"The knowledge about corrupt IAS officers is spontaneously known to their superiors and Ministers" and that "the real problem is that it is difficult to take disciplinary action against a corrupt IAS officer."

Pricewater- House Coopers, a reputable consultancy firm of global standing recently reported that nearly 40 per cent of multinational companies operating in India have had to pay bribes to get things done. The firm reportedly talked to over 5,400 companies across the world and found out that percentage of companies who had to pay bribes in China was 21, while the figure in Mexico and Turkey, both emerging economies like India, was 28.

So, technically speaking, corruption in India is worse than in Turkey, Mexico and China. That is not a very flattering picture. The Chandigarh-based The Tribune noted late in April that the Punjab government has submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court a list of 25 I.A.S. and 10 I.P.S. officers against whom criminal, vigilance and departmental cases are pending. The paper said that "despite inquiries being ordered into charges against them, the officers have been given plum postings". Furthermore, said the paper, "given the systemic shield the IAS officers have raised for themselves, protection of one another's interests within the fraternity and their clout with the political leadership, they quite often manage to escape punitive action". This is nothing new.

In his book The Changing Face of Bureaucracy, Sanjoy Bagchi, himself a retired IAS officer has noted that "the knowledge about corrupt IAS officers is spontaneously known to their superiors and Ministers" and that "the real problem is that it is difficult to take disciplinary action against a corrupt IAS officer". According to him, "next to politicisation, the rising level of corruption is the biggest threat to (The Indian Administrative) Service." Besides, as The Tribune rightly noted, "being well-versed with the functioning of the complicated official machinery and cumbersome rules and regulations, they (the IAS officers) know the escape routes all too well". It is not just the IAS officers who are under suspicion. The Police, too, seem to be doing no better. In September 2007, the Mayavati Government in Uttar Pradesh sacked an unbelievable 6,500 policemen recruited in the State between 2004 and 2006 reportedly because they had been employed on the basis of "forged" documents. A substantial number of the sacked policemen, incidentally, belonged to the districts of Etawah, Mainpuri and Kanauj, the stronghold of the earlier Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav which is self-revealing.

What is worse, following the first sacking, the services of another 3,964 freshly drafted constables were terminated. In all, the Mayavati Government laid off 10,468 cops who had not even completed two years of service. Also suspended were six IPS offices, including one of D.I.G rank. What does that say of our administrators? And to whom can a citizen turned to? Respect for Parliament has been taking a nose-dive in recent months. Respect for State Legislatures is hardly noticeable. In the previous Uttar Pradesh Legislature, there were as many as 175 members with impressive crime records in their history sheets who helped in bringing down or supporting governments, according to their convenience. Money mattered. Is it any wonder, then, that the third and final phase of Karnataka Assembly elections saw 36 candidates with criminal records? Coming to power is apparently an easy way to gain riches.

One former Chief Minister of Punjab reportedly has assets worth Rs 4,326 crores. There is no explanation how this amount was earned. But these days nothing seems impossible. Indeed, over the next decade, if a report by the Economic Intelligence Unit on behalf of Barclays Wealth is to be believed, the number of dollar millionaires in India will touch 4,11,000. In other words, in the next ten years India will have four lakh millionaires. One suspects this is partly because corruption is winked at, and the chaltha hai attitude has become commonplace even at the topmost levels of government.

There is the classic instance of the T.R. Baalu Affair in Parliament. Baalu is a DMK leader and Union Shipping Minister. He reportedly lobbyed with his own government for some favours to be done to his sons' firms. The Prime Minister defended the conduct of his office as did the Petroleum Minister, Murli Deora. An infuriated media has demanded that the UPA government "should have enough spine to show Shri Baalu the door, that regional parties should recognise that coalition governments have a "collective responsibility and accountability" etc. So many words.

The UPA government just looked the other way. Then an even worse thing got reported in the press. Health Minister Ambumani Ramdoss had been engaged in a bitter turf war over the control of the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), presided over by its Director, Dr P. Venugopal. To get Dr Venugopal out, Shri Ramdoss got the Law Ministry to enact a law capping the superannuation age for the Director at 65 year. The idea was to get rid of the Director whose 5-year contract was to come to an end on July 2, 2008. The plan Ramdoss hatched was to get rid of the Director in July last year when the latter turned 65. The entire plan was not only vicious, but stupid.

The world wouldn't have collapsed if the Director served his full term till July 2008, but Ramdoss was vengeful. The matter went to the Supreme Court which upheld the Director's right to serve his full term. That was egg on the face of Ramdoss whose sacking was demanded by an angry media. What it all showed was that the UPA government is unprincipled. Values are getting to be smirched. There is no sense of shame. The fall in values is even spreading to the field of Sports. Nothing is more sickening than the employment of semi-naked cheergirls to draw attention to matches organised by the Indian Premier League (IPL).

What on earth a don Bradman, a C.K.Nayudu or a Vijay Merchant would say to the rampant degeneration of cricket, is anybody's guess. Cricket is no more a game. It is Big Business. Players are "bought" and the price is in crores of rupees. And if the players fail to perform according to the standards set up by the purchaser, someone like Mallya raises Cain, not realising that in the very last innings Bradman played, he was out for a duck. That is cricket. But we live in society that is rapidly going down the drain by the day. Ask Justice Hegde of the Bangalore-based Lokayukta what he thinks of spreading corruption. Some one must make it plain that enough is enough. The IPL must be sternly called to order. We don't need semi-nude teenagers to applaud a well-played game, played, may it be stressed for the sake of the game and not for the sake of money.

Courtesy: www.organiser.org, June 8, 2008