Of scams and CAG report : Riders on corruption
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 23, 2012 -
Team Ana and the demand for a strong Lokpal, Commonwealth Games scam, the 2G spectrum scam and now 'Coalgate' and corruption may just become the demon which may derail the Congress's bid for a third consecutive stint at Delhi along with its allies in the next Parliamentary election slated for 2014.
The interesting point is what steps the oldest political party will take up to exorcise this demon.
What sets apart the latest uproar from the earlier ones is the manner in which Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has been pitchforked into the centre of the accusations which are flying thick and fast.
Surely the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General is not something which can be taken lightly. Involving a sum of Rs 1.86 lakh crore, the allegations centre around the allocation of coal blocks to private operators between 2005 and 2009, during which period the Prime Minister held the Coal portfolio.
Not unexpectedly, the Congress seems set to dismiss the report of the CAG as bizarre and is reportedly preparing to argue that the report should first be examined by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.
Debates are what keeps a democracy functioning and proceedings of Parliament interesting, but the matter of bigger import is the question of whether India is ready to tackle corruption which has been institutionalised to an extent that is frightening.
Apart from the question of whether the country is ready to tackle the menace of corruption or not, another interesting point is whether the uproar caused by a report of the CAG in Parliament would have a cascading effect on States like Manipur or not.
By any standard the CAG report is a mirror on the 'murky' financial dealings of a Government.
Just how seriously Manipur takes the reports of the CAG can be gauged by the consistent failure to respond to the reports prepared by the State CAG.
Or maybe Manipur presents a case of how a people have become inured to the menace that a culture like corruption spawns. The contradiction runs deep.
While everyone has an opinion on the adverse impact of corruption, it has remained more in the realm of lip service rather than attempting to get anything concrete done at the grass root level.
Addressing corruption always seem to come with a rider.
The charges and counter charges of fund misappropriation in the run up to the Panchayat election, scheduled to be held on September 13, is an apt example of how everyone tries to maximise profit in the name of 'corruption'.
That this has seeped to the grass root level should be clear to all.
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