and poor/middle class background, enters politics and becomes a minister or a legislator, he/she starts amassing wealth and property, grooms almost all his family members for “position” in politics and government and becomes a crorepati in just a couple of years. There are many examples of such politicians who have had “rags to riches” lifestyle – owning as many huge apartments, lands & properties, multiple numbers of cars and SUVs and so on. Many “Netas” have properties & wealth worth crores of crores, just enough for several generations in his family to just sit and enjoy !! Such “prosperities of politicians” can happen only in India !!

What's more surprising, is that I don't think we have ever come across even a single such "high-class corrupt official" being jailed for a few years? Yes, we have of course seen, recently, an ex-CM & the union minister who was found guilty in “fodder scams”, and a few more politicians found guilty of “disproportionate assets”, being jailed. And, some more ‘high profile ex-ministers” and officials being questioned on many scams worth crores of rupees. But what is quite intriguing is that despite regular raids by all the Deptts. like CBI, ED etc, these cases go on and on, with as many adjournments, interim reliefs etc. for years! And even if “they” are jailed, “they” manage to come out on bail for one reason or the other.

The need of the hour is to form a vibrant union of well-known, selfless, honest, sincere and dedicated personalities, to totally weed out corruption. The legal process should not be cumbersome and lengthy. All acts of corruption must be treated as "non-bailable offences", with the attachment of all wealth & properties of the corrupt, to begin with.

What is therefore needed, is a fast track and exclusive courts that would speed up legal proceedings against massive corruption cases and to come out with firm, harsh & final punishments. Nothing less than a ten-year jail term should be awarded to all those who have been found amassing the nation’s wealth through corrupt deals. Above all, all their accounts must be frozen and properties must be attached. Tax liabilities thus standing against all such corrupt persons, must be recovered through attachment/ sale of their ill-earned properties. Only if such strict measures are taken, will the corrupt think twice before amassing money & wealth? But then, what will the government do, if all the ill-gotten wealth & money are stashed away in Swiss Banks?

Incidentally, on a positive side, for the last 3-4 years, we have, of course, seen some constructive measures being introduced and implements to stop corruption and dealing with direct dealings with the government departments. Thanks to digital transactions, a direct credit of subsidy amounts to the beneficiaries accounts, online applications and payments of fees etc, corruption to some extent has been controlled. For instance, one can apply for the passport online and remit the requisite fee too. And that’s all. On the appointed day, visit the passport office to fulfil their requirements. And one gets the passport in a record time, nowadays. Similarly, to get the subsidy amounts, one need not visit the related offices and meet the officials. If the beneficiary has given his bank account number and done with other procedures, the subsidy amount comes to his account on a regular basis promptly. These are, of course, some positive steps which we have been seeing. So far so good. But we still have a long way to go to end corruption totally, in India.

Many “netas” having legal cases against them are being debarred from contesting elections which again is a commendable step.

Conclusively, I will consider “end of corruption” in India, if I am not stopped by that traffic policeman on the road and not made to “offer something for chai-pani”, for a so-called crime which I have not done but caught only to make me a ‘scapegoat’ and shell out “something” for him to earn those ‘side income’ regularly !!

Hope for Acche Din and Better days! Mera Bharat Mahan !!

Over to the “New Year-2019” when general elections are due to elect our “Acche Netas for us “ !!