An old article but still holds good to ponder!
It is a disgrace to a nation that has endured foreign aggression and now internal scams which have always looted the coffers. Till 1947 we could blame the conniving British, Portuguese and Dutch. But now 72 years after Independence we have only our own politicians to blame. The scams run into multi million dollars enough to hold the GDP of the nation and other smaller economies. Politicians of all hues are looting and should be tried for economic treason. They seem to function like the enemy of the state and nation at large.
But who cares if the national treasury is burning?
Definitely not the political class who has made a mockery of the entire public trust reposed one general election after another. The Emergency in 1975, the Rs. 64 crore Bofors scandal (1987-96), JMM bribery case (1993), Fodder scam (1996), Arms bribery scandal (2001), vote of no-confidence BJP (2008) are just a few that were actually pursued. The latest scandals of telecom, Irrigation, Coalgate and stock market scam have been buried. Shock and surprise is now passé when the media reports such scams. People now feel the scams are as good as daylight robberies, rape cases and murders that keep happening daily. The coalition government is largely responsible for these scams and scandals that are keeping FDI away from the country.
Consider the amount of money involved in the new generation of scams in India
The hawala scam to the tune of $18 million bribery scandal, which came in the open in 1996, involved payments allegedly received by country’s leading politicians through hawala brokers. From the list of those accused also included Lal Krishna Advani who was then the Leader of Opposition.
Thus, for the first time in Indian politics, it gave a feeling of open loot all around the public, involving all the major political players being accused of having accepted bribes and also alleged connections about payments being channeled to Hizbul Mujahideen militants in Kashmir.
The tentacles of the fake stamp and stamp paper case had penetrated 12 states and was estimated at a whopping Rs. 20000 crore plus. The Telgi clearly had a lot of support from government departments that were responsible for the production and sale of high security stamps.
Satyam is the biggest fraud in the corporate history to the tune of Rs. 14000 crore. The company’s disgraced former chairman Ramalinga Raju kept everyone in the dark for a decade by fudging the books of accounts for several years and inflating revenues and profit figures of Satyam. Finally, the company was taken over by the Tech Mahindra, which has done wonderfully well to revive the brand Satyam.
The CAG is the auditor to the government and, in this watchdog role; it had uncovered various irregularities in the allotment of 2G telecom licenses. The loss to the exchequer was put at Rs. 1.76 lakh crore (US$32 billion).
Commonwealth Games is not just a scam but direct loot! It is estimated that out of Rs. 70000 crore spent on the Games, only half was spent on Indian sportspersons.
Most of us are aware about the famous scam in IPL and embezzlement with respect to bidding for various franchises. The scandal already claimed the portfolios of two bigwigs like Shashi Tharoor and Lalit Modi.
It is clear that the corruption graph has zoomed northwards in the last decade. While the people are fined for breaking traffic signals and not paying Income tax, the political class is busy adding to their own kitty. The scams cut across all national and regional parties. The leaders are quiet and simply setting up enquiry commissions. The world at large is looking at India’s shame.
Corruption has made leaders insensitive to the people who work hard and pay their taxes. In the last few years the inflation rates have hit the roof, as most people are unable to meet their monthly expenses. While Brand India shines in some quarters the rest of the country remains in the dark. Citizens have no national pride anymore.
It would be fair enough to treat the scams as economic treason rather than cases of financial embezzlement. The political class is more like an enemy of the state and country. Should they not be booked? It is time for the younger generation to kick-start a revolution.
Is there a way to kick out the old and bring in the new with fervor and hope to move on? After all we have survived for more than 10, 000 years. And should be able to do so further if the new generation is willing to shoulder some responsibility towards public life.