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On Corruption-1
By Chongtham Manihar
I am well aware, expatiating on such a topic, as corruption would be like ploughing the sand. But when seasoned politicians who in the eyes of the public are the very epitome of corruption, start making clarion calls for a crusade against it as the next general election is just round the corner, I feel much amused at their chutzpah and thus have been tempted to break the silence.
To make a clarification at the outset, corruption doesn't stand for a single or limited significance, but assumes a protean variety whose tentacles reach out far and wide, sometimes quite deeply. It may be any one of these - graft, bribery, sop, suborning, slush fund, hush money, pork-barrel moral turpitude, illegitimacy, injustice, warped judgement, dishonesty, warped judgement, dishonesty, deceit, criminality, the present day various scams and so forth.
It is, of course, not of recent origin, but reared its head since the hallowed days of mythologies, great epics and the biblical period. Indra, god of the firmament, seduced the peerlessly beautiful Ahlya, wife of Rishi Gautama by coming in the guise of her husband. Didn't Lord Krishna stoop to mean practice as to wake up straight on his back only to accept first the invitation of Arjuna to join the Great War and didn't he commit an act of injustice by obstructing the sun complete his diurnal course only to frustrate the promise of Jayadratha to kill Yudhistira. Yes, such acts of lying with a good motive is euphemistically called 'white lie '. And some of the most damaging deceits in human history are i) the revelation of the secret of Samson's strength by Delilah's for a few pieces of gold and ii) that of Judas of the identity of his Master, for a few pieces of silver in his case.
In Shakespeare's Roman play Julius Caesar; Marcus Brutus the philosopher warrior charges his associate and the main conspirator Cassius with an itching to sell and mart his offices for gold to undeservers.
It is said that this practice is still much in vogue in recruiting State and Central security personnel. Reversely, there is the famous answer of Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV part II that "They may as well fill the pit" when he brought parading scraggy ragamuffins conscripted after letting off grooms-to-be and sons of well-to-do families on receiving gratification from each of them.
So in the present times, when the needle of suspicion pointed to him in the Bofors case, the late Rajiv Gandhi in his usual cavalier manner brushed off the scourge of corruption as universal phenomenon. Yes to corroborate his assertion there are instances galore. A President of the Republic of South Korea and a Prime Minister of Japan were indicted for taking huge bribes and duly punished.
Corruption, we are told, has never led to the collapse of a national economy. But the case is quite otherwise in a poor country like India, more so in a financially bankrupt State like Manipur. Now a local legislator turns the table and pointed his accusing finger to the voters as the source of corruption as they abet the candidates in an election to indulge in unfair means, just as distribution of money besides, hosting rounds of feast and making donations to clubs and Meira paibis.
But the mostly indigent holloi polloi on their part assert that they ought to extract their due first as the candidates once returned invariably fail to shepherd their constituencies contrary to what once they promised and start looking down on them from an exalted position, inaccessible to the ordinary people until another general election knocks at the door.
Here a question comes up. Why should a candidate spend a fortune to garner votes if he or she really stands for a cause to serve the people or observe the party ideology? It may sound naïve but I can't help stating - Lust for power or public office with its concomitant benefits should not be the sole criterion for contesting an election. Has not any one of them heard or read the life histories of Vespasian the Roman emperor and the first Flavian and of General De Gaulle of France, whose services were sought by the people after they had led a retired and Spartan life?
No doubt, a politician's life is no bed of roses and I cannot but admire the one who can survive the longest in the rat race competition. However, that cannot be taken as a license to loot the State. So, it is common knowledge that these political leaders-turned-parvenus mostly invest their tainted money in real estate and luxury transport buses and some are said to have foreign bank accounts.
Once in the occupation of the gaddi, the suppliers and other hangers-on throw a ring round such a public figure, thus obfuscating him to tackle any State issue seriously except self-aggrandizement. Again interestingly, these so called leaders thrive undeterred on the protection from the party or head of the Government always by using subtle ploy of perpetrating defection or change of party loyalty, the moment their liberty is curtailed.
The best of legal and institutional checks will work imperfectly, so long as this culture prevails. So AG Noorani an eminent lawyer says, "Tolerance of corruption is India's political culture." (The Statesman, Nov 29, 2000).
However, in Manipur, since the great upheaval of June 18, 2001, we are expecting with bated breath a sea change in the complexion of her politics. Here, the role of the Civil Services which comes in between the common people and the ruling class is of paramount importance and can be an effective catalyst by its integrity and transparent dealings.
But unfortunately its working in every Government is conspicuous by the absence of these elements in its disposition. So there have been persistent cries that if corruption is to be rooted out in the body politic, cleaning of the Augean stable should first begin with the cadres of Civil Service. Ministries come and go, but the Civil Service must stay on. It is the doctor, so to say, in the affairs of the State. Authorities on modern statecraft like Sir Stafford Northcole and Sir Charles Trevelyan, clearly define the role of a senior civil servant as an unbiased advisor to the political executive - to offer his advice frankly and fairly without fear or favor.
Centuries ago in India, Chanakya went a step further to exhort the king's advisors to give advice which is in the overall interests of the State even if it be somewhat unpleasant: " A courtier when questioned by a ruler on important matters requiring intellectual analysis, should like an expert and unafraid of the assembly, mention his views on what is practicable and material benefit. " (The Arthasastra Verse, 156).
Locally, the MS Loyummba Sinyen a treatise on the duties of the king, the nobles and his subjects, prepared during the reign of Loyumba, the Meitei king (1078 - 1112) speaks in the same tone that officials of the king should receive his dictates stretching the end of his clothe folded but in all humility should point out what shall not be good for the people and the country.
When there is a clamor for transparency in the working of the Civil Service, the inimitable Ram Jethmalani, former Union Law Minister for Law offered to keep the files of his Department open to the public. That was also not workable for practical reasons.
(to be continued).
(Courtesy: The
Sangai Express)
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