Monday, April 20, 2015

End Corruption By Phone

Sri Arvind Kejriwal has launched Helpline to curb corruption in Delhi administration and in public life.My Views are as follows:-




Perhaps Mr. Kejriwal does not understand the meaning of corruption, dimension of corruption and various varieties of corruption. Or else he does not want to understand it and want simply to win the hearts of common men by announcing Helpline to report against those who ask for bribe, to carry out sting and to give bribe. He perhaps thinks that only giving some cash for getting ration card or for getting driving license or giving money for tax assessment is only coming under definition of corruption.



Kejriwal talked of Jan Lokpal for almost two years and got political power only by dint of two year long movement against corruption launched by Team Anna. He resigned from Government last time after 49 days of rule only because he could not pass the bill for Jan Lokpal as per his sweet will in want of simple majority in Delhi Assembly. He appointed party’s Lokpal to oversee his party affairs and to dispose off complains of common men or his part members. He used to say with pride that he had great respect for Lokpal and hence he at least appointed Lokpal within his party. He used to prove that that he did what he used to say.

But when the same Lokpal wrote a letter to Mr. Kejriwal pointing out various irregularities of his party committed during election campaign, Mr. Kejriwal could not tolerate it and did not hesitate in removing the Lokpal from his post without even giving him an opportunity to explain and defend him. Is this not a type of corruption? Even judiciary gives adequate opportunity to al accused to defend him. But Mr. Kejriwal did not think it wise to give Mr. Lokpal or any of his dissident members to express and defend them during National executive meeting. Is it not a type of corruption when one shows complete disrespect to existing rules and laws and even moral standards and well established practices?



In an office of  a public sector company , any officer is transferred arbitrarily as per whims and fancies of his bosses when the officer do not flatter his boss or do not act as perfect yes-man of boss. Is it not a type of corruption? Mr. Kejriwal also want everyone to follow him blindly or face removal from all posts.



Honest and intelligent officers often do not accept blindly the advices of his bosses and such officers have to face frequent transfers like Mr. Ashok Khemka. Not only this , there are many clever bosses who know the art of ridiculing rules in force and they strategically award  such honest officer with untimely promotion and post him at such a critical place that even promotion become a curse for him. An officer normally posted in east is transferred to far north east place in Mizoram or an officer normally posted in west is transferred to Eastern state like Jharkhand. On the contrary a true Yesman, even if an officer is inefficient and non performer, he is given cream posting where he can earn bribe and share with his boss honestly. Is it not a type of corruption? Even Arvind removed his founder members only because they did not suit him and because they suggested ways other than Mr. Kejriwal liked. Is it not corruption?



Officers who are number one flatterer of bosses are often given cream and comfort posting whereas officers who are not flatterer are transferred out to distant place. Officers who are perfect yesman are given out of turn promotion whereas officers who are not are always rejected in Interview. I am unable to understand how members of Interview panel assess the potential, capacity, quality, knowledge and efficiency of an officer undergoing promotional test in two-three minutes of interview whose working is already tested and attested for service tenure of years and decades. It is interview which is breeding ground for large scale corruption. How Will Mr. Kejriwal stop such corruption by Helpline number?



If an officer is flatterer, he is supported by more than adequate team of assistants whereas a non flatterer is not provided with adequate supporting staff or is forced to work with less- supporting , unqualified, unwilled , unskilled or sick assistants. Of course when supporting staff are able and capable, willed and skilled, the boss will achieve greater result than those bosses who are deprived of it. Will Kejriwal try to understand that such type of transfer powers vested in bosses is also type of corrupt practices?  I would like to say here that this dirty transfer culture rather promotes corruption and irrigates bribery and flattery only. How will helpline number help curbing such type of corruption?



Businessmen distribute gifts to officers in all offices where they are associated with their work profile. Public servants distribute costly gifts to their bosses on various functions. Officers, MLAs, MPs, VIP politicians and ministers are invited to inaugurate various projects and given red carpet welcome and sometimes offered costly gifts. All such gifting has an ulterior motive of disposal of their work with such VIPs in easy, comfortable, safe and cheaper expenses. Are they not coming under the domain of corruption from Arvind’s angle of consideration?



Cases pertaining to Tax evasion are disposed off by tax officials after taking gifts in several ways. Sometimes a builder sells his apartment /flat / house to kith and kin of tax officials at throw away price to oblige such officials. If a flat of market value of Rs. one crore is sold at Rs. ten lac to a tax officials or to an politician or to a minister in lieu of some work done for him , will it not be called as corruption and if yes, how by helpline such corruption can be curbed? Such type of corruption takes place after mutual understanding in a safe place.

A businessman who has to take loan of Rs. one crore for his business approaches a bank officer and bank find the business not even fit for Rs.50 lac. Bank officer, bank staff from various offices, valuers, advocate and Chartered Accountant or middleman who have good relation with bank head or branch head are offered costly gifts, are given dinner party in five star hotels, are invited in various function by loan seeker businessman to oblige the relevant officers in different ways and finally loan of Rs.one crore is sanctioned. For this purpose, all participants like loan processing officer, CA, Cost accountant, Valuers and legal officers prepare attractive supporting papers and loan proposal which was not fit for even Rs.50.00 lac is approved for Rs.one crore. None can find fault in papers and documents but in very short span of time such loan usually goes bad and cause loss to bank. How helpline will curb such losses and such pilferages?

Another way, a loan defaulter buys a bank officer and arrange for easy compromise for loan repayment even if he has capacity to repay entire loan. Loan defaulters arrange for write off of loan by setting bank officers where both enter into a foul game, arrange suitable papers and cause loss to government bank. Is it not a corrupt act? Crores of bank loans are waived off or sacrificed in the name of cleaning of balance sheet but it is lastly public money which is lost due to corrupt bank officials. How such corruption will be handled by Mr. Arvind?

Loans are not sanctioned or a license is not given to a  businessman or pollution clearance certificate is not given to an Industrialist without payment of bribe or you can say other way, such clearances are given to bribe giver and denied to those business men who do not agreed to bribe rate or such clearances or such licenses are unduly and unreasonably delayed .
Is it not a type of corruption?

How the helpline will help in curbing such corruption when giver of bribe either in cash or in kind voluntarily offer bribe to make his ill-motivated plan a success without facing any discomfort. Helpline will come in use only when there is difference of approach between that of bribe giver and bribe taker. If bribe taker ask for Rs.100 from a vehicle owner for violating simple traffic rule of bypassing red light, and rule breaker happily gives it , no problem will arise. Because if his vehicle is detained for hours , the vehicle owner may incur losses in thousands of rupees. IN most of the cases exchange of bribe takes place for hassle free work. And it is also true that bribe many times is given and offered with mutual acceptance.

Suppose a rail ticket checker in Rajdhani finds many passengers travelling without valid reservation and there are few vacant seats. In such cases passengers in general tries to get berth even if he has to offer some money to TTC. How will helpline decide which passenger has a valid right to get berth in preference to other passengers?

Suppose Aam Admi Party has to organize a rally at Juntar Mantar or at Ram Lila Ground where thousands of people will visit to hear Mr. Kejriwal. A grand Pandal is constructed, lighting arrangement is made and grand welcome arrangement is made for audience. Maker of such arrangement could have charged Rs. one crore from others but charged only Rs. one lac from organizers of AAP voluntarily. Will it not tantamount to corruption?

Politicians more often than not,  ask business man and rich persons of their area to arrange for various works related to political rally or family functions  and do not pay any amount for that or pay negligible amount and businessmen do not retaliate or show anger in fear of repercussion or as a token of love to the politician. Finally such business men are given many preferences and many unwarranted monetary help or many concessions in taxes or in allocation of land or in allotment of public space .Are such acts not covered under corruption.

AAP removed Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhusan and other only in their perception these leaders were not liked by other leaders of the party. Similarly in government offices, many employees are removed, punished or rejected in promotion or posted at critical place when they are not liked by bosses. Who will decide the reasonability and justifiability  of such arbitrary decisions.? If there is no yardstick for such whimsical actions, such action may lead to corruption and corruption only.

Mr. Kejriwal tells that all offices working under his government will allow mobile in their offices so that common men can carry out sting or record demand for bribe. But the same Kejriwal during National Executive meeting which took place a few days ago on the issue of removal Of Yadav and Prashant did not allow any volunteer or member of National executive to carry Mobile inside the meeting hall. Why did he not allow mobile there when he suggest common men to carry on mobile to any government office. Is Mr. Kejriwal afraid of sting against him? 

Normally many offices do not permit mobile due to disturbance mobile creates in valuable working and valuable talking. But Arvind want mobile for sting and for recording bribe talks. Perhaps he is the greatest fool in the world if he thinks that bribe givers and bribe takers decide their quantity of bribe in such an open and casual manner. Mr. Arvind may catch hold of some inexperienced bribe giver and bribe taker by the help of Helpline Number, but big fish will go uncaught by such ridiculous steps.

If we talk of bribe of large quantum where tens and hundreds of crores or rupees are given in form of bribe, helpline will prove to be totally helpless. Crores of rupees are sacrificed by bankers just by giving interest concession of one percent to High Net worth corporate loan takers. If a bank sanctions a loan of Rs.500 crore at rate of interest lower by one percent  in comparison to normal rate, it causes more than Rs.5.00 crore to bank in a year. If such business man distributes gifts worth rupees one crore in a year to bank officials , there will not be any talk on mobile and Helpline number will prove futile.

Party tickets are given to those individuals who offer high value donations to the political party even if he or she does not belong to that area and even though he or she has not worked for the area for which he has been nominated party candidate for fighting election. Sometimes friends and relatives of top leaders are given ticket and told that they are good performers even though there are many better hard workers who have worked in the area for years and decades. Do such acts not qualify for corruption?

In brief I can say Helpline launched by Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi will touch hardly the tip of the iceberg representing the mountain of corruption rampant in the entire system. Mr. Kejriwal has to do a lot of exercise and deep rooted study to strike at the root of corruption.

If we look at the admission of a baby in school, it will prove that seeds of corruption are sown in the very childhood. Schools and colleges teach corruption in disguise. Marks are sold by examiners, questions are leaked at price, and failed students are passed with highest scores and so on. In recruitment, there is role of bribe and VIP. Study is less important than power of source of a VIP in any work to be done, it may be promotion to higher classes or admission in any good school. Children of VIP are admitted in any school and college even if the child do not qualify the set norms. How such corrupt practices will be stopped?

 There are many cases, you may say majority of cases, where job seekers who do not have any source, any God father are rejected. This happens in police department, in banks, in private companies, in government banks and so on. On the contrary hundreds of teachers and police personnel are recruited on the basis of recommendations of VIPs.

Arvind is perhaps concentrating only on Ration card or driving license to win the hearts of common men. He wants to use helpline number as a means to create false propaganda in favour of AAP and to divert the minds common men and that of his opponents from  inner party quarrels. He should not underestimate common men. AAP got 67 seats not because they worked a lot for common men but because they generated huge  expectation in the minds of voters that they will deliver what they promised.

Mr. Arvind says that if a traffic police asks for bribe, driver should record it and carry out sting and report it to Kejriwal on helpline . Mr. Arvind should know it that now onwards police officer will not ask for bribe but detain tempo owner or any vehicle owner for hours and issue challan and  lodge a case against driver for violating traffic rules. As a consequence all such traffic violators will have to run from pillar to post for many days and waste time and huge money in settling the case from court of law or from police departments. In this way poor tempo drivers to whom Arvind wanted to help by Helpline will be put in greater trouble by the same police. How such corruption will be handled?

Ninety percent of goods sold by Delhi Business men and transported to other states are sold without invoice and without paying taxes for it. Transporters, business houses, manufacturers, government offices such Road Transport offices all work in nexus with each other. Has Arvind potential to curb such illegal sale of goods?

All fake and spurious goods, fake medicines ,fake auto parts, fake electric parts and all fake goods are manufactured in Delhi or in other states but marketed through Delhi Business mandis. Even water sold as mineral water is not pure as they are claimed to be sellers. How Mr. Arvind will stop such corruption?

In stock market, speculators and share brokers artificially inflate the price of any share and then sale their shares to book profit whereas retailers are cheated and forced to suffer huge loss. These speculators and market makers have more often than not, setting with insiders. They play with price of shares as per their sweet will and cause loss to retailers. How Mr. Arvind will stop such large scale corruption in share markets?

I am however happy that Mr. Arvind Kejriwal has taken an initiative to curb corruption and hope he will do more to complete his task of eliminating corruption from the country. He narrated hundreds of stories of scams pertaining to Congress Government when he was associated with India Against Corruption (IAC) but he appears to have forgot all those scams. He has to refresh his memory and do the best to punish who were involved in many scam which he unearthed and exposed a year ago or two years ago.

Teachers in schools and colleges are not teaching as they are supposed to , they are not taking adequate number of classes or they are not teaching properly and not using precious time in teaching properly. Teachers are not examining copies of students honestly and giving marks in whimsical and arbitrary manner. All students admitted in schools and colleges are declared pass with 90% and above marks by management of such fake and insincere schools and colleges to enhance the reputation of their schools and colleges so that they may extract higher and higher tuition fees from students seeking admission . In this way corrupt individuals cause much damage to education system in not only in Delhi but in entire country. How will such corrupt practices be handled by the government is a million dollar question?

Land, homes, flats, real estate properties and all commercial or residential properties worth Rs.one crore is officially sold at Rs.25.lac to Rs.50.00 lac and thus seller and buyers of property evade tax payment and cause loss to government exchequer. Not only this , such unhealthy practices in the office of all registry offices in the country absorb black money and promotes culture of earning black money . How will Arvind curb such corruption or he does not treat such acts as part of corruption?

Public servants working in various government offices, banks, insurance companies, public sector undertakings are not working for full time they are supposed to. They are not punctual . If they are punctual they are effective and active . If they are active , they have many valid excuses to delay and deny work of any common men. Unless intention is clear, no power on earth can stop corruption. Mr. Arvind Kejriwal may be awarded for best acting in politics , but may not get desired award from common men so far as eradication of corruption is concerned . Public utility services may not be extended comfortably to common men unless and until the culture inculcated in all walks of life is good and of high standard.

In hotels, restaurants, shops, trains and in many public places food items sold are of very much  inferior quality compared to price the seller charge from consumer . How such corruption will be dealt with by helpline. Packed food are sold at higher prices even though the contents are unhygienic and injurious to health. Medicines sold at higher prices b branding them with multinational companies, unwarranted pathological tests are prescribed by Doctors to earn commission, unwarranted operations are done by Doctors to earn money in illegal and unethical way and so on. How such acts will by curbed and erring persons will be booked to task?
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Also read following blogs on Corruption
 

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Re-Launches Anti-Corruption Helpline 1031-NDTV-05.03.2015 

 

New Delhi:  The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party marked the completion of its 50 days in power in Delhi by re-launching the anti-corruption helpline number - 1031. The service can be used by people to lodge complaints if they are harassed for bribes by government official.

The helpline is a revival of the service which the AAP government had launched during its earlier 49-day stint after the 2013 Assembly elections.

"Last time our party was in power for 49 days, we had launched this helpline. We are re-launching it today," Mr Kejriwal said while launching the helpline.

A dedicated helpline for reporting cases of corruption was one of the major promises made by AAP in its manifesto for the Assembly elections this year.

A group of volunteers has been trained to run the 24/7 helpline and attend the calls in English and Hindi. The executives will also direct the callers on how to conduct sting operations. All the calls will be divided into two categories - serious and non-serious.
"You can complain against bribe demands by a government official or can report corruption if you have recorded audio or video evidence against an officer. Within 48 hours, a member of the anti-corruption branch will contact you and collect your evidence for further investigation," explained a call handler on the 1031 helpline number to the Press Trust of India.

Any sting video or audio clip will be put through a forensic test during the investigation, which will be handled by the anti-corruption branch of Delhi government.

According to statistics released by AAP during its previous tenure, the helpline received over one lakh phone, most of which were against Delhi Police.

Government sources tell NDTV that with re-launch of 1031 the government will be able to cater to around 10,000 calls per day as opposed to the previous count of 1000 calls per day.

The state government has also decided to strengthen the Anti-Corruption Branch by increasing funds from Rs. 8 crore to Rs. 15 crore and inspector posts to 40.

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