Indian prime minister today made a passionate speech at the 19th conference of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and state anti corruption agencies wherein he laid stress on the ill effects of so called atmosphere of negativity and pessimism. He has either failed to realize the correct picture and magnitude of the malaise or is deliberately downplaying it or perhaps it was not the forum where he could lay bare the naked reality of the extent of corruption menace prevailing in the country. As a general citizen of this country, one cannot but scoff at such attempts when corruption and corrupt practices are a rule rather than an exception in business, administration and governance.
These anti corruption agencies no doubt have to upgrade their skills in order to achieve greater success but the real answer has to be found with some out of the box thinking on the part of government. In my opinion following things are a must if India wants to tackle this menace in a big way. Firstly the anti corruption agencies and related judiciary must be beefed up to an extent that no case drags beyond two years.It is a pity that many times the cases hang on for decades in various courts for one reason or the other. We often hear that justice delayed is justice denied but what about punishment delayed or denied? In my opinion it is a slur on the name of governance, a slur on the name of investigating and convicting agencies and in short on the government.
Secondly, all asset classes real estate, gold, investments in stocks and commodity market, trusts and even the companies should be linked to Unique Identification Number so that at the click of a button total value of an individual or a business entity can be found out year wise along with tax liabilities, tax remittances as also pointers to an economic offence if any.
And lastly the government should not shirk its responsibility to unearth corruption even when two private parties are involved. If it fails to do so, it is giving a unique methodology to all powerful members of the polity and bureaucracy to do everything shady in the name of their near and dear ones ( private parties ) and government just becomes a mute spectator to the rape of country's rightful monetary accruals/gains.
And lastly the government should not shirk its responsibility to unearth corruption even when two private parties are involved. If it fails to do so, it is giving a unique methodology to all powerful members of the polity and bureaucracy to do everything shady in the name of their near and dear ones ( private parties ) and government just becomes a mute spectator to the rape of country's rightful monetary accruals/gains.
