One thing in which the year 2010 broke all previous records was the sheer scale of scams which are shameful even by Indian standards.The UPA government and congress presided over large-scale loot:- the Adarsh society,IPL, Scorpene submarine deal, paddy export, cash-for-votes, Prasar Bharti, the CWG... The last being the one which led to tremendous evictions of poor from Delhi and students from U.G hostels in the name of beautification, immense exploitation of wage labourers in the course of constructions and even extreme caused to the city residents for months. Whereas, even before the games have had started, we got to see the naked corruption and misuse of public money done by games organisers while on the other hand government turned a blind eye towards it and continued to hail the games as the golden chapter of indian history in an even more louder voice. As if it was not enough, we came to know about 2-G spectrum scam,dubbed as the mother of all scams in India involving as it does a whopping Rs,1,76,379 crores lost to the public exchequer. The only action taken has been a few face-saver resignations. Recent revelations-like the phone tapes involved in the telecom scandal- underline forcefully that the UPA government is being run to serve corporate powers, who vie amongst each other to decide policies and even ministerial berths. The
corporate media is no less 'embedded'- playing middleman corporate lobbyist. What this demonstrates is that the decline of the 'quota-permit raj'-yesteryear's' convenient whipping boy for rampant corruption- did not lead to any decline in the menace. Quite to the contrary, all pervasive liberalization and globalization have throne the floodgate of corruption wide open, bolstering the black economy and further degrading the quality of politics. Not surprisingly, 'Transparency International's corruption perception index' report covering the public sector in 178 countries shows that India fell by three positions from its ranking of 84th in 2005 to 87th this year in terms of corruption.
corporate media is no less 'embedded'- playing middleman corporate lobbyist. What this demonstrates is that the decline of the 'quota-permit raj'-yesteryear's' convenient whipping boy for rampant corruption- did not lead to any decline in the menace. Quite to the contrary, all pervasive liberalization and globalization have throne the floodgate of corruption wide open, bolstering the black economy and further degrading the quality of politics. Not surprisingly, 'Transparency International's corruption perception index' report covering the public sector in 178 countries shows that India fell by three positions from its ranking of 84th in 2005 to 87th this year in terms of corruption.
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE 2G SPECTRUM SCAM:
According to CAG report,immense procedural violations took place to unfailingly benefit certain companies, granting them 2-G spectrum-a national asset- at throw away prices leading to loss to the public exchequer to
the tune of Rs 1.76,379 crores.It was not auctioned but allocated on a 'first come first serve' basis at dirt cheap rates, and even this tampered with to 'fix' the match in favour of certain companies. Of the 122 licences issued in 2008,85 were found to fall short of the eligibility conditions prescribed conditions prescribed by the ministry itself. Further some of the companies which bagged the spectrum allotment for a mere Rs 1651 crore, didnot have any prior experience in the business of mobile phones and then within a matter of six months sold off shares to foreign companies at the prevailing market rate making at the least 700%return on their on their invest. From the very beginning itself in 2007-2008, the 2-G spectrum allotment process was so outright corrupt that the CV the IT department started prima facia investigation amidst huge public and political outcry. Strangely, the Mr. Clean P.M paid no heed and allowed A.Raja to continue with his ways. it is only when things came to a head recently after the CAG report that Raja was asked to go but still not without brazen attempts on the part of congress to undermine and trivialize the mind boggling findings and indictments by this constitutionals body. Despite more then a month a month-long logjam by the opposition in the Parliament, why is the government stubbornly refusing a Joint Parliamentary Committee(JPC) probe?Is it not because the JPC, unlike the Parliamentary public accounts committee(PAC) would be empowered to summon ministers and look into political dimensions of the the scam, whereas the Congress seeks to reduces the huge loss due to the scam to a debate over "accounting" alone? One must forget that this is the same government that mooted Food Security Bill and did not table any money with the passing of Right to Education Act giving excuses of fiscal deficit or lack of finances.But the amount (1,76,379 crores- 3% of our GDP) that we are talking about can fill both tasks and many other public beneficiary schemes easily. The P.M must tell the people- why did he turn a blind eye and allow this massive loot of the public exchequer- that will, as we can see from the above sample of facts, affect the lives of millions of the country's poor- to continue
unabated?
the tune of Rs 1.76,379 crores.It was not auctioned but allocated on a 'first come first serve' basis at dirt cheap rates, and even this tampered with to 'fix' the match in favour of certain companies. Of the 122 licences issued in 2008,85 were found to fall short of the eligibility conditions prescribed conditions prescribed by the ministry itself. Further some of the companies which bagged the spectrum allotment for a mere Rs 1651 crore, didnot have any prior experience in the business of mobile phones and then within a matter of six months sold off shares to foreign companies at the prevailing market rate making at the least 700%return on their on their invest. From the very beginning itself in 2007-2008, the 2-G spectrum allotment process was so outright corrupt that the CV the IT department started prima facia investigation amidst huge public and political outcry. Strangely, the Mr. Clean P.M paid no heed and allowed A.Raja to continue with his ways. it is only when things came to a head recently after the CAG report that Raja was asked to go but still not without brazen attempts on the part of congress to undermine and trivialize the mind boggling findings and indictments by this constitutionals body. Despite more then a month a month-long logjam by the opposition in the Parliament, why is the government stubbornly refusing a Joint Parliamentary Committee(JPC) probe?Is it not because the JPC, unlike the Parliamentary public accounts committee(PAC) would be empowered to summon ministers and look into political dimensions of the the scam, whereas the Congress seeks to reduces the huge loss due to the scam to a debate over "accounting" alone? One must forget that this is the same government that mooted Food Security Bill and did not table any money with the passing of Right to Education Act giving excuses of fiscal deficit or lack of finances.But the amount (1,76,379 crores- 3% of our GDP) that we are talking about can fill both tasks and many other public beneficiary schemes easily. The P.M must tell the people- why did he turn a blind eye and allow this massive loot of the public exchequer- that will, as we can see from the above sample of facts, affect the lives of millions of the country's poor- to continue
unabated?
CRONY CAPITALISM:-
Corruption in the telecom sector has come hand in hand with privatisation of this sector. More than a decade ago, Congress Minister Sukhram was at the centre of a telecom scam that accompanied the centre of a telecom . And now, the size and scope have grown with more rapid privitisation of this sector.In the wake of scam revelations, neoliberals commentators have and probity while defending the "clean PM' (or, in the case of CWG,'cleab Shiela Dixit') as opposed to corrupt individual leaders like Kalmadi OR Chavan and allies like DMK. There is also very little focus on the main actors in the corruptions drama- the CEOs and corporations
themselves-choosing instead to focus on individual politicians. And there is a careful 'see no evil' policy regarding the neo-liberal economy itself. A close observation, however, reveals that cronyism is inbuilt into liberalization,which was ushered in by Manmohan Singh himself in the early 1990s. How? In the first place, liberalization dictates that scarce national and natural resources- land, water, minerals, magnetic air waves etc.- as well as public sectors assets are to be privatized and handed over in a platter to corporate to exploit for their own profit. here, the myth is that the anonymous and fair forces pf the 'market' will somehow ensure that the most suitable company gets the resources. But such fair competition is a myth-in reality, competing corporates jostle with each other in the arena of bribes and cronyism(closeness to a particular minister, for e.g) that decides which corporate gets which resource. No wonder the era of liberalization has time and again seen bigger and bigger loot of such resources.
themselves-choosing instead to focus on individual politicians. And there is a careful 'see no evil' policy regarding the neo-liberal economy itself. A close observation, however, reveals that cronyism is inbuilt into liberalization,which was ushered in by Manmohan Singh himself in the early 1990s. How? In the first place, liberalization dictates that scarce national and natural resources- land, water, minerals, magnetic air waves etc.- as well as public sectors assets are to be privatized and handed over in a platter to corporate to exploit for their own profit. here, the myth is that the anonymous and fair forces pf the 'market' will somehow ensure that the most suitable company gets the resources. But such fair competition is a myth-in reality, competing corporates jostle with each other in the arena of bribes and cronyism(closeness to a particular minister, for e.g) that decides which corporate gets which resource. No wonder the era of liberalization has time and again seen bigger and bigger loot of such resources.
Sunny Kumar, Research scholar, Dept. Of history, DU
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