The Hindu Business Line : Outflanking politicians

A NUMBER of remedies has been suggested from time to time to combat corruption, including: Amendment of the Rules of Business to vest decision-making on important matters in the Secretaries to Government instead of in the Ministers; codification of the powers and privileges of legislators; bringing MPs and MLAs within the statutory definition of public servants without any scope for ambiguity; binding them by law to a set of do's and don'ts; setting up flying squads of public personalities who command respect and trust, assisted by officials of anti-corruption bureau, to pay visits to graft-prone departments and undertakings and try to put heart into people to fight the corrupt elements; legislative protection to whistle-blowers; removing decisions on transfers, promotions and similar career decisions pertaining to government employees, as also tenders above particular amounts, out of politicians' hands and entrusting them to an independent body of impeccable credentials; reducing discretionary powers at all levels; making crime investigation independent of government control; deciding suitability of promotions of personnel of civil services based on stringent appraisals of their performance and reputation for integrity and honesty conducted at each milestone of their career; and so on.

Unfortunately, many of these measures cannot be put into effect without the approval of the self-same political masters who are sure to stonewall them. No matter: Antidotes are still available, such as e-governance; the civil services forming ethics committees to expose and censure the black sheep among them; character-building through special courses during training and by elders setting an example in uprightness and rectitude; giving wide publicity to instances of civil services successfully resisting attempts at pressuring them to indulge in misdeeds; media coming up with prompt investigative reporting on the assets declared by candidates for elections and not letting criminal cases against them fade from public view; the civil society taking advantage of the right to information to throw light on dubious decisions and deals, and resorting to public interest litigation.

Why not outflank politicians by determined efforts on these lines?

B. S. Raghavan

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