Indian govt coming down heavily on corruption
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury
It is not surprising that the government of India has taken Congress leader Mr. Suresh Kalmadi into custody following disclosures by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about his involvement with financial malpractices in organising the Commonwealth Games last year. Earlier, Mr. Kalmadi, a influential leader of the Congress had seemed to have gone scot-free evidently for the reason that this was a Congress-led united progressive alliance (UPA) government and many doubted whether the person belonging to the Congress would really be taken to task because of his political identity and the links. But Mr. Kalmadi had to face the music as the government of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is coming under increasing pressures for acting quickly and decisively against the menace of corruption, which has, of late, caused a turmoil in India because of a string of galling incidents. The present government in New Delhi, nearly halfway through its term, rightly feels that it can not respond to allegations of corruptions through any knee-jerk attitude since that would result in loss of public trust as the people want hard actions against the corrupt, regardless of their political and other links. Seen against the backdrop of mounting pressures for cleansing the political and administrative spheres from corrupt practices, it appears as an only logical corollary that persons like Mr. Suresh Kalmadi would no longer get any reprieve as that would cost the government heavily since the image of the Manmohan Singh government has already received severe setbacks because of a number of scandals although the prime minister himself has not been charged with any of these misdeeds. The government of India has particularly come under severe pressures to act against corruption, following the hunger strike by ageing Ghandian, Mr. Anna Hazare, who took the political and other circles by storm by his campaign. Scores of people expressed solidarity with him in support of taking immediate effective measures against corrupt practices. Mr. Hazare, whose hunger strike evoked great response all over India and from various sections of the Indian people, called off the programme after the New Delhi government met his main demands. A committee, meant for enacting legislation towards curbing corruption, is now being reconstituted with persons of clean image drawn from the society at large rather than only the ministers and the other high-ups; this has been a big achievement for Hazare campaign. India, world's largest democracy and an emerging economy with a commendable growth performance even during the global economic meltdown, is being badly affected by the ever-increasing corruption. In recent past, the biggest scandal that caused a sensation in India and outside has been about granting the licences of the modern mobile telephone almost at throw-away charges, depriving the government in New Delhi of billions of dollars. The minister in charge of the telecommunications ministry, Mr. A. Raja has also finally landed in jail even though he had initially faced no actions, despite massive reports about the matter in the media. Along with this, the allegations of bribes for securing the votes of the opposition M.Ps during a crucial vote of confidence in the parliament, granting of government flats by Maharastra Chief Minister Mr. Ashok Chauhan to dear and near ones although the same were meant for the widows of the "Kargil war" and the practice of bribes for loans in business by government banks, have put the government on a slippery ground. The Wikileaks have also revealed that the Indians have the maximum amount of black money in the Swiss banks. The campaign by Ghandian Hazare has added on extra-ordinary weight to the campaign against corruption and this has made Manmohan Singh government to act decisively. Mr. Suresh Kalmadi has been arrested and many more heads may roll as the government in New Delhi now feels strongly the need for taking tough anti-graft measures. This is paying dividends for the Manmohan government, but much more needs to be done for gaining public confidence and trust. zaglulbss@yahoo.com
It is not surprising that the government of India has taken Congress leader Mr. Suresh Kalmadi into custody following disclosures by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about his involvement with financial malpractices in organising the Commonwealth Games last year. Earlier, Mr. Kalmadi, a influential leader of the Congress had seemed to have gone scot-free evidently for the reason that this was a Congress-led united progressive alliance (UPA) government and many doubted whether the person belonging to the Congress would really be taken to task because of his political identity and the links. But Mr. Kalmadi had to face the music as the government of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is coming under increasing pressures for acting quickly and decisively against the menace of corruption, which has, of late, caused a turmoil in India because of a string of galling incidents. The present government in New Delhi, nearly halfway through its term, rightly feels that it can not respond to allegations of corruptions through any knee-jerk attitude since that would result in loss of public trust as the people want hard actions against the corrupt, regardless of their political and other links. Seen against the backdrop of mounting pressures for cleansing the political and administrative spheres from corrupt practices, it appears as an only logical corollary that persons like Mr. Suresh Kalmadi would no longer get any reprieve as that would cost the government heavily since the image of the Manmohan Singh government has already received severe setbacks because of a number of scandals although the prime minister himself has not been charged with any of these misdeeds. The government of India has particularly come under severe pressures to act against corruption, following the hunger strike by ageing Ghandian, Mr. Anna Hazare, who took the political and other circles by storm by his campaign. Scores of people expressed solidarity with him in support of taking immediate effective measures against corrupt practices. Mr. Hazare, whose hunger strike evoked great response all over India and from various sections of the Indian people, called off the programme after the New Delhi government met his main demands. A committee, meant for enacting legislation towards curbing corruption, is now being reconstituted with persons of clean image drawn from the society at large rather than only the ministers and the other high-ups; this has been a big achievement for Hazare campaign. India, world's largest democracy and an emerging economy with a commendable growth performance even during the global economic meltdown, is being badly affected by the ever-increasing corruption. In recent past, the biggest scandal that caused a sensation in India and outside has been about granting the licences of the modern mobile telephone almost at throw-away charges, depriving the government in New Delhi of billions of dollars. The minister in charge of the telecommunications ministry, Mr. A. Raja has also finally landed in jail even though he had initially faced no actions, despite massive reports about the matter in the media. Along with this, the allegations of bribes for securing the votes of the opposition M.Ps during a crucial vote of confidence in the parliament, granting of government flats by Maharastra Chief Minister Mr. Ashok Chauhan to dear and near ones although the same were meant for the widows of the "Kargil war" and the practice of bribes for loans in business by government banks, have put the government on a slippery ground. The Wikileaks have also revealed that the Indians have the maximum amount of black money in the Swiss banks. The campaign by Ghandian Hazare has added on extra-ordinary weight to the campaign against corruption and this has made Manmohan Singh government to act decisively. Mr. Suresh Kalmadi has been arrested and many more heads may roll as the government in New Delhi now feels strongly the need for taking tough anti-graft measures. This is paying dividends for the Manmohan government, but much more needs to be done for gaining public confidence and trust. zaglulbss@yahoo.com