[ATimes] A stinging exposure of India's corrupt

[M.G.G. Pillai]

Asia Times Online
23 December 2005

South Asia

A stinging exposure of India's corrupt
By Siddharth Srivastava

NEW DELHI - India ranks among the countries that are deemed the most
corrupt in the world. One unlikely agency that has been playing a
sterling role in exposing the stink of corruption is television.

There are a slew of 24-hour television channels in India, and as the
war for ratings and advertising revenue heats up, intrepid reporters
have been assigned "sting operations" to catch, on tape, important
people (read politicians, bureaucrats), accepting bribes.
Last week, 11 members of parliament (MPs) were recorded by a hidden
camera, allegedly accepting money in return for asking questions in
parliament.

Through questions asked at the highest representative body, MPs can
bring issues to the notice of concerned ministries. These are often
picked up by the media for comment. A pressure lobby for possible
policy changes is built. In exchange for money, MPs will also attempt
to further the cause - whatever it might be - of the people paying
the bribe.

The questions the MPs were requested to place in exchange for money
included the workings of five-star hospitals and their exorbitant fee
structures and matters related to tsunami relief.

The secret videotape (in what has been termed as the cash-for-query
scandal) was shot by website Cobrapost and TV news channel Aaj Tak
(owned by the India Today Group). In the videos, the MPs are seen
accepting wads of Rs500 (US$10) notes, some smiling very happily. The
MPs have since been suspended. A parliament panel that probed the
scandal has reportedly recommended sacking the accused.

Writing in Cobrapost, Aniruddha Bahal, who led the sting operation,
said: "If used rightly, tiny lens-bearing apertures can empower a
citizenry by exposing democracy's toxic acreage. Operation
Duryodhana, a Cobrapost-Aaj Tak investigation lasting nearly eight
months, succeeded in capturing the acts of 10 Lok Sabha [lower house]
and one Rajya Sabha [upper house] members as they accepted money from
representatives of a fictitious body called the North Indian Small
Manufacturers' Association (NISMA) for asking questions in the Indian
parliament. In all, more than 60 questions were submitted by 11 MPs,
of which 25 questions [at last count] were tabled in the parliament."

Not to be outdone, rival news channel Star News this week caught
seven MPs allegedly asking for bribes as a commission to approve
public projects. Each MP is allotted approximately $445,000 each year
to fund development projects in their constituencies.

As expected, the two recent revelations of MPs have created a furor.
"It is a matter of grave concern that at a time when the inquiry was
already going on against some MPs on allegations of having accepted
money for questions in the house, fresh allegations have come up
against other MPs,"' parliamentary speaker Somnath Chatterjee said.

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief, L K Advani, said the
allegations were "too serious to be glossed over. It is a matter of
concern for us because, while the whole country is debating probity
in public life, our own MPs have been charged with showing greed for
raising questions in parliament. The BJP, which had the maximum
number MPs exposed by Cobrapost-Aaj Taj, has initiated strict action."

Stung by some of their brethren being caught red-handed, some MPs
have spoken about action against the media. One prominent MP accused
the media of "trying to defame" the MPs and parliament. "If you make
the MPs a commercial commodity, it cannot be acceptable. The media is
trying to defame the MPs and parliament. The way they [media] intrude
MPs' residences and manipulate their statements [is] deplorable," he
said amid loud applause from members from all sides.

However, most have only harsh words for the caught MPs. Writing in
the Hindustan Times, editor Vir Sanghvi said: "The problem is that
Indian politics is now largely about money. It costs money to get
elected. It costs money to remain in office, to run schemes in your
constituencies and to maintain a staff. And because the electorate is
so unpredictable and because governments know that they can suddenly
collapse at any time, there is an irresistible urge for politicians
to make as much money as they can. And then, there's the naked greed
factor."

Although Indian television channels have been recording public
officials, police officers, petty bureaucrats (referred to as babus)
accepting cash and sex scandals involving small-time film stars
seeking sexual favors from wannabe starlets, secret sting operations
of this scale and magnitude were conducted only five years back.

At that time, news website Tehelka.com taped video footage of senior
politicians, bureaucrats and Indian Army officers apparently taking
money and services of prostitutes in exchange for pushing lucrative
defense deals. The sleazy smile of BJP president Bangaru Laxman
accepting a wad of notes has since become emblematic of the low
esteem in which politicians are held in India.

The Tehelka scam ultimately led to the resignation of former defense
minister George Fernandes and the banishment of Laxman from political
life.

Incidentally, Tehelka's expose was also led by Bahal, who worked for
the website at that time. Bahal has justified his actions by saying
that if a sting operation serves a public/social cause and
establishes a truth that otherwise remains untold, then it is justified.

Several institutions are engaged in an often losing battle against
corruption that exists in everyday life. The courts have done their
bit, though they are bogged down by inefficiencies linked to
understaffing and other systemic faults.

India recently enacted the Right to Information Act that gives legal
rights to people to seek information from the government, placing
India among the 55 countries that have such legislation.

Conscientious citizens such as Satyendra Dubey (he took on corruption
in the handling of government contracts for the construction of
national highways) and S Manjunath (he fought against the
adulteration of petrol) are heroes in the country as they stood up to
various mafias that ultimately killed them for taking an honest stand.

India ranks among the most corrupt nations in the world. Studies by
the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) and other indices
such as the Corruption Perceptions Index have consistently ranked
India as one of the worst as far as corrupt practices go.

In the latest TI report, India secured the lowly spot of number 88
(out of 159 countries surveyed) of the most corrupt places in the
world, along with unlikely companions such as Gabon, Mali, Moldova,
Tanzania and Iran.

Most agree that the role of television is limited. TV screens can
only expose and reveal, but cannot check. Systemic changes as well as
inculcating values and a high moral fiber, perhaps harking back to
the teachings of the forgotten Mahatma Gandhi, are needed.

Meanwhile, the show only goes on and nobody seems to mind. This week,
police officers in Meerut, an industrial city in the state of Uttar
Pradesh, were seen beating up couples, including girls, in an ugly
attempt at "moral policing". A female police officer was seen
repeatedly slapping girls who were accompanied by their boyfriends/
husbands at a popular park. The cops have since been suspended.

Journalists still have a lot of work to do.

Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.

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