JOIN USNDA Government’s ‘anti-graft agenda’ disappears from public domain
The last time India saw people filling the streets demanding action against corruption was during the Jan Lokpal protests of 2011-12. Nearly a decade has passed since. A two-term Prime Minister was voted out of power in 2014, and the party he represented is currently gasping for survival. The new establishment that came to power on the promise of stamping out corruption in India will firmly be in the saddle until 2024.
From willful corporate defaulters to well-known crony capitalists, and from brazen horse-trading of legislators to appointment of compromised officials to our premier institutions, corruption in India takes many forms. We haven’t been lacking in big-bang events.
At 8 pm on November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the dramatic announcement that from that midnight, the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would no longer be legal tender. This was a landmark announcement that achieved little by way of a ‘war against corruption’ as it was touted to be. Instead, it guaranteed the 8 pm Indian Standard Time perpetual infamy.
In the eyes of the government, that single swallow was supposed to make many a summer, for they did little else to burnish their anti-corruption credentials. Sure, the Modi government forcibly retired over two dozen Indian Revenue Service officials in recent months and the word is that more such exits are set to follow. The government has also used its anti-corruption arms to target political opponents. The entirely predictable (and ultimately futile) modus operandi reveals the government’s motives as purely geared towards capturing power.
In spite of all this, somewhere along the way, the ‘anti-corruption agenda’ has disappeared from the public domain. We have not seen public opinion being mobilised to demand action against corruption in public life. Instead, one after the other, institutional checks and balances have been dismantled. Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (2019) paints a sorry picture, ranking India 80th among 180 countries.
We have lost nearly a decade while corruption in India has spread unchecked. Below are outlined five urgent areas that we must act on:
1. Demand greater transparency in the workings of the government: Governments often seem like a black box. In a fight against corruption in public life— as was amply demonstrated during UPA-2— the Right to Information (RTI) Act is absolutely critical. Acts like the RTI compel governments to be transparent. Whistleblowers do the same, from within government and outside. Over the years, RTI activists have been harassed and killed, and the government has used a multitude of excuses to maintain the veil of secrecy. Rich private trusts resist while political parties do not come under the purview of RTI at all. That needs to change.
2. Dismantle electoral bonds and make election campaign finances transparent and strictly regulated: Electoral bonds put paid to any hopes we may have had that campaign financing will see a change for the better. Cash contributions continue to be significant. But the new laws have taken away the cap on corporate donations, which used to be limited to a maximum of 7.5% of net profits. Not just that, foreign contributions to political parties are now kosher while the government continues to harass NGOs trying to source similar funds. All this adds up to a whirlpool of corrupt practices with anonymous donors, shell companies and foreign interests potentially playing havoc with how political parties are funded in India. This needs to stop.
3. Investigate the income declarations of politicians and prosecute rapidly: Every year, the Association for Democratic Reforms and others pore over thousands of pre-election affidavits that contain personal data ranging from pending criminal cases to personal and family asset holdings. One often laments that the affidavits mean little unless the data is used beyond generating infographics for the media. Candidates must face legal consequences if they indulge in under-reporting income or assets.
4. Fight institutional decay: Across states, the police— underpaid and overworked— are known for their brutality and complicity with politicians, as rule of law is a scarce commodity in states like Uttar Pradesh. Our premier central institutions are in terminal decay. The Election Commission is unable to clamp down on the obvious irregularities in election finance.
Institutions such as the Central Information Commission and the Central Vigilance Commission have been rendered toothless and there is no apparent resistance. At the root of a lot of institutional abdication seems to be a surge of post-retirement sinecures or worse, positions with further power that are distributed on the basis of loyalty.
5. Demand space for civil society: In today’s world, journalists and activists are our voices. As we middle-class citizens are too busy to sully our hands in activism, these people give us a voice. They ask the questions that we don’t. They go to places we stay away from. They occupy the streets when we vacate them. And yet, they are vilified as seditious anti-nationals at the drop of a hat. India’s democracy was supposed to gradually empower its citizenry. Decentralised governance, the rights-based legislation and the enhancement of capabilities (better health and education) over time should lead to citizens demanding higher levels of participation in governance. However, the reality is that our democracy is a mediocre one, fulfilling satisfactorily, only the most basic requirement of regular (and reasonably free and fair) elections.
To celebrate our incredible democracy, it is not enough to just conduct polls every five years, and for everyone to accept the election results. That is a very low bar. Citizens need to demand accountability. When we don’t, we reduce politics and governance to just the packaging and give politicians and administrators a free pass.
When we stop holding governments accountable, we make our personal contributions towards building a cult. In the last six years, the government has grown unaccountable and insolent. We need a mass movement calling for action against systemic corruption before the damage to our country becomes irreparable.
(The writer works on governance projects in South Asia and East Africa)