In a debate-cum-discussion session on the 'Agenda for Corruption Free Development' organised by Transparency International India (TII) at the Constitution Club here last evening, saw representatives from the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Communist- Party-of-India (CPI) presenting their respective stances on how to tackle corruption and weed it out from the nation.
Speaking at the interactive session, Congress' Mohammad Salman Soz spelt out how the grand old party plans to combat this menace.
He began by saying that the discourse of this elections is to find simple answers for complex problems. Corruption rightly fitting as one such problem as it was taxing on those people who live below the margins of the society. He narrated the fact that corruption is so deep rooted and multifaceted that its presence is not just in India but its impact is felt around the world.
Giving an example, Soz pointed out the fact that in United States for example how billions of dollars were spent by president Barrack Obama during his election campaign in 2012, but there was transparency in public domain about the expenses made which must be replicated in India as well and hence we need to push for that. The Congress representative lamented the fact that India is sadly attuned to high level of corruption, which is truly a debilitating form of corruption that affects the common man.
Soz said that on a daily basis we all face different kinds of corruption which creates a sense in the society that corruption is inevitable. Therefore to drive this thing out from the society becomes a challenge and that the odds were stacked against us in the society.
Without pointing fingers at any party, Soz was categorical of the fact that there was existence of black money in this present election too that some parties, were using it for their campaigning and propaganda. In order to contain he called for a reforming of the judiciary and bringing more accountability into the system.
He listed three things that his party will focus on, if UPA-III comes to power at the centre.
Firstly, he pointed out that there could be no amount of short-cuts and that can cut down on corruption and there were several gaps in the legislative framework. At the same time he remarked that the grievance redressal system needs to be strengthened. Secondly, using of technology to give more teeth to the delivery system in safeguarding people from being harassed from getting their dues. In this regard, he criticised the opposition for running a negative campaign on Aadhar and remarked that they were only doing a great disservice to stop the benefits from reaching out to the people. He batted for Aadhar as he said that it is an enabler in arresting leakages. Thirdly, he sought the need for better system for courts and good prosecutors who can bring more accountability into the system.
CPI's Anil Rajimwale described in his words that corruption was a tricky and a difficult question for a country like India. Hence, he asked all the progressive people to come together and help mitigate such issues. Rajimwale was plain enough to say that there was no readymade solutions to cut down on corruption and merely enacting legislations will not solve issues such as corruption.
The CPI representative rooted for people to be promoted at the centre of policy making without which he said it would be difficult to arrest this deep rooted malaise of corruption. Rajimwale attacked the domination of corporate culture and the corporatisation of the economy doesn't were encouraging unscrupulous acts like corruption. Therefore, he called for legal measures to be taken to halt such issues. He called encouraging non-corporate sectors of the economy. At the same time he agreed with the Congress representative to use more technology in order to fight corruption.
Rajimwale though appreciated the media for their work but asked them to take up more on common masses issues which are affecting them. He complained about the fact that common people do not find their imageries in print or electronic media.
Raghav Chadha of the AAP, said that India was at crossroads, and that his party's aim was to bring true Swaraj and self rule which his party stands for. He said AAP stands for devolution of power and giving the decision making to the people. He rued about the fact that in all these years since independence political parties were only ruling instead with a heart of serving the nation. Chadha called for eliminating three things out from the society namely, Corruption, Communalism and Crony capitalism. He said that there was a need for systematic changes in our democratic system and institutions.
Chadha called for parties having internal Lokpal into its system and he strongly backed CIC's decision to bring political parties under the ambit of Right to Information Act(RTI).
The AAP leader was angry about the fact that 50percent of our GDP consists of black money. He was disturbed about the fact that even after countless number of task forces created to bring back black money stashed abroad and blamed it on sheer lack of political will to take it head on in curbing such things.
At the end what came out of the discussion-cum-debate that the nation's outlays may have increased but the delivery system remains appalling. Also that there is no strategy to bring crores of black money which remains stashed abroad in foreign accounts remains a concern which requires urgent attention.
