An ill-directed fight against corruption

I am forced to observe the great Indian uprising against corruption from a distance. I do not however believe I would have gone to the Ramlila ground in my hometown to support Anna Hazare's protest. Even though this uprising against corruption is welcome as it manifests public's anger against corruption, I believe this agitation is ill-directed that would at best lead to creation of one more layer of bureaucracy and take the debate and focus away from things that really need fixing.

I am not going to make this post a critique on the Lokpal concept and legislation but focus on the issues we need to tackle to seriously combat corruption across all levels of bureaucracy and government at Local, State and Central level.

As is the case with any reform, the reforms need to start where they would have the most impact and are most seriously required. India has become a nation that prides itself in breaking laws - talk to any Indian on how many laws or rules he or she has broken and you would have an earful of stories about jumping the signal, smoking in nonsmoking areas, littering in non litter zone, jumping the check in line at the airport, sneaking in a bottle of vodka in a bar, buying cigarettes and alcohol from the stores despite being underage and so on and so forth. Talk to those who are supposed to enforce the law and they would dismiss you with an arrogance as if they are beyond the law. Talk to a bar owner and he wont care about checking the IDs of his patrons or worry about the upcoming hygiene inspection. This careless attitude towards observing the law and enforcing the law has become deep rooted in the Indian psyche due to lazy, ineffective and yes corrupt enforcement. This is where we need to reform first - in enforcement, that is the Police.

What's the image that comes to your mind when you think of an Indian policemen? A pot bellied, double chin, middle aged and uninterested person armed with an outdated rifle without any modern equipment. Our Police force is lethargic, ineffective, corrupt, controlled by the politicians and enforces a code that is as old as 1861. Indian Penal Code that governs the Police was written in 1861 to police the subjects of a colonial rule and not to provide equitable protections to the citizens of a parliamentary democracy. It needs reforms and there have been numerous commissions, both government instituted and civil society promoted, which have proposed the reforms but not much has happened. The Police in India is a State subject and that makes it difficult and time consuming to reform. Supreme Court directed the Center and States to introduce reformed Policing laws and gave them time till March 2007 to implement 5 directives. Key idea behind those directives was:
Insulate police from unwarranted political interference - this is the top most objective. Just to highlight the gravity of this problem, consider the fact that the average tenor of a DSP in the State of Uttar Pradesh is 4 months!
Provide for a minimum fixed tenure of two years for the Chief of Police and four other police officers on operational duties in the field.
Separation of investigation from law and order which was also recommended by the Law Commission of India.
Creation of a Police Establishment Board which would be a departmental body to oversee the transfer and posting of the officials above the rank of DSP.
Last and probably the second most important, set up Police Complaints Authority in states to inquire into allegations of complaint of public against the men in uniform.

Sadly, most of these directive stand either just as directives or implemented in a diluted form that takes the spirit of these directives away. Someone in the civil society has to take the fight against corruption across all states and to the center to force them implement urgent Police reforms. Needless to say, we need government to focus on improving the training facilities of the Police to sharpen their investigative skills and mandate annual tests that check them on fitness and investigative intelligence.

Police reforms would go a long way in discouraging corruption in the first place and better investigation of corruption after the fact.

Second area of reform lies in the way bureaucrats are paid and rewarded. Bureaucrats in India are unduly pampered with perks and paid ridiculously low cash salary. There is no point giving an IAS or IPA officer housing in the most expensive area of the city and pamper them with perks like domestic help, free telephone, free travel etc. All these perks need to be cashed out and paid to them in cash salary. Let a person decide how he or she wants to live life rather than give them a lifestyle that fosters elitism and corruption. Secondly, recruitment to the bureaucracy needs to be for specialist function - there is no point keeping one person in tourism ministry for 2 years, then transfer to textile ministry, make him a district collector and then post him to the defense ministry. We need to have people recruited with specialized skills for specialized functions - all hirings must be along the lines of Indian Economic Service or Indian Engineering Services rather than through the generalist Civil Services Route. Thirdly, the rewards and promotion of bureaucrats need to be based on performance and not tenure - currently, promotions and appointments in government machinery are based on tenor. No one has the incentive to push the envelope. Last and not the lease, we need to reform the complex policies that ensure there is a long paper trail for each and every government service. It is this long paper trail that leads to corruption.

Third area of reform on which a lot has been said and discusses is the judiciary. Judiciary in India has been able to remain independent and Supreme Court has been the true torchbearer of democracy and human rights. However the situation at the lower levels if very sad indeed. Courts are not staffed adequately and lack access to modern equipment. There needs to be an immediate focus on establishing an efficient and well staffed judiciary at all levels so that cases can be brought to an end in time. It is no wonder one can commit an act of corruption and enjoy the benefits of proceeds as the law suit goes on for a decade and even more. Unless we have an efficient judiciary, no other reform can bear fruits.

Reforms in these three areas would go a long way in discouraging and punishing corruption. Sadly, this entire Lokpal debate is focused on creating one more layer of bureaucracy that would most probably lead to only higher deficits and one more institution that is accused of corruption. It is time for people to take interest in real issues and also take it upon themselves to not pay a bribe when asked for and try make observance of rules a way of life rather than pride themselves for breaking them.

Institutionalization of Corruption in India

Every-time we go to bed, think about starting a new business or take any
decision regarding our lives, security from external threat is taken for
granted. This sense of security comes from our belief in the capabilities
and integrity of our armed forces. Barring the 1962 debacle against Chinese
aggression, our armed forced have served the country with an immaculate
record in a volatile neighborhood. We decisively won against our rogue
neighbors' aggression in the conflicts of 1965, 1971 and 1998.  Through
indigenous research and development and procurement in the international
markets, we have established credible nuclear and military deterrence
against a Chinese aggression. Our forces have often been hailed for their
peacekeeping and humanitarian work work under the UN umbrella. Moreover,
our armed forces have always respected the democratic traditions ingrained
in our constitution. It therefore hurts to see a serving chief of Army
Staff being publicly humiliated as the Government shamelessly fights a
dirty battle of One-upmanship.

It would be factual to say Corruption has become institutionalized in our
country, including our Armed Forces when it comes to defense procurement.
It is therefore pertinent to ask ourselves why and how corruption become
ingrained in our way of life. Given that Congress Party, independently or
in a coalition, has ruled India for most of the time since Independence, it
would be hard to distinguish the history of institutionalization of
corruption in India from the Congress Party. Despite being a proponent of
Parliamentary Democracy, Congress itself has always been a fiefdom of the
Nehru-Gandhi family that has little respect for internal democracy. We all
hold Jawaharlal Nehru in high regards as a freedom fighter, as the guardian
of secularism and democracy, as the founder of non alignment movement and
as India's first Prime Minister. While each of the accolades have merit, we
often forget Nehru also had a high tolerance for corruption. As long back
as 1939, Mahatma Gandhi said "I would go to the length of giving the whole
congress a decent burial, rather than put up with the corruption that is
rampant." in response to the widespread corruption in Congress ministries
formed under 1935 Act in six states in 1937.

Post independence, the first scandal broke out as soon as 1948 with the
Jeep scandal. This scandal involved a transaction concerning purchase of
jeeps for the Army for Kashmir operation. It was entered into by
V.K.Krishna Menon, the then High Commissioner for India in London with a
foreign firm without observing normal procedure. Contrary to the demand of
the opposition for judicial inquiry as suggested by the Inquiry Committee,
the Government led by Nehru announced on Sep 30, 1955 that the Jeep scandal
case was closed. Union Minister G.B.Pant declared "as far as Government was
concerned it has made up its mind to close the matter. If the opposition
was not satisfied they can make it an election issue”. As a reward for the
Jeep Scandal, Krishna Menon was inducted into the Nehru cabinet a Minister
without Portfolio. This reflected the arrogance of Nehru's Congress party
as there was no real opposition to speak of that time.

It is worth remembering that Krishna Menon was also the Defense Minister
during 1962 when we miserably lost the war to China and failed to protect
our borders. India's defeat in the war against China was as much due to
neglect and treachery of the politicians like Menon and Nehru as due to bad
preparation and strategy on part of General Kaul. Nehru had later admitted
that he kept, China having built a road through Indian territory linking
Tibet and the Chinese province of Sinkiang as far back as two years, a
secret from Parliament. Little surprise then that it was Menon who
repeatedly declined army's request for safeguarding India against Chinese
aggression saying the real enemy was Pakistan and not China. India's defeat
in the war has been widely debated by military strategist and even if one
wants to give Menon the benefit of doubt, one can never forgive Nehru for
thrusting upon India a corrupt and incompetent defense minister.

Nehru further showed his embrace of corruption in judicial inquiry into the
charges against Pratap Singh Kairon. The inquiry was held after an
indictment was handed out by the Supreme Court in a case filed by a Punjab
Civil Surgeon. It was the first judicial inquiry into charges of
corruption, setup against a Chief Minister in office by the Government of
India. The commission concluded that "There is no getting away from the
fact that Kairon knew or had ample reason to suspect that his sons and
relatives were allegedly exploiting his influence and powers. In view of
his inaction in the face of the circumstances here in before alluded to, he
must be held to have connived at the doings of his sons and relatives, his
colleagues and the government officers."

Nehru reacted to this matter by saying "The question thus arises as to
whether the chief minister is compelled to resign because of adverse
findings on some questions of fact by Supreme Court. The ministers are
collectively responsible to the legislature. Therefore, the matter was one,
which concerned the assembly. As a rule therefore, the question of removing
a minister would not arise unless the legislature expressed its wish by a
majority vote." Supported by Nehru, Kairon's initial reaction was to stick
to his office in spite of the adverse verdict. But when Lal Bahadur Shastri
got the report published, Kairon had no option but to quit. It therefore
comes as no surprise that current Congress Leadership always reacts with
disdain to the demands of resignations of corrupt and tainted ministers.

These two instances are important for us to know and reflect on. These two
cases clearly reflect how Nehru not only had a high tolerance for
corruption but also how he created a culture where nepotism was an
acceptable way of life and how corruption was never a deterrent to the
advancement of political career of the culprit. These two events set the
stage for the way Politicians would view corruption in public life going
forward.  As recently as 1993, when the Nation was deeply into the Bofors
Scandal probe, Congress showed its lack of respect for democracy and
embrace of corruption by deciding to abstain from voting on Justice V
Ramaswami's impeachment proceedings. Ramaswami was the first judge in India
to face impeachment proceedings and had been found guilty on 11 of 13
counts by the committee constituted by the Parliament. While a small matter
that often gets pushed aside or ignored in light of bigger scandals like
Bofors, this event once again put to the fore how Congress promotes
corruption at all levels and nothing is better than promoting corruption
among Judiciary that happens to be the only independent arm of government
still commanding some respect and integrity.

In the more than 55 years of Congress rule in India and in most of States,
we have come to a situation where corruption has become a way of life. BJP
which offered a glimpse of hope as the party with a difference also seem to
have lost its way having been involved in corruption scandals of its own
and having lost the leadership of its moderate face Mr. Vajpayee. Given the
increasing fragmentation of political parties at regional level along caste
religion and language lines, it does not look any party with a strong anti
corruption message can capture the imagination of the electorate to win
2014 elections. One can only hope that if this shameless looting of the
country goes on and majority of law abiding citizen continue to clamor for
potable water, electricity and road, an Egypt like revolution may set in
which would force the Political landscape to undergo a fundamental change.

Present and the golden age..

Yesterday, on the eve of Kishor Da's birthday I refreshed my music library on the Ipod to get back to the music I happened to love the most. After listening to a few of my favorite numbers, I couldn't help myself from thinking when was the last time I went back to listen to any of the songs I have in my 1990s and 2000s folder. As far as I could think, I never went back to any of those songs after a few months of their release. I asked the same question to myself in the context of movies and I could remember watching Godfather, Untouchables, Sholay, Deewar, Anand, Padosan, Zanzeer, Zanne Bhee Do Yaaron, Khatta Meetha, Chupke Chupke, Mili and many others movies of the 1960-1980 era but couldn't remember watching any of the 1990- 2010 movies again barring a few like Sarkar, Company and Hera Pheri.

I tried hard but I was convinced that I remembered and loved the music and movies of 1960-1980 much more than those from the last two decades. To me 1960s and 1970s represent the golden age of Bollywood even though I do have a few movies I cherish a lot from the Guru Dutt era. When I asked my dad the same question, he referred to the 1940s and 1950s as the Golden Age of music and movies in India.

A few weeks back I saw the movie 'Midnight in Paris'. This movie features a disenchanted screenwriter from Hollywood yearning for excellence in writing and for inspiration. He eventually finds inspiration in what he believes to be the Golden Age of Literature and the City of Light. He imagines himself in the 1920s when Paris used to be home to Picasso and Hemingway, Fitzgeralds used to host parties and critics used to offer real critique of art work. Within his imagination, he discovers that the Golden Age for 1920s youth was the 1880s.

Connecting the dots, that is the message from this yet another beautiful movie of Woody Allen and my favorites in movies and music from the Bollywood, I reached a conclusion that every generation, even the ones that we idealize today, has looked back to a lost golden age. Idea is to let the concept of golden age remain a concept that fills us with nostalgia and gives us a breather from the chaos of our contemporary life. Eventually, we all need to be the eternal optimists and believe that if there’s a real golden age, it’s right now, even if you’re the kind of person like me who tends to be stuck in the past.

Look at it from the other perspective - best part about the golden age in which we live today is that there’s simply more past than ever before, in libraries, record shops, movie houses, and, on-line. I would never want to give up any of it. Our next generation would definitely look at our generation as the golden age when the world in reality became a global village and every one had access to any and everything of the past and present to make their future bright.