‘Show’ against corruption

Good actions from the government deserve acknowledgement and appreciation. The dismissal of 10 corrupt senior officials of the Telecom department by minister Ashwini Vaishnaw this past week, for example, though a small gesture considering the sweep of corruption in government right down to village panchayat levels, is demonstrative of the Modi Government’s intent to address corruption. The anti-corruption bureaus themselves are seen to be hugely corrupt. The recent scandals about the CBI and ED, involving their top bosses, signify a sense of hopelessness. Vaishnaw had driven out some 40 senior officials from the railways in the past. Question is, why only Vaishnaw. A government statement in Parliament earlier this year claimed some 400 officers of the central government had been dismissed for reasons of corruption or inefficiency in the eight years of the Modi government. This works out to an average of 50 officials a year – rather, a sugar-coating for a bitter pill, to fool the public. Many dismissed officials approach court and obtain favourable verdict after being suspended and sitting at home for years and then having a windfall of being awarded the entire wages for the period they were kept out of service. Our systems lack teeth when it comes to handling influential persons. Courts, hopefully, will act in a more resolute manner in future as controlling corruption is a prerequisite to national well-being and growth.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi strode into power in Delhi in 2014 with a promise to check corruption. There have been no significant cases of corruption at the ministerial level in his government(s) in Delhi or in Gujarat so far though there have been large-scale fund collections at top level perhaps for party work and electioneering. Yet, since no major corruption case has surfaced about the Modi government at the Centre so far, perceptions are that he has brought down corruption at the highest level. But, word is also that corruption at the central secretariat level is so huge and massive that even state government departments earmark, “pay”, and get files moving in Delhi vis-a-vis central-sponsored developmental projects. Such a rot has set in. Modi has not acted tough against the bureaucracy from the very start. All through his governance, he is more or less “tolerating” the bureaucracy and their corruption. Add to this the perceived loot by regional satraps running governments, state after state; or cases like that of BS Yeddiyurappa in Karnataka. Dismissing a few officials year after year, by itself, serves no meaningful purpose. This is nothing more than a routine show. The fight against corruption should start, first and foremost, from the PM’s level.