Mohan Guruswamy
December 22, 2006

Published in HardNews

Corruption is a very complex word with many meanings depending upon the context of its use. For instance if a language or text were to be altered it would also be described as a corruption. So would the CNN-IBN LK Advani interview promos, which by some very mendacious editing had him saying things he did not intend or say, as was clearly evident in the full interview. In the present times when we say a file in a computer has been corrupted we actual mean that it has been spoilt and the original cannot be called for use. But the corruption we have in mind for now denotes to its most common usage which is also India's main discussion topic. This is the lack of integrity in government. Wherever one may be, in a party or a train compartment or with friends ostensibly for just shooting the breeze, the topic of conversation inevitably veers around to corruption. From the sheer incidence of discussion it is clear that corruption is India's numero uno concern. And it would be so if periodic opinion polls were considered to accurately reflect the peoples mind. It should then be that corruption is quite endemic. But is it so?

According to Transparency International the total economic volume of corruption in India last year was about Rs. 30,000 crores. When you relate this to the GNP of over Rs.25, 00,000 crores this is very small change. Or even when you relate this to the Rs. 190, 000 crores the nation expends in terms of salaries and pensions for the 19 million strong nation of public servants who lord over it, this is small change indeed. So where then is the disconnect? Either Transparency International is extremely blind to the reality or the popularly perceived reality is far from the reality? The truth probably lies somewhere in between, as it usually does. We need to search for it a bit.

The present reality of Delhi is itself quite instructive. The city is now the richest city in the country in per capita terms. Almost a third of the total number of new motor cars sold in the country is purchased in the National Capital Region (NCR). Its direct tax collection is almost as large as that of Bombay. It consumes more booze of the Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) variety and better foreign made foreign liquor which is mostly Scotch whisky. Even discounting that some of the Scotch whisky is actually local brew packed to look like imported stuff its still quite a lot of it. In the recent days we have been reading about some of the Johnny come lately industrialists plonking down over a hundred and fifty crores for a house in New Delhi's posh localities. Admittedly they are not that many, but most of South Delhi is made up of crorepatis if just the house values are considered. India is reported by Forbes magazine to have about 87000 dollar millionaires now. About half of them live in the NCR. But what then is the main business of Delhi?

Is it industry? Is it IT? Or ICE? The total industry in the NCR region is quite impressive, but its share in the regional economy is not more than the national trend of about 22% of GDP. Bombay and Madras have more industrial output. Bangalore has more IT. Hyderabad has more ICE. As a wag once said Delhi's main business is hot air meaning politics and paper meaning government. So how is it that a metropolis that is all about gas and red tape so wealthy? That is just it. Not only is Delhi quite literally built by blatantly abusing the maze of building regulations, Delhi was made big business by the business of unbundling the maze of regulations ostensibly meant to keep the country under its thrall. The main activity in Delhi is for each one of us to cut the hundreds if not thousands of Gordian knots that bedevil our lives. All this costs not just time but also money. This is the money that fuels our politics and keeps our politicians well above the poverty line. To see how well heeled our politicians are, one just has to study the returns filed before the Election Commission. Almost each and every one is a success story and most of them are self made.

Take for instance the Bhishma Pitamaha of the BJP if not the present Lok Sabha, Atal Behari Vajpayee. He was born to a humble school teacher and the hagiography has it that he walked several kilometers each morning to school. Very lower middle class one would have to say. His EC return shows a declared wealth of over one and a half crores. Not bad for a man whose lifetime was devoted to the service of the nation, mostly as an elected official. The pays as we well know are not too hot particularly if you are a family man, and somehow a wealth of one and a half crores does not sit too comfortably with the known sources of income. We don't know if the declared wealth includes the properties in Manali, Gwalior, Lucknow and New Delhi? Like him his son-in-law is also a self made man, but a much wealthier man than him. Vajpayee as we well know is not only one of our better known politicians but also one of our better politicians. This does not mean only in terms of intellectual acumen but also in terms of integrity. I take Vajpayee as an example not just because I dislike him but because also he is among the best we seem to have. He is almost as pure as a baby when compared to the likes of a Mulayam Singh Yadav with Amar Singh in tow (or the other way around), or the late much lamented Pramod Mahajan or so many others who dominate our airwaves and consciousness. Of course he is pally with the Hindujas and a few other well known crooks, but then who can thrive in politics now without the fat cats?

I saw an opinion poll the other day that the most preferred Class I services now are the Indian Police Service and Indian Revenue Service. In the Indian Army the first choice increasingly is now the much discredited Army Supply Corps but not because an army marches on its stomach but because the arm offers much for the stomach. Need one say more? How much does one have to pay to become one of the millions of petty bureaucrats who turn out to be such tyrants when it comes to giving out a driving license, or ration card, or passport, or PAN card, or details of the hugely inflated electricity bills, or fixing the broken sewer or allowing citizens to get by with our mundane everyday lives? Quite clearly public service is not the last refuge of the scoundrel but the first preference. Besides it's a lifetime of assured public service, except of course the military which marches to the beat of a somewhat different drummer in matters of integrity, standards and service longevity, or so it seems.

The preference for government service is clearly not due to the terms of service but the discretionary powers that turn it into a lucrative occupation. The first step towards eliminating the corruption that bugs us so much is to reduce the discretionary powers of any official. This does not mean more rules but far fewer. For instance there is no need for a police verification to issue a passport. The verification is just another excuse to mulct the common citizen. The Abu Salem's and Monica Bedi's of the world had no problems in not only getting just one passport but several of them. Then why forget the MP who took his girl friend on a junket by passing her off as his wife!

I recently tried to get the electricity meter of my house changed to my name. The house has been mine for several years and the bills all along show no past arrears. When went to the utility's office, I was told that the form for change in name could be had from the vendor across the street. This individual would part with it only for Rs. 300 as he had to pay the fellows inside for them. This was a case of corruption being outsourced. In any case I got a form from the bada babu after haranguing him a bit. After the form was filled up and all required documentation provided, including a copy of the registered sale deed, I was advised that I would have to give a notarized affidavit stating that I will pay for any past arrears that may show up in the future. When I told them that there were no past arrears, and the bills with me clearly indicate that, I was told that either I just get it, which meant another day spent getting an affidavit written up and notarized, or pay Rs.500. When I demurred the man just said that a person like me who has paid several lakhs for the property must not hesitate when having to pay a little for a poor man like him! A close friend who till recently headed an intelligence agency recounted to me the harrowing experience of getting his CGHS card made. Well welcome to real world my friend!

These are instances of the niggling corruption that makes everyday life quite excruciating and unpleasant. But when this is projected to the national level the costs can be quite enormous. Just to toss you a figure, no less than Rs.600, 000 crores is the cost of the overruns on long delayed infrastructure projects. A Russian diplomat once told me that the Sukhoi 30 was the best fighter plane in the world despite the fact that its wings are now a bit heavy. When asked to elaborate he deadpanned that since the deal spanned three regimes, the plane was bound to get heavy! So the next thing to do after deregulating our lives a bit is to put time limits on project closures. Thus if a dam or highway is delayed and extension is sought, reasons must be sought and enquired into, and persons deemed responsible must be penalized. One project that easily comes to mind is the Light Combat Aircraft project which is now fifteen years behind schedule or the Arjun tank programme which never really began and never ends.

Another urgently needed reform is the unhindered and unfettered service lifetime assurance of employment, even to the worthless and tainted. The military has a system of weeding out the unsuitable at each level which is why we get progressively higher ethical and professional standards as the levels rise. The military has performance and academic requirements specified at every level, but not so the civil servants. The system of promotions by virtue of seniority ensures that the scum also rise to the top with the worthy. This is an unworthy system to say the least. The cost to the nation is enormous. What will get us out of this situation is a regime that emphasizes incorporates the four T's. Transparency, Time, Tenure and Termination. The Prime Minister has spoken about this for sometime now, but then the Prime Minister speaks about so many things these days and does so little. But at least his closure comes in a couple of years which is not what we can say about the babudom.