Corruption: How the issue poses itself

How to get rid of corruption? What are the institutional mechanisms that facilitate corruption? How does Jan Lokpal Bill address them? What are shortcomings of Jan Lokpal Bill? Is it being driven by Ford Foundation and World Bank to weaken the central state so that the corporations can have a free hand? These are some of the questions that are on the mind of every Indian today.

Corruption is arbitrary use of power, position and resources entrusted by people to enrich oneself at the expense of the interest of the vast majority of people. It is use of public office to enhance one’s own self interest, some times illegally, some times within the legal frame work and sometimes where the laws are silent. But its essence is to enrich oneself using one’s public position and discharge of one’s duty. So a minister will use the structure of the state to grant favours legally or illegally for a price. The same is true for a peon. He will let you meet the officer concerned only after receiving a payment. And the whole establishment runs like this.

In everyday life one experiences it at every level in India. Any government office one goes to, one is faced with it. It starts from the top and is pervasive at all level. No matter which party is in power. It is so rampant that even the government and the opposition parties admit that it is a cancer that permeates the society. They should know as they carry it on day in and day out.

At the core of corruption is arbitrary use of power and lack of accountability. The person in power basically says, I will do as I please. Unless you pay me so much I will not do what is my duty. We just have no recourse. So there is neither accountability nor recourse.

This lack of accountability and recourse is built into the very mechanisms of the state institutions; and it was done very consciously by the British. The aim of the British was to loot and plunder and not have any accountability to the citizens of India. They were accountable to the board of directors of the East India company or to the crown, not to the people of India. They established Licence Raj1 and a European Nation State for this purpose to have no accountability and control everything to facilitate loot and plunder. It also became a giant machinery of corruption. Most of you will recall that Clive, who came to India on a small salary of 5 pounds, at the time of his retirement, in his words, was ‘one of the richest subjects of his majesty’s empire’2. After independence, this Licence Raj was continued under the name of socialism and the basic nature of the state institutions did not change. It remains an instrument of loot and plunder instead of an instrument for ensuring security and prosperity of people as the people desire and as enshrined in the directive principles of the constitution. Although some elements of licence Raj have been tinkered with recently.

On top of the institution built by the British to loot and plunder, the electoral process also added its own lack of accountability. Once elected, the representatives proclaim that they will do what they want for next five years or so, and they are not held accountable and people have no recourse. The very electoral process, elections themselves are dominated by money and muscle power.

The very system of rule of political parties fuels corruption. People have no input in selection or rejection of candidates. Political parties select candidates and people have no control over these candidates once they are elected. Political parties sell tickets for a price. They buy votes and vote banks. Elections have become investments by individuals and their backers, that yield great results for them. Once elected they maximize their return on their investment and do what they please. During elections they hire public relation companies and make all kinds of promises and issue sleek manifestoes but after elections they completely forget those promises and act in opposition for which people have elected them, they only act in their own interests and the vested interests who have financed them. Cash for votes in the parliament is known to all. Speaker after speaker including Anna Hazare has pointed this out at the Ramlila Maidan.

Any serious attempt to wipe out corruption has to tackle this lack of accountability on the part of lawmakers and lack of recourse on the part of the people. The disempowerment and disenfranchisement of people by the political process has to be addressed. One of the suggested remedies to this ill is that the electorate should have the right to select, reject and recall the candidates.

Jan Lokpal Bill and other proposals made by various collectives make suggestions to take various administrative steps to root out this evil of corruption. A suggestion has also been made that Lokpal should have constitutional status just like the election commission. Another suggestion is being made that NGOs, Media and Corporation should also be included in its jurisdiction. Some people are suggesting that peoples courts should also be established to tackle corruption.

Governments in India have been talking about Lokpal since 1968 or so, yet nothing has materialized.In some states where Lok Ayuktas have been estalished they have no teeth. It remains as a pie in the sky. Lack of political will on the part of the political class is said to be the reason that this has not happened so far. The reason is very clear, the political class irrespective of the party wants to perpetuate the old colonial system as it benefits them at the expense of the citizens of India. That is why Aam Aadmi says that the white sahibs have gone and brown sahibs have taken over and their lot has not changed.

Jan Lokpal bill is an excellent beginning, it has a great movement of people behind it, it has input from lakhs of people. It deserves the support of all and one. At the same time it is important to point out that it does not address nor is it meant to address, all the causes of corruption, arbitrariness and lack of recourse for people.

Specifically it does not address the problem of lack of accountability of lawmakers to their electors, which is one of the main causes of corruption. As a result there can be 150 MPs in the parliament who have criminal records.

Along with Jan Lokpal we need reform of the political process as Anna Hazare also announced when he broke his fast, and make it a process which makes representatives accountable to the voters, and not over and above them. A mechanism has to be evolved where this becomes a reality. Right to select ,reject and recall by the electorate has to be the foundation of such a mechanism. So that when the elected representatives do not represent what people want then they can be recalled immediately and not wait for next election. This will begin to vest sovereignty back in the hands of the people. Ultimately people will need to create mechanisms where they directly govern themselves without the need of representatives providing maximum accountability, recourse and transparency. Suggestions are already being made that community control of natural resources and decentralization of decision making power will be steps in this direction. Once there is empowerment of people, they have been vested with sovereignty, chances of corruption will be minimized and they will have tools and mechanisms to tackle it.

We also need to think about what mechanisms we need to create to ensure the welfare of all and harmonization of Individual interest, collective interest and general interest of society. The last 500 years have shown that neither the state nor the market are capable of harmonising these interests. Without this harmony we can not affirm the rights of all and ensure welfare of all, and thus giving rise to state of affairs in which we find ourselves in which corruption and exploitation are rampant and rights are trampled. We can not accept a situation where the great majority of people are considered expendable in this dual economy, by having pockets of wealth and the rest are left to fend for themselves and society abdicating all responsibility.

The patriots of 1857 gave the call Hum Hain Iske Malik, Hindustan Hamara3, but the last 64 years of independence have shown that We the people are not Malik in practice; the time has come to realize this in deeds. And only WE the people can do it with our collective wisdom and strength as Anna Hazare and others in Ramlila Maidan have pointed out many times. He has called the people of India to be vigilant and become Maliks of this country.

The victory of the people for Jan Lokpal is a reminder that it is only pro-active people who can win anything at all, even for a small step such as Jan Lokpal bill they have to wage a huge struggle as all the cards are stacked against them. They have to be engaged and remain vigilant to solve all the problems such as poverty, health, education, gender, caste discrimination etc. This is the necessity of our times, the necessity for change. This is the Parivartan for which people are longing for and have called from Ram Lila Maidan loud and clear.

Footnotes

1 They monopolized all the trade ,industry and forced farmers what to grow and what price they will pay for it. Even  salt was controlled by this license Raj

2 Clive’s Trial

3 This was the flag song of  the first war of independence. Hum Hai Iske Malik, Hindustan, Paak Watan Hai Quom Ka Jannat Se Bhi Piyara