Unite against corruption

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
Corruption is a complicated issue which has serious social, economic and political ramifications. Corruption not only hinders the growth of our democratic institutions but it affects the economic development of nations as well. The foundation of democratic institutions is affected by corruption as this distorts the electoral processes which causes problems for implementation of the rule of law. Corruption is also responsible for creating bureaucratic quagmires whose only reason for existing is the soliciting of bribes. The economic growth is hampered due to corruption because the process of foreign direct investment decreases. Corruption is one of the burning issues and has become a matter of serious discussion across the globe. This issue  has become a matter of debate not only in the mainstream media but from the last several years corruption has become an important issue of discussion on the  social media as well. More than 1000 face-book pages and groups have been created only to discuss corruption related issues worldwide.
According to studies carried by various chapters of Transparency International, it has been found that developing and poor nations are more affected by corruption as the economic growth of these nations has been very slow. According to another  study 25 % of GDP is lost due to corruption in African nations alone. This does not mean that corruption is only limited to poor and developing nations , in-fact corruption is very much prevalent in developed nations like US , Canada, Germany , France etc as well.
Corruption in Jammu & Kashmir
In a survey conducted by Transparency International India chapter in 2008 ,J&K sate was ranked one of the most corrupt states in India. Conflict and political instability in Jammu & Kashmir  is considered to be one of the important reasons for increased graph of corruption as there is very less accountability for the funds provided by central Government. The funds provided by New Delhi under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) and Relief and Rehabilitation (RR) were misappropriated by the Government officials in J&K. Even after the enactment of Right to Information Act (RTI) , public authorities especially those who have been direct beneficiaries of  these funds in the name of peace and security have been  reluctant to make its voluntary  disclosure vis a vis  its utilization .According to  the recent report of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) around  7300  crore rupees (seven thousand three hundred crores)  have been released in favor of J&K Government from 1990 onwards  under the Security Related Expenditure(SRE). This expenditure includes financial assistance to local police plus  relief and rehabilitation of people especially the Kashmiri Pandit migrants. The report reveals that Rs 4735.51 crores  have been reimbursed to Jammu & Kashmir Police  under SRE (P) and Rs 2472.45 under Relief and Rehabilitation – SRE (R&R) till March  2015. The Security Related Expenditure (SRE) which is a special budgetary provision of Government of India was introduced after the outbreak of armed insurgency in Jammu & Kashmir in 1990. The aim of this funding was to help J&K state to  fight  insurgency and  maintenance of  law and order. During last financial year alone an amount of  Rs 287.94 crore was released under SRE (P) to J&K Police and Rs 160 crore under SRE (R&R) towards Kashmiri pandit migrants under Relief and Rehabilitation. The taxpayers across India including people of  Jammu & Kashmir have been kept in total dark, as they hardly have any information as to how these funds were utilized ?  People don’t know who are the actual beneficiaries of this huge amount of money. The Governor of J&K N N Vohra also took this matter seriously when state was put under Governors rule in January 2015  , but except few Deputy Commissioners (Ramban , Poonch and Doda) , the utilization of these funds has not been made public till date.
Weak  Institutions
In Jammu & Kashmir we have several institutions fighting mis-governance and corruption. We have State Accountability Commission (SAC) , State Vigilance Commission (SVC) and State Information Commission (SIC) operational in our state from the last several years. After remaining suspended for many years , the State Accountability Commission (SAC) was made operational by the present Government led by Mufti Mohammad Syed. Former Chief Justice of J&K High Court Justice B A Khan was appointed its Chairman and Justice J P Singh and Justice B A Kirmani were appointed SAC members. These are the eminent people from judiciary with clear track-record. The Chairman and members of SAC are unable to do justice as there are several flaws in the State Accountability Commission Act. The previous Government kept bureaucracy out of SAC ambit which need to be covered under this act. In addition to it the investigating agency of SAC headed by a DIG is still not operational and that is the reason one of the members of SAC Justice B A Kirmani publicly called SAC a “toothless donkey “. The State Information Commission (SIC) was also made redundant by previous Government when the 2010 RTI Rules were repealed. The present RTI Rules have snatched the autonomy of SIC. Within just six  years nine Secretaries of SIC have been transferred and one of the Commissioners of SIC who retired in October is yet to be replaced.  Government needs to restore the  genuine autonomy of these institutions without any further delay.
Conclusion
Tackling  corruption is a matter of concern for all us. The sincere people in Government and other institutions of probity and transparency  can’t do it alone unless society as whole comes in support of them. We have given social acceptability to corruption.  We discuss about corruption and also speak against it but we also give bribe and this is a fact. To root out this evil  from society, we need to make a comprehensive code of conduct for politicians, legislatures, bureaucrats, and such code should be strictly enforced. The corruption cases pending before Vigilance Organization should be taken up on fast track basis. The pending prosecution sanctions should be given without any favoritism. Special anti corruption courts should be set-up at district level to take up such issues for speedy trial. Law and order machinery should be allowed to work without political interference. Community and religious leaders should also come forward to fight against corruption. Let us all unite against this evil and make our state corruption free in the coming years.

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