I am a senior citizen. My greatest regret is that I was totally inactive beyond my personal and professional life. I was happy with my family, books, T.V., residence, court-work and holidays here and abroad. Doing something concrete for the nation was no part of my life or living. Not surprising, of late, I have been experiencing substantial remorse on this count. By such indifference I, like many others, permitted some unscrupulous and corrupt politicians to loot the people of this country. It is because of this loot that crores of people of this country are below the poverty line and many children are dying at infancy or in the womb, all because of the absence of proper nourishment. I blame particularly the educated, me included, for being self-centered and being totally indifferent to this on-going loot; a loot of far greater magnitude than what our foreign rules are accepted of.
I have come across, of course, a few politicians, who are sorry for their sins and would like to wash off those sins, given an opportunity. There are others, who also must be given a similar opportunity so that they are not blamed for what follows in case the opportunity is not availed of. These people have enjoyed the monies, which really belong to the nation and which would have alleviated the poverty of teeming millions of this country; these politicians have enjoyed the ill-gotten monies for a fairly long time. The earlier they pay back the same to the nation, the better. In this direction, let me share a few ideas.
By way of a first opportunity, there must be Voluntary Disclosure and Repayment Scheme (‘Scheme’ hereafter) promulgated by the Government, giving an opportunity to such profligate politicians to voluntarily declare the amount of ill-gotten monies that they have got by corruption or by any other illegal means and to payback the same to the Government forthwith or by installments, as may be laid down in the scheme. The Scheme will apply even to a member of Village Panchayat. In future, a similar Scheme can be promulgated for Government servants.
The politicians making such a declaration would have immunity from prosecution and penalty under all laws of the land in respect of the ill-gotten monies declared under the Scheme.
If after the expiry of the scheme, any politician, who has not availed of the scheme, is found to have the monies received in corruption, his entire wealth will immediately vest in the Government and the custody thereof will also be immediately taken by the Government. A special committee headed by the retired Supreme Court judge will decide whether the politician has been having the ill-gotten monies with him and yet has not availed of the Scheme.
The concerned laws must be amended to provide that in cases of corruption beyond a particular figure the incumbent must be punished with life imprisonment and others with rigorous imprisonment of minimum 14 years; the corruption cases of these VIPs must be taken up on a priority basis by the Courts; if necessary Special Courts must be established so that the litigation, which is bound to ensue at the instance of these VIPs and VVIPs comes to an end immediately and the message goes to all concerned that now the corruption is not profitable, or for that matter dangerous and risky. The attempt in this article is to give an idea to get back the people’s money from the corrupt. To those who will feel like criticising the idea, my earnest request is to come out with a better and more effective idea; I will be very happy.
It is a sad commentary on the CBI, that inspite of long-standing corruption, its record on this count, to say the least, is not very impressive. Is it that they did not know what every man in the street knew? The rampant corruption requires a CBI with bigger manpower and greater competence. Today, CBI does not seem to be fully equipped to take on the powerful and influential head on.
More criminal lawyers and chartered accountants trained in investigation of corruption cases must be put at the disposal of the CBI at the stage of investigation; in fact, the CBI must have some of them in house, so that they are at their beck and call any time it wants them.
Looking at the fact that the corrupt are also very powerful and influential persons, it is very necessary that the C.B.I. must be made an independent body, like the Election Commission. It will be unfair to expect much on this count from the present CBI. We must acknowledge that with all its handicaps, the performance of the CBI of late is becoming better. The present C.B.I. can go up as much as its Chief is keen to take it. Recall what Seshan did to the Election Commission. An independent C.B.I. will be a great check on the corrupt and will have huge credibility amongst the people of this country and even abroad.
I will exhort to those amongst us to whom the nation is dear, particularly the youngsters, to see that these corrupt politicians cannot enjoy status and power resulting from their ill-gotten riches. I will suggest that Gandhian methods must be adopted when the corrupt are out to show, rather exhibit, their ill-gotten wealth on various social or other occasions. A great mass of Gandhians, scattered all across the country in a disjointed manner, can be of great help in this direction. In this direction if they unite for this work, miracles can happen. Recall the Anna Hazare movement.
Let me illustrate as to where we were when we got independence and where we are now. When Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister, he was invited to a wedding function, by one of his ministers. Instead of straightaway attending the marriage function, he sent his personal secretary to check whether the function was on a modest scale or was it on an ostentatious and gaudy scale. After the personal secretary reported that it was on a modest scale, he attended.
I think it is high time that the Prime Minister and the State’s Chief Ministers must ask their Cabinet Colleagues to live within their legitimate means; or for that matter set all examples in simple living. The citizens of this country will highly appreciate it.
The citizens, particularly the industrialists and the big traders, must at least decide that they will not be seeking favours from the Ministers and the Government servants by bribe, and the FICCI can declare a particular year say 2015 as the ‘No bribe year’. Those people who help the CBI to catch the corrupt red-handed must be rewarded by the Government in appreciation of their service to the nation. The T.V. channels can do a great job by publishing and glorifying such events. Let me state one heartening incident, which I read sometime back. A particular unit of WIPRO required a dedicated electric sub-station and for installation thereof some permission was required. That unit made an application. The Manager of that unit, who was newly appointed, was approached by the public utility employee informing him that in ordinary course, the permission would take about a year but if his demands are met he can get the permission within a week’s time. The newly appointed Manager thought that this is a great opportunity to impress the boss about his competence and went to Mr. Azim Premji. Mr. Premji heard him patiently and then told him, “You are new to this company. Let me tell you that bribing is not our culture. Therefore, hereafter do not think of doing any such thing as long as you are in this organisation.” We require many more Premjis. I am sure there are a few others like Mr. Premji; but for sure, we require many many more like him. In the challenging task of making India corruption free India, the industry and trade leaders can contribute a lot.
Let me tell the people that as against the corrupt ones there are honest politicians also. It is because of such people that the country has not collapsed.
I request the Government and our Economists to tell the nation as to what is the corruption-cost component in the cost of living index.
Lastly, the Election must be funded by the State. The earlier this is done, the better, because anybody can have an alibi when caught red-handed that he was accepting monies for the party. The ensuing election in the States is a great opportunity to the voters. Consider only that candidate to be eligible for vote who declares on oath his (and his family members’) wealth as on last 31st March at least one month before election and undertakes to declare it as on 31st March of every year thereafter till the next election.
I am absolutely shocked by the ‘I don’t care’ attitude of the Central and State Governments to the progressively aggravating problem of overpopulation and the absence of any discussion of the problem as if it does not exist at all! In my humble opinion, all the talk of progress will be a hogwash if the overpopulation problem is not urgently attended to. It looks like that after the back lash in late Sanjay Gandhi’s times, the politicians of all hue decided to turn a Nelson’s eye to the problem.
In the end, it is impossible to conclude this article without mentioning that our judiciary, particularly the higher echelons thereof like the Supreme Court and High Court have done remarkable work and has made us all very proud. I wonder if the framers of the Constitution would have imagined that the judicial wing in future will be a life belt to a sinking nation caught in the malicious whirlpool of rampant, nepotism, dishonesty and corruption. Permit me to say that much more is expected from the judiciary.
One man from Gujarat was instrumental in getting us independence. I hope and trust that another man from Gujarat also fulfils the hopes and inspiration of the nation, which has entrusted its destiny into his hands.
Let me conclude with Pearl Buck; “Oh India, dare to be worthy of your Gandhi.” Jai Hind.
