Man invented concept of God to deal with uncertainties of life. Is Man Mohan Singh inventing uncertainties to deal with all kind of corrupt practices going on in his Government right below his nose.
Government bureaucracy moves at snails pace primarily to ensure that uncertainties do not hinder the decisions at the implementation stage. Even a naive would not buy the argument of Mr Singh that decisions are taken in the world of uncertainties implying that swidling of billions of dollors should not be viewed as corruption or whatever by media , parliament, CAG and public.
Government bureaucracy moves at snails pace primarily to ensure that uncertainties do not hinder the decisions at the implementation stage. Even a naive would not buy the argument of Mr Singh that decisions are taken in the world of uncertainties implying that swidling of billions of dollors should not be viewed as corruption or whatever by media , parliament, CAG and public.
The mandarins in south block ,peeved at all time low public opinion of functioining of government , has tried to their best to refurbish the image. However each attempt is generating more controversy and trust deficit.
Earlier whenever Prime Minister spoke, his sincererity was not doubted. His tenor has generally been mild in the past. But Dynasore of corruption unearthed by CAG and media coupled with opposition onslaught, SC's toughness and beliggerent parliament has rattled government so much so that usually mild Prime Minister has lost cool and started condemning one and all albeit in his characteristic mild way. Even today , after 8 years of rule , personal integrity of PM is not doubted. But this issue is no longer relevant. Right under his watch unhindered loot has taken place and corruption has assumed alarming proportions.
Prime Minister is guilty of turning blind eye to all the swindling taking place around him be it 2G spectrum scam , CWG, KG basin to name a few .
The defence put by government in all these cases so weak that one is compelled to think whether government managers and UPA are really serious about tackling corruption even now ? In second generation (2G) scam, Raja has bluntly defied PMO and weak PM could just give his dissent and thought his job was over . Before CAG report, his explanation that he did not deem it necessary to interfere in the policies and procedures that were followed is not convincing. The analogy that he drew to justify why spectrum had been deliberately under-priced — by drawing comparisons with subsidies on foodgrain, fertilisers and kerosene — did not go down very well with many.
The defence put by government in all these cases so weak that one is compelled to think whether government managers and UPA are really serious about tackling corruption even now ? In second generation (2G) scam, Raja has bluntly defied PMO and weak PM could just give his dissent and thought his job was over . Before CAG report, his explanation that he did not deem it necessary to interfere in the policies and procedures that were followed is not convincing. The analogy that he drew to justify why spectrum had been deliberately under-priced — by drawing comparisons with subsidies on foodgrain, fertilisers and kerosene — did not go down very well with many.
This kind of bureaucratic inefficiency or negligence is difficult to pardon, even if one is charitable about the many hours it took for the transcript of the press conference to enter the public domain.
One aspect, did, however, come through rather prominently. PM is clearly upset by the recent findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. This was evident from what he said- “We live in a world of uncertainty and ex-post, whether it is the CAG, whether it is a Parliamentary Committee then they analyse post-facto.They have a lot more facts that were not available to those who took the decision. I am not saying that it is not possible that some people may deliberately do wrong things, but in many cases it would turn out in that sort of a scenario it is very difficult to operate. So we must create in this country an environment in which governments, ministers and civil servants will not be discouraged from taking decisions in the national interest when all facts are not known; they will never be known. We take decisions in a world of uncertainty and that’s the perspective I think Parliament, our CAG and our media must adopt if this nation is to move forward”.
On the draft CAG report on how the government allegedly favoured Reliance Industries, among other companies, while putting together a contract to extract natural gas found in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin, PM said, “Well, I think the CAG also leaks. It is not the function of the CAG… it has never been the case that the CAG has held a press conference as the present CAG has done. But nobody is commenting on all this. It is not right for the CAG to go into issues that are not their concern; it is not the CAG’s business to comment on policy issues. I think they should limit themselves to the mandate given under the Constitution. We are now a permissive society. I think if the media can get away with murder so can the CAG”.
These remarks are completely unwarranted. In 2005 judgment of the Madras high court , HC upheld the right of the CAG and its functionaries to brief the media on the contents of reports presented either in Parliament or in state legislatures. In the past too, officials from the CAG’s office have formally briefed journalists.
More importantly should CAG keep mum if a policy of the government results in a huge loss to the exchequer? NO right thinking citizen of thr country would support PM's view even in dream. A constitutional authority like the CAG cannot surely remain silent if a so-called government policy is deliberately twisted out of shape to favour a select group of firms.
It is loud and clear that the scams relating to allocation of 2G spectrum and KG gas were on not account of decisions taken without adequate information rather they seem to clearly be a result of deliberate dereliction of duty by rogue elements in the government.
No comments:
Post a Comment