Jain Hawala Case has so far put the career of 24 politicians in Jam.  So far India was famous for letting off the politicians who were charged with accepting bribes.  But the recent case has shown that even politicians are not spared in India.

So far, 24 politicians have been charged with being beneficiaries of 65crore in bribes and gifts from businessman and alleged influence-peddler Surendra Kumar Jain who, unfortunately for the recipients, kept a diary.

The accused include seven serving Cabinet ministers, all of whom have resigned; the president of the leading opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, who gave up his parliamentary seat; and the chief minister of the local government in New Delhi, who also quit.

The broad political gamut of the suspects -- from honored stalwarts of the ruling Congress (I) party to the conservative BJP and leftist Janata Dal -only buttresses the scornful verdict many Indians have of those who govern them: Sab chor hain.  

While corruption in India is as ancient and solidly grounded as the Taj Mahal or Qutab Minar, this sordid episode marks the first time in independent India's nearly 50-year existence that members of the government or parliament have been charged or hauled into court for alleged criminal acts.

"It is like a cyclonic storm in INDIA'S politics" says one delhi resident.  

The hawala, or illegal foreign exchange affair, has captured headlines and the public agenda as India prepares for a general election, expected in April. Most immediately, many pundits say, the scandal may have boosted Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, though he also has been implicated.

Rao's increased chances for a second term will be good news for Western investors and corporations, since it was the southern Brahmin and his finance minister Dr.Manmohan Singh who scrapped India's socialist ideology and launched free market reforms in 1991, when India was on the verge of mortgaging its gold by the previous finance minister Yashwant Sinha in the Chandrasekhar government.

In a wider sense, however, the daily diet of shocking headlines is a wake-up call that the self-sacrifice and abiding sense of dharma, or duty, that distinguished many Indian leaders during the anti-colonial struggle and post-independence politics are in danger of being smothered under a mountain of rupee notes.

"My regret," laments Atal Behari Vajpayee, the BJP's parliamentary leader, "is that politics has become more of a business than a mission."

In 1993, without offering any independent corroboration, stockbroker Harshad Mehta claimed he had handed Rao a suitcase worth 1 crore rupees at his official residence. Other scandals followed: government purchases of sugar and locomotives; bidding for state telecommunications rights, a 2 crore rupees dollar loan to Rao's youngest son; and Rao's own alleged involvement as foreign minister in a 1989 forgery designed to smear a challenger to Rajiv Gandhi.

Early this year, however, the ground unexpectedly shifted. The seeds of change were sown as long as 2-1/2 years ago, when the Supreme Court, which had been the epitome of India's politically obedient judiciary, began showing new independence. Public resentment and pressure to act against graft were also mounting, and may have tipped the scales.

"If you want to build a house, get a phone connection, ration card, driving license, electricity connection, addmision in school or colleges,  without bribery nothing moves these days in India". 

The Jain Hawala Case has shown that corruption has now taken the front seat in India.

India Corruption "License to Loot"

New Delhi 8-12-96 by Hema Shukla(UVI NET)

India's politicians are trying to convince the country's voters what many have believed all along -- that elected officials are not public servants.

In a bid to protect themselves from zealous anti-corruption investigators, India's members of Parliament and state legislators are arguing that they cannot be considered public servants and should be immune from prosecution under a 1949 anti-corruption act.

In a rare moment of political consensus, legislators of all political hues -- from right-wing Hindu nationalists to Marxist Leninists -- have banded together to lobby on the issue.

The 1949 Prevention of Corruption Act empowers police to investigate and criminally prosecute public servants for graft during their tenure in office.

Elected officials have traditionally been include in this act.

India has no other law under which elected officials can be prosecuted for crimes committed while they were in office.

Many Indians, who view politicians as lazy, arrogant, and a drain on public funds, say politicians are trying to use technicalities to escape liability for their behavior.

"They are just a bunch of thieves saying give us a license to loot," attorney Sriprakash Kandpal said. "They want an escape route."

Lawmakers are also trying to amend the anti-corruption act to excuse past crimes, which would let dozens of senior politicians now facing criminal corruption charges off the hook.

Reports in The Times of India say the proposed amendment is supported by strange bedfellows: Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, of the center- left United Front coalition, and former prime ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee, of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party.

India's political elite have been rocked by a series of scandals over the last year.

Former Indian prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao stands charged in three cases of corruption, bribery and forgery. A number of other high profile politicians from all major parties are also facing investigations for dubious deals made while they were in public office.

Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988

An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to the prevention of corruption and for matters connected therein was passed and enacted by the Parliament on 9th September, 1988. The complete text follows:

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-

Chapter I: Preliminary

1.Short Title and Extent :

1.This Act may be called the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
2.It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir and it applies also to all citizens of India outside India.

2.Definitions :

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- a."election" means any election, by whatever means held under any law for the purpose of selecting members of Parliament or of any Legislature, local authority or other public authority; b."public duty" means a duty in the discharge of which the State, the public or the cominunity at large has an interest;

Explanation - In this clause "State" includes a corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act, or an authority or a body owned or controlled or aided by the
Government or a Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956); 
c."public servant" means,-
i.any person in the service or pay of the Government or remunerated by the Government by fees or commission for the performance of any public duty;
ii.any person in the service or pay of a local authority
iii.any person in the service or pay of a corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act, or an authority or a body owned or controlled or aided by the Govermnent or a Govermnent company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956
(1 of 1956); 
iv.any Judge, including any person empowered by law to discharge, whether by himself or as a member of any body of persons, any adjudicatory sanctions;
v.any person authorised by a court of justice to perform any duty, in connection with the administration of justice, including a liquidator, receiver or conmmissioner appointed by such court;
vi.any arbitrator or other person to whom any cause or matter has been referred for decision or report by a court of justice or by a competent public authority;
vii.any person who holds an office by virtue of which he is empowered to prepare, publish, maintain or revise an electoral roll or to conduct an election or part of an election;
viii.any person who holds an office by virtue of which he is authorised or required to peform any public duty;
ix.any person who is the president, secretary or other office-bearer of a registered co-operative society engaged in agriculture, industry, trade or banking, receiving or having received any financial aid from the Central Government or a State Government or from any corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act; or any authority or body owned or controlled or aided by the Government or a Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956);
x.any person who is a chairman, member or employee of any Service Commission or Board, by whatever name called, or a member of any selection committee appointed by such Commission or Board for the conduct of any examination or making any selection on behalf of such Commission or Board; 
xi.any person who is a Vice-Chancellor or member of any governing body, professor, reader, lecturer or any other teacher or employee, by whatever designation called, of any University and any person whose services have been availed of by a University or any other public authority in connection with holding or conducting examinations; 
xii.any person who is an office-bearer or an employee of an educational, scientific, social, cultural or other institution, in whatever manner established, receiving or having received any financial assistance from the Central Government or any State Govennnent, or local or other public authority.

Explanation 1 :Persons falling under any of the above sub-clauses are public servants, whether appointed by the Government or not.
Explanation 2 :  Wherever the words "public servant" occur, they shall be understood of every person who is in actual possession of the situation of a public servant, whatever legal defect there may be in his right to hold that situation.

India is placed 9th  from the bottom of 54 countries

A collection of essays from noted economic experts such as Mr. Madhav Godbole, Mr. A.G.Nooriani and Samuel Paul about corruption in India calls for a total rethinking on the subject. The problem in India as the authors traces is to a weak political system, over bureaucratization and lack of public faith in the working of public services, governmental and policing institutions. The book calls for the popularisation of the Lok Pal system, a code of conduct for politicians, and the sensitisation of the Indian administrative system to the ills of corruption. "A careful poll taken among business interests and financial journalists by Transperancy International, the reputed anti-corruption non-governmental organisation, placed India 9th from the bottom in its 1996 list of 54 countries with a score of 2.63 on a scale with a maximum of 10 for the totally corrupt-free country..."

Corruption can straddle the public and private sectors, getting reinforced in the interaction between the two spheres. However, given our focus on corruption in public services, it might be useful to start with the simple definition that corruption is the misuse of public power for private gain. Other definitions have been offered, based on the misuse of public office, violation of public interest, disapproval of public opinion, and the illegal use of public office for private gain. These and similar definitions have been critiqued on the ground that they tend to be too broad and indeterminate since there could be much debate on what constitutes ‘misuse’ or ‘public power’ or ‘public interest’.

Corruption can be many kinds, assume many forms, cover a wide variety of tractions, and operate at many levels. It can be related to acts of commission, omission or delay; involve the exercise of discretion; or the violation of rules, but not necessarily so since illegal gratification can be taken even whilst technically conforming to rules.

It is necessary to proceed to the causes of corruption having described its characteristics and symptoms. The extensive literature on the subject draws attention to political systems and practices, the level of economic development, economic policies, sociological characteristics and the culture milieu as the main factors which are relevant for the casual explanation of corruption.

It has been argued that democracies and the electoral cycles associated with them especially when combined with the high cost of elections, are a fertile ground for political corruption. In poor developing countries there is acute competition for the sharing of benefits. At the same time, inequality and expectations are both high. Such a situation provides an inability impetus of corruption.

Furthermore, economic policies based on administrative regulations__such as permits and licences for the allocation of investment approvals, scarce resources and the like, and administratively targeted welfare benefits and subsidies create powerful incentives for bribery. In terms of sociological factors, it has been argued that caste, kinship and patron-client relationships, especially in predominantly rural societies, generate and reproduce corruption through networks of nepotism, patronage and dependency.

The conclusion that emerges on the basis of available empirical evidence is that it would be untenable to characterize democracies or developing countries or traditional societies as immutably condemned to a state of corruption. Within each such category, there are less-corrupt and more-corrupt societies, and also those with, over time, have been able to move from a higher to a lower level of corruption. In some societies, pervasive corruption has yielded place to corruption which is more or less confined to certain sectors or types of activities.

Turning from the causes to the consequences of corruption, there is a much greater convergence of views. There is considerable agreement about the adverse effects of corruption on society, polity and economy. Corruption corrodes the moral fibre of society. It undermines the legitimacy of governments because of the widespread cynicism that breeds not only on the factual basis, but also on perceived levels of corruption and related misdeeds.

The essays in this volume provide a wide-ranging review of the problems and constraints of the public institutions, legal systems and processes, and the behavior patterns in our society that have contributed to the growing phenomenon of corruption. The focus is on the need to redesign and improve the underlying framework of our basic and public institutions that serve all sectors, their structures and systems, in order to achieve corruption control.

The propensity for corruption in any society can be controlled only by systematically reducing the incentives and opportunities to engage in corrupt practices. An agenda for action to control corruption must identify the key interventions necessary to minimize such incentives and opportunities in Indian society. Drawing upon the essays in this volume, we present four action areas as the essential building blocks for a national agenda for corrupting control:

(i) reform of the political process,

(ii) restructuring and reorienting the government machinery,

(iii) empowerment of citizens, and

(iv) creating sustained public pressure for change.

The political process needs reform at strategic points in order to create an enabling environment that is conducive to the control of corruption.

There is considerable evidence in India on the close links between political corruption and the criminalisation of politics. No person with a criminal conviction should therefore be permitted to contest in an election to the legislature. Legislators convicted for criminal offenses during their tenure should be required to vacate their seats forthwith.

Proper functioning of the government and its institutional mechanisms is bound to reduce the scope for corruption in any society. The reality, however, is that the structures, systems and style of functioning on many of our public institutions, and the orientation of the bureaucracy, have contributed directly and indirectly to the culture of corruption.

Corruption can be effectively tackled only when the reform of the political process and the restructuring of government machinery are complemented by systematic efforts to inform citizens about their rights and entitlements, and to enable them to monitor and challenge abuses of the system.

There are important directions of empowering citizens that deserve special attention. The inner urge and resolve of a person to combat corruption depend, in no small measure, on his or her basic moral values and beliefs.

If, on the other hand, the guiding values of people tolerate corrupt practices and unethical behavior, there is little hope that such individuals will revolt against corruption or help launch a collective assault on corruption in their community or society. When there is no collective urge to uproot corruption, the institutional and legal reforms proposed by the authors will not go far, and any impact they make is likely to be marginal from the larger social point-of-view.

India has not been free of corruption, whether, in ancient times (at least, as far back as the Artbasastra), the immediate pre-Colonial period, during, during British rule, or in the decades following Independence. Gandhiji was concerned with corruption in the provincial Congress ministries formed after the 1935 Act; a number of cases of corruption in the states have been documented during the critical decades after Independence, when Nehru was the Prime Minister; nor were cases of corruption absent at the Centre, itself.

Neither the incidence of corruption in India nor the concern with it are thus new. However, the current state of corruption in he country is not just a linear continuation of the experience in the 1950s and 1960s. Beginning with the 1970s, changes in the level, trend, nature and spread of corruption in the 1980s and 1990s have been such as to suggest that corruption has assumed critical proportions. In other words, it might not be an exaggeration today to talk about corruption in terms of a crisis or a cancer endangering India’s society, polity and economy.

A number of ministers and governors of states have had to resign on account of being legally charged with corrupt transactions. Leading politicians belonging to different political parties have been charge sheeted in the hawala proceedings related to violations of the Foreign Exchange Regulations and Income Tax Acts. In more than one instance, although prime ministers and chief ministers have been tainted with suspicion, the investigations have not been expeditiously or effectively pursued against them. Take the case of the present Chief Minister of TamilNadu, who inspite of being held in jail for corruption is now heading the State as CM. In any event, it is not credible that widespread ministerial corruption would have been possible without the acquiescence, if not the involvement of the head of the government.

India has acquired the unenviable reputation of being among the most corrupt countries in the world. A careful poll taken among business interests and financial journalists by transparency International (TI), the reputed anti-corruption non-governmental organization, placed India 9th from the bottom in its 1996 list of 54 countries with a score of 2.63 on a scale with a maximum of 10 for the totally corrupt-free country.

Prime minister: Corruption is eating India 'like termites'   15-8-1997

NEW DELHI (CNN) -- India's 50th anniversary of independence was celebrated with fireworks, laser beams and parades. But the pageantry was overshadowed Friday as Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral soberly described the nation's rampant bribery and corruption and called for a crusade to fight it.

India is considered one of the most corrupt countries, and investors say the demand for bribes at every step of the development has held up its free-market program.

India's last government lost elections after it was buried by scandals involving Cabinet ministers. Among those charged with corruption was the former leader of Gujral's party.

"We have to build a mass movement in which all can join so that corruption in politics, politicians and public life must end," Gujral said in a solemn speech to the nation from the Red Fort, a 17th-century monument. "It is eating into the country's vitals like termites."

Gujral promised to break the link between politicians and criminals and "make government functioning more transparent."

Indian Scientists Claim Lab Corruption

NEW DELHI--A union of scientists has accused India's main civilian scientific agency of widespread corruption and mismanagement. The All India CSIR Scientific Workers Association (SWA), which represents some 5000 Indian scientists, filed a 1600-page lawsuit today in the state of Delhi's High Court against the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).

The suit contends that embezzlement, favoritism, and scientific misconduct are rife at CSIR, a conglomerate of 40 national laboratories with an annual budget of about $100 million and about 8000 scientists. Maringanti Bapuji, an organic chemist and general secretary of SWA, says "Approaching the judiciary was the only option left, as CSIR had not cared to respond to complaints till now." The union is hoping that the courts will order CSIR to streamline and reform its management, allowing more money for research.

To back up its claims, the SWA levels many specific charges, such as alleged plagiarism of published scientific papers by a senior scientist at the Regional Research Laboratory in Bhubaneswar. The union also claims that a director of a laboratory has appointed his son and daughter-in-law as scientists in his own institute.

CSIR spokesperson Tulsi Das Nagpal says he cannot comment on a pending case. But he claims that "the charges leveled are vague and baseless, and [CSIR] will file a response in the court if the court so desires." The court is expected to announce next week whether it will review the charges.

Jayalalita Charged In land Corruption Case   [10-6-1999]

One of  leading politicians Jayalalita (ex-CM of Tamilnadu) has been charged with corruption in a land deal case.

Jayalalitha Jayaram, an ex-film actress, is facing trial in a special court along with close associates.

Ms Jayalalitha was instrumental in bringing down the government of Atal Behari Vajpayee in April 99, after her AIADMK party withdrew from the BJP-led coalition.

Special Judge P Anbazhagan brought charges against Ms Jayalalitha, her close associate Sasikala and three others.

Land scandal

The charges related to the alleged sale of state government land to firms owned by Ms Jayalalitha and Ms Sasikala, at a price below market rates.

The former chief minister is already facing charges in three other corruption cases, all relating to the period in which she held office.

As head of the AIADMK party, Ms Jayalalitha was a powerful member of Mr Vajpayee's coalition with 18 seats in parliament.

She caused considerable embarrassment for the BJP when she demanded key cabinet posts for her party members, holding back her letter of support until her demands were met.

The ruling DMK party in Tamil Nadu, a bitter opponent of the AIADMK, has set up the special court to speed up the trial process.

A series of investigations against Ms Jayalalitha have been underway for some time in lower courts.

CBI registered 1207 cases of corruption in 1999

(CBI) registered 1207 cases against public servants in 1999, a year in which the agency intensified its anti-corruption drive.

Due to increasing pressure from the courts, the CBI could only dispose of 579 cases from trial and 703 from departmental action. A total of 1684 cases were pending investigation, an official release said today.

During the intensified anti-corruption drive, 261 surprise checks were conducted at the cutting edge level where the general public faces harassment.

At Sahar Airport in Mumbai, a cash amount of Rs 2.94 million was found stashed away in the residence of one official and Rs 3.4 million in the house of another.

Those against whom cases were registered included a Deputy Director General of Doordarshan in Delhi who had assets to the tune of Rs 17 million, a Delhi Police official, a Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax and an Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax in Chennai.

The bureau recovered Rs 27.9 million of the Bihar Animal Husbandry Scam from one of the accused during the year.

The CBI set up a Cyber Crime Investigation Cell during the year to investigate offences involving computer and high tech crime.

Courtesy UNI

Ungreasing Palms in India

An anticorruption crusader discovers the Internet cuts bureaucracy and bribes

By Monika Halan

To be a common man in India is expensive. Need a phone, or gas for your home or electricity for your factory? Pay up. The palms of corrupt government officials are outstretched. An estimated 10 percent to 25 percent of India's $260 billion economy flows through underground channels, according to the Central Vigilance Commission, a government agency charged with rooting out corrupt officials from among the 12.5 million government employees. Corruption is a public secret: Everyone knows, but no one has wanted to say anything about it. Until now.

Nagraj Vittal took over the CVC in September 1998. The commission had been sending annual reports to Parliament for 35 years, but they languished there unread. Various officials made noise about cleaning up the government, but nothing ever seemed to happen. Among Vittal's first moves was to require each government department to hang in its office a notice that encouraged citizens and officials to notify the CVC if someone asks for a bribe. But though the offices posted the notices, life went on as before. Then, in January 1999, Vittal did the unthinkable. He put up two Web pages listing allegedly corrupt members of the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, the country's premier government agencies. The 86 civil servants and 22 police officers had been the subject of criminal investigations since 1990. The list made national news. And while the public face of the bureaucracy remained serene, the uproar in the clubhouses, luxury hotels and air-conditioned offices of the top bureaucrats was deafening. A senior retired IAS officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, says of Vittal: "He's gone mad. He just wants publicity." Only the Punjab State Police Officers' Association openly objected to posting the list, saying it was defamatory because it contained names of persons whose guilt was yet to be proven.

Vittal then made a strategic retreat: He modified the list to include only those who had been found guilty of misconduct, and he removed those that are still under investigation. But Vittal soon expanded the list of what is popularly called the Rogues Gallery to include 244 names in 23 departments, such as the Indian Forest Service and public-sector banks. "This technology is the best tool to provide transparency," says Vittal. "It is cost-effective, the message lasts longer and reaches out to a larger number of people." Indian courts are trying to tackle the problem. More than 3,000 anticorruption cases initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation are pending in courts. But corruption is still a low-risk, high-profit endeavor, as the average case takes 10 to 20 years to decide, and the conviction rate in the Indian courts is only 6 percent.

Vittal believes the Internet offers two important tools in the fight against corruption: access to information and efficiency in the bureaucratic process. Automating certain bureaucratic functions removes from the system much of the delay, which causes corruption. Vittal's detractors downplay the impact of his list. Only about 5 million of India's 1 billion people have access to the Internet, they say. Furthermore, only the middle class uses the Internet, and the middle class is corrupt. What difference does it make if a corrupt man looks at another corrupt man's name on a Web site? Small signs indicate that citizens want to shrug off five decades of decay. Every day, about 200 people complain to the CVC via the Net and by mail. Perhaps more significant, Defense Minister George Fernandes in February told Vittal to probe all defense deals - the breeding ground of the richest kickbacks - since 1985. A significant part of the shift comes from a new understanding that corruption is expensive.

Vittal writes on his Web site: "The World Bank is also realizing that a country which is perceived to be corrupt gets at least 20 percent less foreign direct investment. If a country is perceived to be more corrupt, it gets 35 percent less FDI." Vittal says he got these figures from the United Nations Development Programme. Supporters agree with Vittal's claim that technology battles corruption by making public the names of offenders, and by streamlining bureaucracy and thereby reducing opportunities for bribes. Title transfer, for example, is "usually a cesspool of corruption everywhere," says Srivatsa Krishna, the executive director of technology services in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Automation reduces a several-month process to "an hour or so, at best," he says - and the opportunity for bribes is all but eliminated. "We aspire to use technology to make every single interface of g2c and g2b a convenient, transparent, affordable exercise, as seen from a citizen's perspective." In Delhi, forms that previously required multiple visits to the local office are now available on the Web, as well as names, addresses and phone numbers of the relevant officers. Getting such information for free is a freeing experience for citizens used to cringing before a clerk. Bureaucrats as well as politicians are jumping on the anticorruption bandwagon.

Bimal Jalan, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, says the Banking Secrecy Act - which for years protected the identities of companies - must be changed and the names made public of those companies that consistently default on loans. Vittal, a short, wiry 62-year-old, is a lifelong member of the class that he polices. Formerly at the Ministry of Telecommunications, he had a reputation for anticorruption vigilance before his appointment to the CVC. While many government officials surround themselves with hangers-on and favor-seekers, he is surprisingly entourage-free. He even picks up his own phone at home - unthinkable for a high-ranking government official. Ironically, while Vittal is a firm believer in the power of the Internet, he is computer illiterate; a staff member checks his e-mail for him. "The ideal government should be small, moral, accountable, responsible, transparent," says Vittal.

He wants to apply information technology in every public office interface so the common citizen can have access to information. His goal is to improve India's rank on the Transparency International corruption index from 66 to "at least 40, if not 30" before Sept. 2, 2002, when he completes his term at CVC. "I'm just doing my duty," adds Vittal. "I have no other agenda. I have had a full life and this post was unexpected. Now, I'm just doing my job. I'm focusing on that."

STATE BANK OF INDIA SCAM NOV 2000

STATE BANK OF INDIA MILLENNIUM DEPOSIT (RUPEES 3400 CRORES LOST)

The State Bank of India raised 5.6 billion dollars at 8.5per cent interest under this scheme, mostly from NRIs in the Gulf. The Common Public would think that so much of foreign exchange was brought to India from abroad. But in reality about 4 billion dollars were simply transferred from some other bank in India - money which was already in India. Only about 1.6 billion dollar of fresh foreign exchange was brought in to the country.

Under the SBI scheme anyone who had an existing foreign currency deposit in Indian banks could transfer that money into the SBI's Millennium Account and gain 2-3per cent more interest. For example I had a fixed deposit account in dollars with an Indian bank which was getting 5.5 per cent interest and I transferred that money into the SBI's Millennium Account. I gain 3per cent more interest for the money which I had remitted to India more than one year ago! I do gain but what about the country?

Why the country has to bear 3 per cent more interest on 4 billion dollars for 5 years? In addition, a 2- 3 per cent commission as collection charges is paid to the foreign banks who acted as collection agents for this scheme. Thus in total 72 crore dollars or 3400 crore Rupees is paid just for transferring money from one pocket to another.

What For? If this money was lying in the other banks, mostly private banks in South India, the government cannot play with that money. Just imagine the amount of commission that will be taken as bribes by politicians when huge loans are approved by SBI using this 18000 crore Rupees? Only if   large loans are given, politicians can get bribe for that. The more money the government bank has, the more loans can be given and more bribes can be received. What if the country loses 3400 crore Rupees in this process? Who cares?

This is just one example on what are the ways of corruption (that most people will never know at all) and what high a price the country is paying for it.

Tackling corruption

FORTUNATELY the law is taking its course in the right direction. Hitherto people got the wrong impression that top political leaders were above law. The situation has changed.

The former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and former home minister Buta Singh have been convicted in the JMM bribe case. Ms Jayalalitha along with her closest colleague Sasikala and some ministers in her Cabinet too have been convicted in the TANSI land deal. This should be an eye opener and a warning to all political leaders.

The vigilance department should become proactive. It should not wait for someone to file public interest litigation to look into such misappropriation of money and wealth.

The massive and posh buildings owned by first and second division clerks working in government departments raise questions about the integrity of such persons. If the political will is there, the present government can do a lot to weed out corruption from the public life.

V A Gopala  Bangalore

PR_CBI_RegisterCaseSTC_Director

9-1--2000: New Delhi

CBI has registered a corruption case against State Trading Corporation (STC) director I.D Chaudhary on charges of abusing his official position as a public servant and amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

According to the FIR registered by CBI October, during his 21-year stint with the state-owned trading agency, the accused amassed disproportionate assets of over Rs 10 million .

The case, registered under sections 13(2) read with 13(1)(e) of the prevention of corruption act, has been entrusted to DSP P Lal for investigation.

Against his total income of Rs 2.5 million during 1979-2000, Chaudhary had acquired huge movable and immovable property, which he could not satisfactorily account for, CBI alleged.

According to the FIR, Chaudhary has acquired one house each in Delhi and Lucknow, three flats in the capital, two other flats in Gurgaon, two shops in Kalkaji here, a plot of land measuring six acres in district Raison of Madhya Pradesh and further 110 bighas of land in Alwar district of Rajasthan in his name and in the names of his family members with the total cost of about over Rs 8.716 million.

Further, he is believed to have invested millions of rupees in booking flats/plots at Vasundhara, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad and in the purchase of farm house in Manesar near Delhi-Jaipur road in the names of his family members, CBI alleged.

The agency alleged that chaudhary and his family members own three cars and a Maruti gypsy. They allegedly had heavy cash balances in various banks here, besides costly house-hold goods like TV, VCR, washing machine, fridge etc.

India is among the most Corrupt Countries in the World
 

Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore are the least corrupt economies in Asia, where corruption remains embedded despite the fact that it helped trigger the regional financial crisis in 1997, a report said Sunday.

China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam were perceived to be the most corrupt Asian nations, with Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan falling just below the average.  In some countries the corruption even became more than compared to 1996.  The survey was conducted by a Hongkong based consultancy after surveying more than 650 expatriate businessmen working in 12 Asian countries.   It’s a very serious problem as corruption exist everywhere in the world but in some limits. 

If you grate on the scale 10 to 100, with 10 being the best score Singapore is leading in its clean image with a score of 8.3, its followed by United States with 17.70 and  Australia.  Japan was 2^nd in terms of lowest in corruption in Asia, with Hongkong coming 3^rd. 

Following are the scale of other countries:

1.       Vietnam, with a score of 90.75

2.       Indonesia with 90.50

3.       India with 90.25

4.       Philippines with 90

5.       Thailand with 80.55

6.       China with 71

7.       South Korea was graded at 70  

Malaysia and Taiwan both got scores of 60.

In India they are ready to sell their own motherland for Rs.11 lakhs as shown in tehelka video tapes.

No law to stop corruption by politician aides

Asian Age 2-4-2001

There is no law in the country at present to bring to book the assistants to politicians who wield enormous power in government and amass a lost of wealth by corrupt means, Supreme Court judge, Justice K.T. Thomas said on Sunday. 

“The legislature should think of 4enacting a law to bring these corrupt people to book,” the judge said, while delivering the second D.P. Kohli Memorial Lecture to mark the foundation day of the Central Bureau Investigation. 

Lamenting the delay in disposal of cases, he said the legislative mandate that no supervisor court can stay trial proceedings was not known to many courts and still stays were being granted on trial proceeding. 

Speaking about the confidence of people in CBI, Justice Thomas said the tentacles of corruption have spread far and wide among the administrators of the country and added there was no easy solution to it. Indirectly referring to Tehelka, he said : “Problems of corruption are more deep rooted than the remedy provided under the Prevention of Corruption Act.” 

Chief Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal  described corruption to be more vicious than the dreaded AIDS and said: “ If corruption is brain behind it while the corruption by the politicians formed its heart.” 

He referred to judiciary as the Kidney which does not allow a person to die by separating out the poision from spreading into the blood circulation and said CVC was part of the kidney. 

Comparing corruption to AIDS, Mr. Vital said, while AITS was caused by uncontrolled sexual behavior, corruption was caused by “uncontrolled financial behavior among the people leading to financial rape and financial adultery.”

Vittal is not happy over Cabinet order

Asian Age April 2  

The Central Vigilance  Commissioner, Mr. Nagraj Vittal, said on Sunday that he was not personally happy with the recommendations of a Joint Parliamentary committee seeking to make it mandatory for the CVC to take permission from the government before conducting inquiry or investigations against officers of the rank of joint secretaries or above.

He, however, added that through it was an attempt to erode the autonomy of the institution, he would dutifully comply with the directives from the government.

He said, “ I am not happy with the decision of the government to accept the report’s recommendations. However, being a public servant, I would accept the decision with humility.”

House of Scandal

Times of India 22nd March 2001

A natural expectation in the aftermath of the shocking Arms gate scandal was that the opposition would put the government on the mat in the course of debates in the Lok Sabha. But then that was too much to expect of  the Indian position, which regardless of the party performing this role, is almost  obstructionist, Thus it is that Parliament continues to be paralyzed. As far long-pending  legislation aimed at bringing greater accountability and transparency in government functioning, well, they pass on to the next disruptive session. Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi has predictably come up with a banal single point agenda Either Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his cabinet colleagues quit or Parliament stops functioning. By undermining Parliament’s role as a forum for discussion and taking its agitation to the streets, the Opposition has of course violated the principles of parliamentary democracy. Worse, it may turn out that this not even a particularly fruitful exercise. Of course, Mrs. Gandhi is following in the footsteps of her illustrious predecessors. Today, Parliament exists not to perform its legislative role, but to act as a boxing ring for Parliament can, in fact be used by the Opposition to oppose. Had the Congress president given this subject some thought, she might have realized that the government is best exposed through informed criticism on the floor of the House. 

Thanks to a lack of understanding of this basic political craft, Mrs Gandhi and her colleagues in the Opposition may have lost a golden opportunity to turn the Tehelka aftermath to their own advantage. Think of what  a lawyer might have done with the explosive evidence. Think of the impact he would make should he put together a fool proof case and cross examine the accused on point after point and do before live television cameras. The answer will never make should he put together a foolproof case and cross examine the accused on point after point and do before live television cameras. The answer will never be known because all that people can now see is a street brawl fought between two major groups, each calling the other a thief; “Chor, Chor” has been the only ringing slogan in this session of Parliament. Tragically, among the many Bills waiting to be passed are some that the address the same chronic problem of corruption in high places. Chief among these are a clutch of important Bills like the Lok Pal Bill and the CVC Bill. The former, if enacted, will bring greater accountability to the decision-making process and directly place the PMO and the administrative services under public scrutiny. The CVC Bill will result in the setting up of a commission to probe charges against any government servant accused of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Then there is the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Right Bills which deals with the opposition’s stand on these Bills, each would have provided an opportunity for discussion. The CVC has statistics to show that if the level of corruption is brought down to what obtains in the Scandinavian countries, the country’s economy will grow by an additional 1.5 per cent and FDI will go up by 12 per cent. Surely these statistics should have been enough to spur the Opposition into behaving like the ‘credible alternative’ they claim to be and the people of this country so desperately need and deserve.

Tehelka lessons

Mid-day 21-3-2001

THERE are important lessons to be learnt from the Tehelka expose. Not all of them are new, of course, but they need to be reiterated. The most obvious lesson is that we have now reached a stage in our politics where corruption is so all-pervasive that there is no shame in being caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Apart from one person, who had the dignity to confess to his crime and apologise, the rest of the blackguards are still trying to brazen it out. It does not shame them that they were caught red-handed, selling out the security of India. That they openly took cash from people who identified themselves as foreign arms dealers.

To now claim that they took it. for their party coffers does not absolve them of the crime. Just as it is no excuse pointing a finger at Tehelka and saying that their sting violated every principle of honest journalism. Of course it did. But so did they violate every principle of decent politics when they took cash from unknown people. Whether they actually offered them deals in return is not the question. 

What matters is that we have people in power and authority who so easily succumb to the temptation of accepting bribes. To now claim that they were unfairly tempted is a joke. This has nothing to do with journalistic ethics. We can look at that separately another time, on another occasion. But what Tehelka has proved, without the slightest shadow of doubt, is that the corrupt and the criminal rule New Delhi today, and, even as you read this column, they are strutting around with their chests puffed out. 

They are not in the least embarrassed by what has happened. They are still negotiating murky deals and talking about commissions and kickbacks. They are still boasting about who they can influence, who they can buy. For what the political and media establishment describe as power, pelf, influence and reach, is, today, not much different from what you and I would describe as crime, corruption, compromise and skulduggery. 

Those whom we admire as the rich and the famous, who adorn page three of our newspapers, are mostly the scum of the earth. Crooks, criminals, carpetbaggers who survive only because we do not swat them hard enough. Instead, we look upon them admiringly as role models and encourage others to follow in their path. 

Mind you, India does not agree with you and me. The man on the street knows exactly what is right and what is wrong. He knows who is honest and who is not. That is why, despite their best efforts, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has not been able to blunt the outrage, the terrible sense of disenchantment. It has hit them hard, very hard. Bangaru Laxman may keep trying to explain his position. Jaya Jaitiy may keep insisting her innocence. George Fernandes can go on saying that there is no evidence against him. But India has already judged them. The verdict is out. Maybe more heads need to roll. That is a political decision and the Prime Minister has to take the call. 

But what concerns me is this  -  why do we wait till it is too late to take action against crimes that we know perfectly well are being committed every day, in almost every ministry? Is it because we have come to finally accept the fact that there is an entirely separate set of moral norms for the rich and the influential? 

Perhaps that is why there is so much speculation over Tehelka's motives. What can the motives of any journalist be? Glory? Fame? Success? These are motives that drive journalists everywhere. But the gossip press in the capital is readying to crucify Tehelka. The antecedents of the journalists are being investigated. One of them is being linked to an important Congressman. Another, to an investment banker. A third, to a television channel. But who cares? 

Maybe Tehelka does have a Congress connection. Maybe its investors did know about the sting and sold off stocks in advance. Maybe a television channel did use their investigations to boost its dwindling viewership. Maybe the sting was deliberately designed to put the BJP government in a spot. 

But how does that alter the facts in any way? Does it mean Bangaru Laxman did not take the money? Does it mean the army officers were all clean? That Jaya Jaitly demonstrated high moral principles when she asked them to leave the cash with her flunkey? So why are we bending backwards to commiserate with the guilty? I can understand some people feeling bad for the prime minister. They see him as a weak but decent guy who was taken on a ride by his party president and cabinet colleagues. 

But then, it is the job of a prime minister to be strong and firm, to know what is happening around him. You cannot turn a Nelson's eye to every crime in the name of coalition politics. You cannot compromise the security of the nation just because you want a strong political ally to combat Laloo in Bihar. What is even worse is when you start blaming journalists and attributing motives to them. Anyone can have motives. But as long as the outcome of that motivation is the cleansing of India, what is wrong with it? 

What matters in the end are two things. One, how well was the investigation done? Two, did it reveal the truth? On both counts, Tehelka scores. And nothing that the government does now can change that simple fact. The political careers of Fernandes, Jaitly and Laxman are dead. Stone dead. And the demand for the scalps of Brajesh Mishra and Nandu Singh will only get shriller and shriller. For the people of India believe that they do not deserve to stay where they are. In the prime minister's office.

The Budget is dead, long live the Budget

Free Press 26-3-2001

Corruption cost this country Rs 250,000 cr. in the last10 years

The budget is dead, long live the budget; It was not killed by Tehelka, as many people think. It was killed by the stock market, which has been crashing ever since the budget, and for very good reason. It is a wrong budget, at a wrong time and it is going to play havoc with the nation’s economy.

But Yashwant Sinha is a lucky man. The stock market crash has come at the right time for him. He can now blame the crash as well as Tehelka for the disastrous results of his budget. When he stands up in the Parliament next year – if he is still in the government, and the government is still there – he will say that he must not be held responsible for what happened after the budget. It is like saying that the operation was successful, but the patient died.

I have been saying for some time that the economy is in a state of collapse and there is nothing the government can do unless it revises its disastrous free-market policies. You go round the bazaars and you see the fall-out everyday. There are very few customers in the shops, many of which do not open at all. In one shop I know, daily taking have come down from a lakh a day to six thousand. The man has three assistant’s who now twiddle their thumbs and pass time drinking tea. 

The s-called “new economy” industries have also crashed. The Dot.com companies are closing by the dozen, not only in India but all over the world. Software companies are also down, because foreign buyers have cut down on their business. Infosys shares are down to Rs. 4000, against 10,000 a few months ago. And companies in Silicon Valley are downing shutters and sacking their staff workers, including Indian Software programmers whom they used to woo until the other day.

Where is Pramod Mahajan now? You don’t hear much from him nowadays. Nor the great worthies who believed that India was getting very close to paradise riding on the software crest wave. The fact remains, as I have often said, that India had nothing much to contribute to IT revolution except IIT graduates. They could perform as long as they had jobs. And whether they had jobs depended very much on the economic health foreign companies who employed them.

We should see things in perspective. The IT industry is expected to have a turnover of less than 10 billion dollars this year, including six billion dollars of exports. The bulk of exports are contract jobs depending entirely on orders from overseas firms. Ten billion sounds big but it is less than 2 per cent of India’s GDP. Ten billion dollars is worth around Rs.50,000 crore, which is  the turnover of Reliance group. Can an industry worth no more than two per cent of GDP make much of a mark on the economy?

The total number of IT workers is probably no more than 500,000 or, say, dying industry. There are foolish people who argue that we don't really need an agriculture industry. We can be a superpower in IT make so much money that we can import all our food from abroad, and forget about producing anything here. It is this kind of people who are advising the government at the moment.

But what has this to do with Tehelka and the defence scam? Corruption cannot be compartmentalised when it becomes a way of life, as it has obviously become. It breeds middlemen everywhere, whether he is the brother of a clerk in the municipality or the son of an MP.

When you are out to make money, and have the right connections, you use them. If everybody is monetising his or her assets, and if your only asset is your access to the powers that be, and if you are not assailed by any principles or moral considerations, you go ahead and make money, as politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen did in the defence scam.

Before it came to power, the BJP always gave the impression that it stood by certain principles and it would not com promise them. This is what the Congress had also done in Nehru's days. But after coming to power, the Vajpayee' government suddenly went back on the party's policies, just as the Congress had done under Narasimha Rao. Neither the Congress nor the BJP has explained why they went back on "their own principles and why the policies they were adopting were superior to the earlier ones.

They did not explain because there was nothing inherently superior about their new policies. And that is precisely why the policies failed. Five years of Narasimha Rao's reforms did not benefit either the farmers nor those below the poverty line. Foreign investment certainly went up, but so did prices.

There was no increase in GDP growth rates and no increase in jobs. It is true that the upper class made a lot of money, but it always does no matter what policies you follow.

Once you take the attitude that principles and ideals are for birds, and promiscuity pays, you are sailing in dangerous waters. There is nothing to guide you and you are on your own. You then come under the pressure of vested interests, particularly those with deep pockets and Swiss bank accounts. These people are everywhere, whether you are buying 01 selling, for it doesn't matter what you buy or sell, as long as they get their cut.

So you have a new type of government, a government running on commission. The commission agents rule the roost, and often they are your own men, with links that go right to the top. This happened in the case of Bofors and it is now happening in the case of defence deals and privatisation of public sector units.

Those who believe that no money has changed hands under the table in the case of Balco, the aluminium company now in dispute, will probably never understand the ramifications of the middlemen's community in the country, In the case of Balco, the government was under tremendous pressure from foreign investors, to privatise. The pressure was mounting as the budget approached. The Balco sale got big headlines in foreign newspapers and it was also mentioned by the finance minister when he visited Germany after the budget as a great achievement.

At the same time, it was anxious to see that Baico was not sold too cheaply. The Sterlite offer came in very handy. Sterlite was also getting a big aluminiun plant for next to nothing. It would have to invest something like Rs.2000 crore to set up a plant of Balco's size. The deal was struck, but not without some itching palms getting greased. Corruption is costing this poor country at least 2 per cent a year in GDP growth. Since our GDP is now around 500 billion US dollars, it is costing us ten billion dollars a year, 01 Rs.50,000 crore. In the last ten years it has probably cost us over Rs.250.000 crore, which is almost the size of the central budget. It is actually costing us ten times as much as all other losses put together. It is a pity that instead of curbing it, as it had promised, the NDA government is actually promoting it!

'Respond to exposures

Indian Express 23-3-2001

WHENEVER there are media exposures on corruption, crime, malpractices or arms deals, the stereotype response from the establishment is to run down the media and dub the exposures as machinations of destabilising forces. The routine reaction of the government is whatever has appeared in the media is not gospel. But this observation too is not the last word of wisdom. History provides ample evidence of this. 

Parliamentary records of our country as well as of others is replete with examples to show that parliamentarians relying on genuine exposures made by the media bring to light aberrations and criminalities in our political life and administration, leading to serious actions. 

Mudgal's Corruption 

During the provisional Parliament of India in 1951, the media had exposed the corrupt practices of H.G. Mudgal, an MP, who used to table questions in the House to suit certain industrialists after accepting bribes from them. Relying on the exposures by the media, an MP made a further probe and raised the issue in Parliament. The matter was referred to a Parliamentary Committee. The Committee further discovered that Mudgal was taking money from businessmen to fix appointments with ministers and the worst act was on receiving payments from industrialists and businessmen, the concerned MP, who was a member of the select committee for the Forward Contracts Bill, used to move amendments to the Bill desired by his patrons. On the basis of this evidence, the Parliamentary Committee unanimously recommended Mudgal's expulsion from Parliament. Prime Minister Jawaharial Nehru moved in Lok Sabha a resolution to expel Mudgal from Parliament. Strangely enough, Mudgal participated in the debate On the resolution and after some time quietly offered his resignation from Parliment to the Speaker of Lok Sabha. 

Mundhra scandal

Based on a media exposure, Feroz Gandhi had raised a question in Lok Sabha in 1957 concerning the sale of fraudulent shares to LIC by a businessman named Haridas Mundhra. Some members of Lok Sabha had objected to Feroz Gandhi relying on press exposures. He, however, had done substantial home work on the issue he had raised. He told the House that as an evidence, he would be prepared to lay on the table of the House, the confidential correspondence on the subject between the Finance Minister and his Principal Finance Secretary. There was a prima facia case that fraudulent shares were sold to the LIC. The Prime Minister therefore set up a one-man commission headed by Justice Chagla. The Commission found Mundhia guilty of selling fictitious shares to the LIC and he was sentenced.

Import Licence Scandal, Bofors

In the 5th Lok Sabha, the work of Parliament was held up for a considerable period. The Opposition had demanded that the Minister for Foreign Trade L.N. Mishra should share with the House the jottings on the confidential file on the subject of import licence episode. However, the minister was reluctant to do so, and, the paralysis of Parliament continued.

The then Speaker Dhillon found a way out. He ruled that the concerned minister should come to the speaker's chamber and share with all the leaders of the Parliamentary parties, the jottings on the file. When that was done the culprit was found. Unfortunately, thin a few weeks after this incident, the minister was killed in a bomb explosion. But prior to that the veracity of the exposures in the media was established beyond doubt.

The Bofors gun figured for the first time in the national dailies on April 17, 1987 when a sensational Swedish Radio broadcast gave the explosive information that M/s Bofors of Sweden had given a bribe of Rs 64 crore to the middleman in the form of commission to secure the Rs 1700-crore gun contract from India. Corroborative evidence started surfacing through prominent newspapers. The breakthrough came when Chitra Subramaniam Geneva-based journalist, published sensitive documents in The Hindu giving decisive evidence about bribes paid in the deal. The Swedish Audit Bureau's report was the last straw on the camel's back. The Bofors issue led to the defeat of the then government.

We have seen the dirt, now it's time to clean up Don't fast forward the tape

Indian Express 22-3-2001

THERE is an anecdote about the last days of Sardar Vallabhbahi Patel. About a week before his death in 1950, he called in his daughter Mani-Behn Patel, gave her an envelope containing Rs 30,000 and asked her to send it to the treasurer of the Congress Party, S.K. Paul. The money had been given to him for some party work which he could not do. He asked her to get a receipt for the money. Contrast this with what Tehelka exposed. 

I had the dubious privilege of viewing the Tehelka tapes on March 13. Dubious because in my 36 years of government service, I have never come across such a stark depiction of corruption affecting a vital aspect of our process of governance, the management of defence purchases. The two investigative journalists pretending to be representatives of a spurious arms supplying firm 'West End International' met 27 interlocutors, amongst whom were seven serving army officers, out of whom three were Major Generals, two Brigadiers, and two Lt. Colonels. They also dealt with two retired Major Generals and two Lt. Colonels and a Major who were active as middlemen in defence purchase operations, apart from senior political leaders and bureaucrats. The visuals and conversations in the documentary film lead one to the following conclusions: 

Taking commissions or bribes is a widespread and normal practice in the conduct of defence purchases. The video clearly showed people accepting money from these spurious businessmen. Serving officers had no inhibitions in revealing confidential information to the potential suppliers and assuring them that rules can be bent in their favour if sufficient financial incentive was forthcoming. There were also indications that quality control stipulations can be overlooked in return for such financial incentives (leaving apart he setting aside of procedures). The middlemen, particularly the political types and businessmen, claimed with out any trace of reticence that senior politicians and even civil servants like Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra and Defence Secretary YogeshNarain were parties to this corruption. These persons also claimed that Vajpayee's foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya is also involved in such practices. The retired and serving military officers asserted that they could influence Lt. General Dhillon, Master General of Ordnance and Lt. General Shankar Prasad, Director General Infantry, to favour West End in return for monetary incentives. 

The so-called trustee of the RSS, Raj Kumar Gupta, claimed that he could even influence the PM. Serving military officers were contemptuously abusive of Defence Minister George Fernandes, claiming that he is a direct party to these corrupt practices. The Director General, Ordnance and Supplies, Major General Manjit Singh Ahluwalia, repeatedly told the journalists that their company must have very deep pockets', stating that talking in terms of thousands of rupees is not enough, it has to be in lakhs and crores. 

The nexus between serving and retired army officers, between them, private middlemen, civil servants and politicians has been clearly brought out in the film. Quantitative requirements, stipulations regarding quality and procedures are all subject to violations on the basis of established network of corruption. It was nauseating comedy to see Bangaru Laxman accepting currency notes of one lakh "only for your New Year party" as stated by 'West End International' representative, without batting eye-lid. He asks for additional money to be paid in dollars while his Private Secretary Satyamurthy confirms that Laxman has three or four foreign bank accounts. One had come across speculative reports about such corruption. This is the first time that visual and voice documentary depiction of such corruption has been made public.