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Corruption is tantamount to subversion || By Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo || LIVE IMAGE |
It is after a long
time since the former Governor of the erstwhile state of J&K, Satyapal
Malik raised issues of corruption in the state that the new incumbent, Lt.
Governor Manoj Sinha made his options clear on the subject on the very first
day of his joining. In fact, his statement followed the statement of BVR Subramaniam, the Chief Secretary of the Union Territory of the J&K who
spoke at length on this issue last week. His ideas were duly covered by the
media and as such the general public was seemingly happy on their bold
assertions.
As was expected, the
Valley centric political parties got irked and all of them issued their
statements opposed to the views of the LG and the Chief Secretary. However,
they suggested the ideas of investigations into the alleged involvement of
politicians in the scams and corruption in the UT. There has been a great
demand from the public since 5 August 2019 for exposing the political leaders
involved in corrupt practices for the last seven decades in the UT and also
take them to justice as soon as possible.
J&K Chief
Secretary, BVR Subramanyam without mincing words said, “Frauds in J&K
were at unbelievable levels. Fraud in Job, fraud in projects and frauds
everywhere. The whole J&K was a big ponzi scheme. Things were designed for
corruption. Mis-governance and corruption were for so long that the system has
collapsed from inside. J&K was a broken state. There was no system in place
due to years of mis-governance, corruption and unbelievable levels of fraud
committed by leaders of mainstream political parties and separatist
organisations. The former J&K Bank Chairman and MD was the scamster number
1. Twenty to thirty families milked the J&K Bank, the premier financial
institution of the state. It’s a terrible situation in J&K. Fraud in land
acquisition, Kashmiri doctors working in the Middle East were drawing regular
salaries in J&K for nothing, unfortunately with the approval of the
government”.
The statements by both
the LG and CS on corruption have the potential to lift the morale of the people
with honest intent and conduct in the administration. There can be no
alternative to the public welfare in politics and it is considered as the
ultimate politics in public life.
Jammu & Kashmir
has assumed a top position among all states and UTs of the country in the
dubious field of corruption and internal financial & political subversion
connected with non-transperency and non-accountability. To add salt to the
injury, corruption is institutionalized here in the form of ‘genuine tradition’
of the system nourished by politicians and bureaucrats for a long time.
Seventy years after
Independence, despite making an expenditure of hundreds of thousands of crores
by the successive governments, the state is heavily dependent upon the centre
in almost all fields of economic activity. Those among the political dynasties
in both Jammu and Kashmir regions have amassed wealth and assets completely
disproportionate to their income, capacity and worth. Even the departments
created to check corruption were allowed to become the hub of corruption
themselves.
Transfer and postings
of emploees from one place to another in various departments of the UT has
assumed the status of an “industry” for the politicians and people
working in the ministries. There is a huge notion among the general public that
the government job is a sanction to do corruption at will in lieu of the work
done in the office. Revenue, works departments, excise and sales tax, forest,
municipal bodies etc. are considered as the hub of corruption. Even Judiciary
doesn’t lag behind in this competitive oldest profession of corruption. The
court attendants and other assistant staff take bribe right in the court room
when the honorable judges are present on the dias. The police department is
also in this field considered as an active and bold player playing the
“game” well to the satisfaction of those who are party to the booty.
Though the general
public has felt enthused due to the statements of the LG and the Chief
Secretary in this regard and these assertions have raised their hope yet they
have a very little expectation consequent upon their past experiences. This
author has a very typical experience of the state administrative set up in this
regard. A full fledged complaint regarding huge corruption in a department of
the erstwhile state was brought to the notice of one of the Advisers of the
state (who was later reinstated as Advisor in the UT again) alongwith proof and
evidences, and the particular Advisor virtually sat on the issue for the last
one year for the reasons known to him. There is a strong notion that every
penny collected as a corrupt practice is being shared at the top.
Satyapal Malik, the
past governor, himself disclosed that the politicians of the valley had
invested heavily in national and international markets. He went to the extent
to pinpoint a few politicians and bureaucrats who were entrenched in huge
corrupt games alongwith their family members, relatives and intimate friends.
Common people in the UT have always felt cheated due to the corrupt practices
almost in all government departments of the UT. The JK Bank and the Works
departments are a classic example in this context.
Recruitments for the
government posts and in the state owned banks and institutions, now, are being
seen as the biggest test of time, system and the pronouncements made by the
highest functionaries of the UT. People eagerly await advertisements and the
processes to start so that results show the correctness of the intent and
reform the government is supposed to have initiated in this regard. There is a
dire need to create Citizen Charter in virtually every department of the UT so
that the exploitation of public is arrested.
Land grabbing of the
government holdings particularly in forest areas and land belonging to the
revenue department, encroachments of water bodies including rivers, nallahas,
ponds and lakes have been a common practice in J&K and it happened with the
connivance of the politicians and the government over the last seven decades.
Illegal mining in the catchment areas, particularly the river beds in whole of
Jammu and Kashmir happens during nights with the active support of the
authorities in both civil and police administrations.
The pronouncements of
the top two authorities in the government and the administration have caught
the imagination of the people. They are fully behind the government to cleanse
the system for good and for the benefit of the masses of the UT of Jammu and
Kashmir. Corruption is a deep rooted subversion of the order, constitutional
practices and the democratic setup and has potential to make the whole system
hollow. It is not only an anti-social practice but also an anti-national
conduct as well since it creates the probable ‘saleable commodities’ which can
sell even the national secrets to the enemies of the nation.
J&K has seen
agitations, bandhs and strikes on all issues excepting against the corruption
in the system probably because corruption worked as a prelude to subversion and
that expressed implicitly the intent behind the corrupt practices unleashed by
the top politicians and the bearuecrats of the UT. It is time to revamp not
only the work culture in the administration but also the system as a whole
since the intent stands pronounced from the top of the house from the horse’s
mouth.
By – Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo
(The author is a senior BJP & KP leader, Incharge: Deptt of Political Feedback, BJP-J&K and can be reached at: ashwanikc2012@gmail.com)
