Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s speech at the international conference on “Evolving Common Strategies to Combat Corruption and Crime” organised by CBI on its Golden Jubilee function, in a way, reflects his Government’s reaction to intense deliberations at the level of civil society and the media in the country on scams and corruption relate incidents. One feels that he is not happy with the targeted criticism of senior functionaries of the Government for acts of omission and commission, emphasising that policy making is a very complex exercise and the administration has to go through a number of crucial turns before a final decision is taken. He pleads that an error of judgement made in the process of policy planning and execution should not be equated with a criminal act. A given action has to be evaluated in the context of a situation that is not guaranteed to be static and would change the course from a futuristic perspective. He has cautioned that the Right to Information cannot be made applicable in the case of sensitive organizations like Central Bureau of Investigation because information that is of critical nature for the interests of the state should not be dragged to the public domain.
Prime Minister’s observations cannot be generalised because opinions can differ. But his speech reflects his deep preoccupation with the media going a mile further in feeding the public with commentaries that are more critical and less suggestive. We do think that along with criticism of Government policies, the corrective mechanism should also be the concern of civil society. There is also weight in the argument that achievements of the Government should also find place when the executive is brought under scanner. Governments have achievements no doubt but the people are used to doing some balancing act. The speech is thought provoking. At least the PM has made it clear that CBI is part of the Government and is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that there is no interference in investigation of alleged irregularities. It does not necessarily mean that the CBI is carrying the agenda of the Government. The speech is of much relevant content and the CBI and all other agencies involved in administration need to sit down and discuss the speech point by point in its entirety.
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