A stinging exposure of India's
corrupt By Siddharth
Srivastava
NEW DELHI - India ranks among
the countries that are deemed the most corrupt in
the world. One unlikely agency that has been
playing a sterling role in exposing the stink of
corruption is television.
There are a slew
of 24-hour television channels in India, and as
the war for ratings and advertising revenue heats
up, intrepid reporters have been assigned "sting
operations" to catch, on tape, important people
(read politicians, bureaucrats), accepting bribes.
Last week, 11 members of parliament (MPs) were
recorded by a hidden camera, allegedly accepting
money in return for asking
questions in parliament.
Through questions asked at the highest
representative body, MPs can bring issues to the
notice of concerned ministries. These are often
picked up by the media for comment. A pressure
lobby for possible policy changes is built. In
exchange for money, MPs will also attempt to
further the cause - whatever it might be - of the
people paying the bribe.
The questions the
MPs were requested to place in exchange for money
included the workings of five-star hospitals and
their exorbitant fee structures and matters
related to tsunami relief.
The secret
videotape (in what has been termed as the
cash-for-query scandal) was shot by website
Cobrapost and TV news channel Aaj Tak (owned by
the India Today Group). In the videos, the MPs are
seen accepting wads of Rs500 (US$10) notes, some
smiling very happily. The MPs have since been
suspended. A parliament panel that probed the
scandal has reportedly recommended sacking the
accused.
Writing in Cobrapost, Aniruddha
Bahal, who led the sting operation, said: "If used
rightly, tiny lens-bearing apertures can empower a
citizenry by exposing democracy's toxic acreage.
Operation Duryodhana, a Cobrapost-Aaj Tak
investigation lasting nearly eight months,
succeeded in capturing the acts of 10 Lok Sabha
[lower house] and one Rajya Sabha [upper house]
members as they accepted money from
representatives of a fictitious body called the
North Indian Small Manufacturers' Association
(NISMA) for asking questions in the Indian
parliament. In all, more than 60 questions were
submitted by 11 MPs, of which 25 questions [at
last count] were tabled in the parliament."
Not to be outdone, rival news channel Star
News this week caught seven MPs allegedly asking
for bribes as a commission to approve public
projects. Each MP is allotted approximately
$445,000 each year to fund development projects in
their constituencies.
As expected, the two
recent revelations of MPs have created a furor.
"It is a matter of grave concern that at a time
when the inquiry was already going on against some
MPs on allegations of having accepted money for
questions in the house, fresh allegations have
come up against other MPs,"' parliamentary speaker
Somnath Chatterjee said.
Opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief, L K Advani,
said the allegations were "too serious to be
glossed over. It is a matter of concern for us
because, while the whole country is debating
probity in public life, our own MPs have been
charged with showing greed for raising questions
in parliament. The BJP, which had the maximum
number MPs exposed by Cobrapost-Aaj Taj, has
initiated strict action."
Stung by some of
their brethren being caught red-handed, some MPs
have spoken about action against the media. One
prominent MP accused the media of "trying to
defame" the MPs and parliament. "If you make the
MPs a commercial commodity, it cannot be
acceptable. The media is trying to defame the MPs
and parliament. The way they [media] intrude MPs'
residences and manipulate their statements [is]
deplorable," he said amid loud applause from
members from all sides.
However, most have
only harsh words for the caught MPs. Writing in
the Hindustan Times, editor Vir Sanghvi said: "The
problem is that Indian politics is now largely
about money. It costs money to get elected. It
costs money to remain in office, to run schemes in
your constituencies and to maintain a staff. And
because the electorate is so unpredictable and
because governments know that they can suddenly
collapse at any time, there is an irresistible
urge for politicians to make as much money as they
can. And then, there's the naked greed factor."
Although Indian television channels have
been recording public officials, police officers,
petty bureaucrats (referred to as babus)
accepting cash and sex scandals involving
small-time film stars seeking sexual favors from
wannabe starlets, secret sting operations of this
scale and magnitude were conducted only five years
back.
At that time, news website
Tehelka.com taped video footage of senior
politicians, bureaucrats and Indian Army officers
apparently taking money and services of
prostitutes in exchange for pushing lucrative
defense deals. The sleazy smile of BJP president
Bangaru Laxman accepting a wad of notes has since
become emblematic of the low esteem in which
politicians are held in India.
The Tehelka
scam ultimately led to the resignation of former
defense minister George Fernandes and the
banishment of Laxman from political life.
Incidentally, Tehelka's expose was also
led by Bahal, who worked for the website at that
time. Bahal has justified his actions by saying
that if a sting operation serves a public/social
cause and establishes a truth that otherwise
remains untold, then it is justified.
Several institutions are engaged in an
often losing battle against corruption that exists
in everyday life. The courts have done their bit,
though they are bogged down by inefficiencies
linked to understaffing and other systemic faults.
India recently enacted the Right to
Information Act that gives legal rights to people
to seek information from the government, placing
India among the 55 countries that have such
legislation.
Conscientious citizens such
as Satyendra Dubey (he took on corruption in the
handling of government contracts for the
construction of national highways) and S Manjunath
(he fought against the adulteration of petrol) are
heroes in the country as they stood up to various
mafias that ultimately killed them for taking an
honest stand.
India ranks among the most
corrupt nations in the world. Studies by the
Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) and
other indices such as the Corruption Perceptions
Index have consistently ranked India as one of the
worst as far as corrupt practices go.
In
the latest TI report, India secured the lowly spot
of number 88 (out of 159 countries surveyed) of
the most corrupt places in the world, along with
unlikely companions such as Gabon, Mali, Moldova,
Tanzania and Iran.
Most agree that the
role of television is limited. TV screens can only
expose and reveal, but cannot check. Systemic
changes as well as inculcating values and a high
moral fiber, perhaps harking back to the teachings
of the forgotten Mahatma Gandhi, are needed.
Meanwhile, the show only goes on and
nobody seems to mind. This week, police officers
in Meerut, an industrial city in the state of
Uttar Pradesh, were seen beating up couples,
including girls, in an ugly attempt at "moral
policing". A female police officer was seen
repeatedly slapping girls who were accompanied by
their boyfriends/husbands at a popular park. The
cops have since been suspended.
Journalists still have a lot of work to
do.
Siddharth Srivastava is a
New Delhi-based journalist.
(Copyright
2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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