A CANDLE IN THE WIND

"Its difficult to take stringent actions against ministers when you are in a coalition government". This is what Rahul Gandhi replied when a student of Lucknow University asked him about his party's ineffectiveness against corruption.

But who knew that four months later a 72- year old, short and shriveled Gandhian would sit on a fast unto death and incinerate the dead spirit of the youth of this country forcing the government to give in to his demands.

The formula of Jan Lokpal Bill advocated by Anna Hazare and his foot-soldiers gleamed a ray of hope amongst the masses. But the war was not over yet as the political fraternity refused to concede to a handful of the so called Civil Society activists.

After a jaw breaking defeat in the first round, the government started the second one with an upper jab right on the face of two most prominent members of the Joint Drafting Committee- the Bhushans. The CD which allegedly contains conversation between expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, party supremo Mulayam Singh and lawyer Shanti Bhushan indicating attempts of influencing a judge has brought Civil Society on the defensive.

Also the heretical remarks on the propriety of the Bhushans made by Congress' general secretary Digvijay Singh bringing into account the alleged discretionary allotment of land by the Mayawati government to the Bhushans and that too for a song have severely undermined the competence of the committee.

As the government plays footsie with Anna Hazare and other committee members, many cynics have been digging old graves looking for opportunities to settle personal accounts with the lawyer family. In spite of Hazare's clean chit to Bhushans there are voices raised demanding resignation of the two from the committee on moral grounds.

Though the allegations are grave but the timing in which they have risen smacks suspicion. Almost two weeks after the government succumbed to the demands of Anna Hazare, the ghost of land allotment and stamp duty evasion rose from nowhere. Amar Singh who was almost forgotten by the people after his expulsion from the Samajwadi Party has suddenly grabbed the attention of the media with his rhetorics and sarcasm directed towards the Bhushans. The purported CD(authentic or not) that contains a piece of conversation that took place in 2006 has unexpectedly emerged after five years.

Such political chicaneries insinuate the vindictive politics employed by the government to mar the reputation of Civil Society among the masses. The whole hubbub demanding resignation of the two very competent lawyers in the drafting committee implies of an attempt to make the committee weak and vulnerable when facing four of the best lawyers in the country.

Even as the Bhushans show no signs of quitting and the Civil Society backing them up, the tread so far suggest that the road ahead is not smooth for the Jan Lokpal Bill and of course the icon- Anna Hazare.

An article by Gaurav Tripathi produced in the general interest of public by G.A.A.P

Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Many a times in my childhood when I needed motivation, my grandmother would illume optimism through various stories where a grisly era ruled by devils came to an end when god exorcised the earth off them. Our Hindu mythology is deluged with such stories; they tell us how every oppression is repressed by the Divinity. But this time, they do not give any relief when India is daunted by devil of corruption. Although, the BJP led opposition leaves no chance to square off the government on corruption, yet there seem bleak chances of the devil being subjugated.

Corruption is no new word in the lexicon of Indian politics, time and again we have seen political parties creating brouhaha over CAG reports and media revelations but none of them really appealed for reforms to prevent such irregularities. Haunted by the spectre of corruption, nation has gone through some ghastful phases including national emergency. Jai Prakash Narain effectively projected Indira as a tyrant and ran an anti-Indira juggernaut all over the country. Consequently, the congress party lost its throne and Indira was ousted of the parliament and her residence.

But today India beseeches its JP, to not only revolt against the perpetrators but also to find a permanent solution to the problem. The allegations on the government are gross and opposition finds no way out other than resisting the proceedings of the parliament in demand of a JPC probe. While the government continually dismisses its demand in the pretext of the ongoing probe by various agencies including the PAC headed by Murli Manohar Joshi, a BJP leader, all that is going on is exchange of words and shooting questions on one another.

Wonder! What is the reason that no political party has had the audacity to put forward a proposal to whet out the sword against corruption? Why there has been no debate so far, to hasten the investigation and judicial process against the crooks? And why there has been no law passed that could ensure the independence and viability of the investigation agencies?

The BJP which consistently profess itself of being the flag bearers in the march against corruption gets subdued by its own chief minister facing almost similar charges in the state of Karnataka. However, its tenure in the centre had also not been spick and span. The leaders who beguile as reformist now, had earlier condoned its ministers allegedly involved in embezzlements. Not to forget the Tehelka expose in which the then defence minister George Fernandes and other members of his Samata Party were allegedly benefited by the swinging of arms deal. Although George Fernandes had resigned from his post, but later on was given a clean chit and reinstated in the same port folio.

Stung by the back to back Tehelka operations which revealed BJP president Bangaru Laxman receiving bribe and also those which inferred 2002 Gujrat Riots of being connived by the state government, the BJP came down heavily on the enterprise and practically ruined it by framing severe charges on the editor-in-chief and its financial backers.

Today, when we bid farewell to year 2010 we look back at it not only as a year when many scams were divulged but also a year when the Indian democratic system was proved impotent in combating corruption. This year has witnessed inefficiency of a central government to take strict actions against its tainted minister, a national party which was restrained by its chief minister from taking action against him and also the influence of corporate houses in politics and media. There was also an instance this year, when the Supreme Court had remarked at the discrepancies in Allahabad high court.

Significantly, it has been a year when the government, opposition, judiciary and the media have been at the receiving end of allegations and brickbats related to the unscrupulousness and ineffectiveness. The Common Indian on the other hand stands helpless in situation where he has to choose between devil and the deep blue sea....

An article by Gaurav Tripathi produced in general interest of public by GAAP

"Self before Service" - Corruption in indian Army

OP Vijay, OP Meghdoot, Indo-Pak War 1971 - These examples brag a lot of the valour, wisdom, guts and glory of the Indian Armed Forces and the Indian Army specifically. But this is only one side of the coin, the other side flips the entire image of the organization.

The recent revelations in the Adarsh Housing Society scam is not a singular incident where the top brass of Army are found indulged in, but this may be the only one where two former Chiefs are alleged to be the beneficiaries.

Prior to this there have been number of cases where officers, as senior as Corps Commanders and Army Commanders were found guilty by Court of Inquiries and were subsequently court-marshaled. In fact, there have been more than 600* court marshals since 2001. In many of these, senior officers of rank Maj Gen and above were penalized. Not only this, but the year 2006 alone witnessed more than 105* court marshal cases. The charges in these cases varied from rape and murder to severe embezzlement.

In one such cases Maj Gen AK Lal was dismissed on 12 Sept 2008 after found guilty of sexually assaulting a junior lady officer. And also, in a recent case Lt Gen AK Nanda, the Engineer-in Chief of the Army was forced to resign this year following the allegations against him for sexually assaulting his junior officer's wife. However, Nanda is yet not found guilty in the initial probe, but he has become the senior most officer of Indian Army to face such charges.

Numerous cases of corruption have further smeared the reputation of the coveted organization. Various scams like Sukhna land scam, dry rations scam, frozen meat scam and liquor scam have tarnished the dignified uniform.

The gravity of such cases can be realized when there were allegations that the then COAS, Gen Deepak Kapoor had been soft on Lt Gen Awadhesh Prakash , who was found guilty in the Sukhna Land Scam. Prakash was the Chief's military secretary when he was found guilty of allowing a private institution to purchase 70 acres of land, which belonged to the military. Not only Prakash, but Lt Gen Rath who had to take charge of deputy army chief was also indicted in the scam and also, when the COI recommended these officers to be sacked, Gen Kapoor recommended just an administrative action against them. Finally the defence minister, Antony had to step in and write a letter to the chief asking for their court marshal.

Kapoor was further put on the receiving end, when this Adarsh Society scam was unveiled. Fingers were also raised at another former army chief NC Vij when he was also found of possessing a flat at the Adarsh Cooperative housing society. However, Kapoor has also been alleged of possessing assets disproportionate to his income by Trinamool Congress MP, Ambika Banerjee. In her letter to the defence minister, Banerjee notified that properties owned by Deepak Kapoor include a flat in Dwarka Sector 29, three flats in Gurgaon Sector 23, one flat in Gurgaon Sector 42/44, a flat in Gurgaon Phase 3 and a house in Lokhandwala in Mumbai.

Besides these, Army has been tainted many a times by its superior officers. There is no dearth of scandals and scams revealed or concealed within the organization. One of the scams was deliberately kept under the veil when Lt Gen HS Panag, Army Commander, Northern Command was transferred to take charge as Commander of Central Command in the mid of his two year tenure. Panag, as commander in northern command was said to receive an anonymous letter apprising him of a scam in purchasing of tents worth Rs 16 crore* using special financial powers of Area Commander. Following this Panag ordered to stop the future promotions of Maj Gen Malhotra of Ordnance Corps after a COI found him guilty of siphoning off Rs 1.6 crore*. Consequently Panag had his transfer orders on the table.

In such an organization where the Commanders are morally corrupt, the junior officers and men are continuously striving for the dignity of the force. As per the statistics illustrated in the recent cases, the officers indulged in the discrepancies are of the rank of Brigadier and above, but there is no doubt that this vicious cycle of committing and protecting the misappropriations would soon grip the the juniors too. Also, in spite of the success gained in various ops and exercises, the malfunctions of the higher echelons have starkly affected the morale of troops.

Therefore, when we talk about vying with the strong Chinese army, the capabilities of our highly venerated Indian Army are fogged behind the mist of corruption.









An article by Gaurav Tripathi produced in general interest of public by G.A.A.P
*statistics not verified and based upon news articles published in various daily newspapers.

JUST THINK

This time there is no article to write, no pictures to show & no news bulletins to share...

This time its just a 'food for thought'.

Below is the list of 'major' scandals from 1990 to 2010.That means in last twenty years, but remember these are just MAJOR ones...

Let us count...

• Bofors Scandal (1990)
• Animal Husbandry Case (1990)
• Bombay Stock Exchange Manipulation & Fraud by Harshad Mehta (1992)
• Hawala scandal (1993)
• Bangalore - Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (1995)
• Sukh Ram (1996)
• Fodder Scam in Bihar (1996)
• Kerala SNC Lavalin power scandal (1997)
• [Countless Corruption and Illegal Money Sources], [Karunanidhi, DMK chief]----Still some cases are running in court

[edit]2000s

• Ketan Parekh Scandal, Barak Missile Deal Scandal, Tehelka Scandal (2001)
• Army-Coffins Scandal, MIG-Fighter Jets
• Taj corridor case (2002–2003)
• Telgi scandal (2003)
• Nitish Katara Murder Case (2004)
• Oil-for-food programme scam (Natwar Singh) (2005)
• Jessica Lal case (2006)
• Human Trafficking Scam involving Babubhai Katara.
• Cash-for-votes scandal

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Satyam scandal.
• [[Jharkhand robbery, Hawala transactions and secret bullion trade]],[Madhu Koda][2009]
• Madhu Koda:laundering money worth over Rs. 4000 crores.
• Common Wealth Games Scam:Illegal funds transfer in UK banks.
• 2G Spectrum Scandal: Involving Union Minister A.Raja

23 major scams revealed in 20 years i.e. more than one scam a year & everything is happening under our nose.

Before cursoring and forgetting it just remind yourself in how many of these scams a COMMON INDIAN like us was NOT involved.

....LOOK UP TO YOURSELF, LOOK UP TO THE NATION....

When they can.... Why cant we???

This is one of the cases where size and strength does not matter. Depicted by a dot on the world political map Lithuania has shown its will to eradicate corruption from the system. In the map above the smaller circle depicts those Balkan States of which Lithuania is just a segment.

A country with an area less than that of the state of Sikkim and population one third of Chennai, Lithuania has undergone major political and administrative reforms to curb the epidemic tainting the process of development.

As coined by former president and missile man Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam, development and corruption cannot go hand in hand, India has always been rueful for the snail's pace of its development. On the contrary the much younger Republic of Lithuania has flown in the drift of development quiet fast.

Since 1920, during World War I, the small nation had been an an apple of discord between Poland and Germany. After its annexation by Poland in 1920, Lithuania was ceded to Germany

in 1930. Later on ruled by Russia in 1940,the nation had also witnessed the gruesome period of Nazi rule after the German attack on Russia. Post the retreat of the German forces, Lithuania became a part of the Soviet Union. Eventually owing to the fragmentation of the USSR, the United Nation recognized it as an independent state in September 1991.

As young as a teenager, Lithuania follows strong democratic traditions with its political system not quiet different from India. However, unlike India Lithuania has shown a major rise in its growth rate because of which it became a part of European Union in 2003.

Rather than its radical improvement in the GDP growth rate from 7.4% (2004) to 8.8% (2008), the country decries of the widespread corruption in its political and administrative system. Still the ascent economy of Lithuania can be owed to the Anti-corruption Reforms carried out in the recent years.

Suffering with the problems of corruption spread in Business, Political, Administrative and Judicial system the nation has fought back quiet vehemently. It has also paradigmatically proved that the influenza of corruption is not incurable.

According to a survey by Transparency International, Lithuania has shown a wide improvement in the confidence level to eradicate corruption. The survey also affirms the rise in its score in the Corruption Perspective Index (CPI). The graph below illustrate the same:-

Although these reforms are not so unheard of, for the countries like India which stand way behind this small country in the CPI, yet they are unimplemented or unsuccessful here because of the lack of zeal amongst us.

Vis-a-vis the CBI and the vigilance department of India, Lithuania has formed the Special Investigation Service which on the contrary is free from political and administrative interference. Secondly, the Free Market Institute keeps a check on the corruption in business establishment by allowing free market and individual freedom, thus limiting the role of government officials in this field.

The corruption in the judicial and administrative offices has been taken care of by introducing strict laws and fast track courts in cases related to corruption. The abuse of power by the Public Servants is now considered as a serious criminal act and results in severe punishments to the guilty. The fast track courts are bound to pronounce a quick judgement in such cases hence effacing the possibilities of long awaiting justice to the victims.

But the most important factor in tightening the noose over corruption was the awareness amongst the masses. Unlikely to India where we easily surrender to corruption and succumb to the vicious system, people of Lithuania have always promoted the cause of limiting corruption.

Hence it elucidates the fact that morally upright & awakened masses, when make a righteous use of the law, even the wildest beast can be tamed.....

In the end we should ask ourselves, "If Lithuania can do it, Why cant we...???"

AN ARTICLE BY GAURAV TRIPATHI, produced in general interest of public by GAAP

India's most endangered species of the Day: Babubhai Katara

Babubhai Katara, member of Parliament (BJP) from Dahod was arrested by Delhi Police, for human trafficking a 38-year-old Paramjeet Kaur and a 14-year-old boy Amarjeet to Toronto on his wife's and son's passport, at Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi on April 18, 2007.

THE CANCER OF INDIAN SOCIETY

Remember this man....!!!! Yeah you are right he is Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind of one of the greatest forgery scam of Indian history after Harshad Mehta.

The smile on this man's face even under police custody depicts that Telgi had been having great contacts with people in and out of the country. The telgi scam had its ripples widespread in the Indian society. Many great personalities including the Police Commissioner of Mumbai were mired after the crash of this million rupees scam.

It would not be wrong if we say that Telgi is known as the STAMP OF CORRUPTION in the Indian society.

However it is not the only case where scams like these have been brought out infront of the people of India. There are numerous cases of divulged and also some unrevealed scam that had been or have been running in the country. Corruption has beseiged the Indian society from all corners.It has now become the Cancer of Indian society. And to cure this cancer it is very important to know its genesis.

Way back in 1940-50, when our constitution was under process it was thought to adopt the trade policies of the then Soviet Union. Hence, the economy of India became a socialist inspired economy.

In such scenario the industrial development was hindered as it required a large number of approvals from the government authorities. In order to set up an industry one had to satisfy around 80 different government agencies. These agencies were headed mainly by politicians and beaurocrats. This set-up was then called as the License Raj or the Permit raj under which the setting up of the business, its area of operation and even the output was decided by the government agencies.

Under such a system, the government representatives right from the poltical and beaurocratic heads to the third grade government employee became overpowered to decide the fate of a business. Hence the License Raj gave rise to the biggest problem of India- The RED-TAPISM...

However the Permit Raj was opposed in its initial stage by statesman and also the Last Governor General of India, Chakravarthi Rajgopalachari. He opined that this kind of permit system has a potential to generate corruption and also he wrote in his paper , "I want the corruptions of the Permit Raj to go... I want the officials appointed to administer laws and policies to be free from pressures of the bosses of the ruling party and gradually restored back to the standards of fearless honesty which they once maintained..."

Eventually, the Permit Raj caused the great slump in the Indian Economy and the country had no choice but to undergo a major economic reform. Dr. Manmohan Singh carried out these reforms and made the economy stable once again but it was too late... the corrution had already spread its roots deep in the society. The License Raj had now taken a new avatar- "The Mafia Raj".

According to a study in year 2005, more than 50% of people in India had first hand bribe experience or of influencing the government officials to get a job done. The Mafia Raj today has got a solid support of the government officials and politicians which help these mafia to occupy tenders and contracts from the government agencies.

The same study says that the truckers pay annually $5 billion as bribe.... In bihar only, more than 80% of subsidized food aid to poor is stolen. Thence, the cases like these have made India the least efficient economy and it lies way behind the countries like Phillipines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore in the race of development.

Notwithstanding such aghasting statistics India has got a great cpacity to annihiliate corruption from its system. A 2006 study places India at 70th position among the states where efforts were made for reducing corruption.

There are various steps taken by the officials and also the common man to uproot this problem.

The major antidote to corruption was discovered when the Right to Information Act came into being. By the efficient use of this act the people of India can know about the factors impeding the process and consequently annihiliate them. The act can also be used for unveiling inglorious activities prevailing in the system.

The computerization of several offices has also proved to be a measure to prevent corruption and red-tapism. Digitalization of paper records and softwares preventing any alteration in them, also the use of smart cards for registration and licensing has limited the activities of middleman and Babus in the government organizations.

Besides these steps by the government it is very important thath we, the people of India take greater interest in wiping out the problem completely. The incidents like in the cases of Jessica Lal murder and Satyendra Dubey murder where the people have actively participated in the protest, the government had no choice but to do justice to the victims.

Also the whistle blowers of the society play a larger role and along with that the private sector's intiative to create awareness among the masses have proven to be fruitful. The campaign 'Jaago Re' by the Tata Tea group is an exemplar to be followed.

So inspite of sitting in some paan or tea shops and lamenting the corrupt officials we can stand up and take initiative.

In the end we should never forget that, TOGETHER WE CAN AND WE WILL MAKE A DIFFRENCE....

An Article by Gaurav Tripathi produced in general interest of the public by G.A.A.P