Cagey CAG:

August 08/2011: The recent spate of corruption exposés has shattered everyone’s faith in the people who govern us. Indians now have started feeling as if there is no respite from these murky deals. Politicians are the worst sufferers as they are made to carry the Cross on which they themselves will be nailed. So much so that an Anna Hazare dares to publicly burn copies of a Bill yet to be presented to Parliament. The word ‘dares’ shows that these so called ‘civil’ society activists do not realize that by the very act they do much damage to the democratic fibre of our nation. Good or bad, India has accepted democracy as the means of self governance. As long as civilized man has not discovered an alternate means of governance, inpidual freedom must be safeguarded. The only presently known method is democracy. Sure, in our country it is a simple mockery and reality check will tell us that a common man has no real recourse to justice. But that is human folly. Indians have, systematically and over a period of time, managed to pert attention to their acts of perverting the system.

Take for instance the way the judiciary behaves at times. It has recently started coming under heavy criticism for going beyond its boundaries of legal jurisprudence while spelling out rulings on PILs and other matters filed by certain people who may be motivated to start with. This is not limited to any particular level of the judiciary. While thousands of cases are pending trials or appeals in every Court, high profile Ambanis or Tatas are capable of getting their matters sorted out in a few days. It just shows how much the Ultimate Masters, the common citizens, of India are tolerant. It is not that they do not comprehend how the relatives of former CJI Balakrishnan become overnight millionaires or how a trial magistrate buys plots and jewelry worth millions in a small town like Bhubaneswar. Everyone nowadays knows everything. If details are secret, the end benefits are open secrets. After the Courts, the case of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India is a point to ponder. The way the Deputy CAG, Ms Rekha Gupta, went gung ho showing her report to the media raised over her head exhibits another milestone of our failing system. Primarily an internal document, this senior lady accountant should have been discreet in her acts. However, her eagerness to show her face on television was proof of the insincerity of the whole exercise.

A question could easily be asked that maybe, just maybe, the CAG report is not faultless. Not since Independence has the CAG ever indicted any executive of this country. It is perfectly fine to drag the Prime Minister or the Delhi Chief Minister into any controversy. Everyone in this country is now in the most suitable mindset to accept that all allegations being leveled now are true and proper. And maybe they are. No need to question that fact. Yet all slightly smart citizens of this nation also are aware that without active support from the bureaucracy, no wrong deeds are ever possible. Like no hasty or one sided judgments are possible unless the judiciary is in league with a particular litigant. So, when a side walk is built in Delhi for the Common Wealth Games, or for that matter anywhere else in the country, it is not a Chief Minister who designs, purchases, inspects and gives clearance at all levels. The CM may want to favor a particular contractor but the ground level execution is done by Engineers and officers of the concerned departments. If they will start to check all things at their own level, most wrong doings will become impossible.

Holding a New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) or Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) engineer or official responsible for her or his apathy and negligence towards a particular work will surely not invite much media coverage. The family members of the CAG or the Dy. CAG will have nothing to talk about the next day about the greatness of their relative. It will only mean that zeroing in and punishing the errant officials will certainly stem the overbearing and irritating tide of incompetency and corruption that is eating into our system at its root. Sadly, everyone wants to be a tv star but none cares to do some act that shall have a long lasting impact on making the system honest, efficient and people friendly. Showbiz is not limited to Bollywood. All of us want to be like Priyanka Chopra or Salmon Khan.