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| Would Lokpal institution make a difference in J&K? | | |
early times report
Jammu, Dec 9: M.Y. Tarigami, CPI M general secretary for the State has said he would move a bill in the forthcoming session of the State assembly seeking to bring the middle and lower rungs of administration under the ambit of the State Accountability Commission. It is quite a revelation that the middle and lower rungs of bureaucracy have so far been kept out of the Accountability Commission's jurisdiction.
A hot debate has been going on in the State whether a Lokpal authority on the lines proposed by Team Anna should be formed in the State and whether such an authority would really help eradicate corruption from public life.
There is no use denying that fact that J&K could well be at the top of the list of the most corrupt states in the country. A survey had last year said we were second only to Bihar in this singular distinction among the Indian states. Much water has flowed down the Tawi River since we were last categorized as the second most corrupt state in the country.
We have definitely made 'great progress' since last year in achieving our goals and we can say with some sense of pride (read shame) that corruption has not only made progress but has reached its zenith in the State. From the lowest levels of corruption which begins when a poor man pays the Chaprasi outside the Sahib's office to allow him have the darshan of the boss, to the allotment of multi-million contracts, people pay their way up in the bureaucratic hierarchy.
The bureaucrats, the politicians and unfortunately even the so-called whistleblowers have benefitted from the industry of corruption in J&K. The bureaucrats say the political masters are corrupt and the ruling politicians argue the nexus of evil in the bureaucracy is so strong that they are unable to break it. Whether the knife falls on the melon or the melon falls on the knife, it is always the melon that gets cut. Whether the political masters are patronizing a corrupt bureaucracy or whether the powerful nexus of a corrupt bureaucracy has humbled the political masters, the inevitable conclusion is that the common man in the State has to suffer.
The State has a powerful anti-corruption organization that is presently headed by one of the most honest police officers of the State. Despite P.L. Gupta doing his best, we have been able to bring very little relief into the life of the average citizen who continues to be the grist for the mill of corruption.
Every third day the vigilance organization registers FIRs against the corrupt officials, every other day challans are produced in the courts against the corrupt officials and yet the industry continues to flourish. Democracy has its own disadvantages and being unable to tackle the scourge of corruption despite stringent anti-corruption laws and a vigilance chief like P.L. Gupta the visibility of the anti-corruption panel and its authority as a deterrent to the corrupt officials is far from what it should have been. If P.L. Gupta can do only this much, then what somebody else can achieve remains a matter of debate.
Extending the Lokpal authority to the State on the lines proposed by Team Anna might also come to mean very little unless there is a general aversion, contempt and social stigmatization of the corrupt officials. Unfortunately, being highly corrupt is still seen as professional efficiency in the State and those who keep their conscience clean and hold their heads high by being honest and upright are looked upon as professionally incompetent and arrogant.
This mindset must change before we think of introducing a bill to either bring the middle and lower rungs of bureaucracy within the ambit of the State Accountability Commission or extend Lokpal authority to the State as proposed by Team Anna. |
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