BY BOSCO CELESTINE
With allegations of Corruption flying thick and fast, the year 2010 has been a bad one for India. This malaise, it appears, has Spread like cancer in the four pillars of democracy- the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Press.
HDFC Chairman, Deepak Parekh has put the state of the Nation in correct perspective “Everything that was going so well a few months ago” seems to have “suddenly snapped and taken a downturn”.
In an interview to NDTV, he says “We had really taken off and we were darling of the world, of the MNCs , everyone wanted to invest in India and suddenly there is a snap”.
Avoiding open attack on the controversial Radia tapes, he says “the big boys in the government are pulling in different directions and not working as a team”. “They are following their own agenda, own departmental agenda, not looking at broader picture.” He has urged the Prime Minister to get that organized.
“Mail Today’ Carries a story quoting Karnataka Lok Ayukta N Santosh Hegde saying that it is not just politicians, but some top-notch politicians as well who are facing charges of corruption. Which has become all pervasive.
Speaking at an event organised by the Bangalore Reporters Guild, Hegde said the Politician-journalist-lobby nexus” as indicated by the Nira Radia tapes was not an isolated case. There are allegations journalists in Karnataka as well.
Hegde claimed there were complaints before the Lok Ayukta from various people against 20 top journalists for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. But he refused to divulge names.
But if this is the case in Karnataka, It is not difficult to imagine the deep-rooted corruption among journalists in the National Capital.
What has been revealed in the Radia tapes, it is widely believed that it is only the tip of the ice-berg. What is emerging is horror stories of Corporate houses have successfully manipulated the Electronic Channels and the Print Media.
Outlook Magazine which broke the story, said strong-arm lobbying techniques were also used or considered the possibility of black-listing the national news agency.
In totality, the Media has surrendered to the Corporate Houses. Lets now talk about Legislature. Bundles of high denominations of currency notes carried in suit cases into the Lok Sabha in what is popularly known as Cash for votes during the Indo-Us Nuclear debate, then there is Cash for questions for which some Members of Parliament were suspended and then the famous Coffin Scandal during the Kargil War. There is also ‘something rotten’ among the judiciary. This was the charge that Supreme Court levelled against the Allahabad High Court. This only highlights state of affairs in the High Court. This problem is not confined to Allahabad High Court alone. This applies to the judiciary as a whole. Supermen Court needs to act Fast to check the menace of growing corruption in the judiciary.
According to ‘Mail Today’ the process of impeachment of judges through the two houses of parliament is extremely long and cumbersome as has been in the case of Justice Soumita Sen of Calcutta High Court who was found guilty of misappropriation of funds. Let alone punishing judges, there is no effective method for even registering complaints against them.
So, when Justice Hegde says that corruption has become all pervasive, he is right after all.