Many Business Standard articles in the past few weeks including T N Ninan’s “Seize the moment” (December 18), Sanjaya Baru’s “Corruption and development” (December 20) and “A long last week” (December 27), and the editorial “Now walk the talk” (December 21) have emphasised the need for strong action against corruption.
Two steps may be useful in this regard. One, fast-track corruption cases against politicians and bureaucrats. Two, confiscate the property of the corrupt.
Even if these two steps are implemented without delay (possibly through ordinances), their effect will be weak until the (deliberately?) dysfunctional judicial system is set right by: (a) speeding up judicial appointments resulting in zero vacancies; (b) introducing modern managerial practices including a user-friendly IT system on a common IT platform covering all Indian courts, which still run in the 1947-style; and (c) raising the judiciary’s funding.
Those who do not want India to continue to function like a banana republic must fight the quiet, behind-the-scenes collusion that is preventing these obvious essentials.
Suggestions like “ending discretionary powers of officials and ministers”, “transparency in public procurements and contracts” and “introducing more open procedures for exploitation of natural resources” are excellent. But these are only processes, and not steps — for them to be effective, the prerequisites outlined above would be needed.
Alok Sarkar, Kolkata