Curse of Kosi or corruption?

The calamity caused by the Kosi in Bihar could be viewed as another handiwork of Nature but its genesis lies somewhere in the corruption that has assumed a monstrous proportion in every field of our life.

The civil engineers and government personnel who were assigned the job to keep vigil on the maintenance of the river flow and its embankments proved themselves true to their tainted reputations. Only a few years ago, a district magistrate in Bihar had embezzled millions of rupees that were at his disposal for the flood relief operations in the devastated state.

Various senior political leaders who are at the helms of affairs at the Centre are facing grave charges of corruption in different scams under their governance. The level of corruption has crossed the ‘alarming level’ in all the state and particularly in most backward Bihar that had been governed by the governments headed RJD  leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi for 15 years before Nitish Kumar overturned their bastion in last elections.

There’s no need to shy away from the fact that India ranks among the most bribed country in the world. The total bribe amount involved in a year in BPL households availing the eleven services including land revenue, police, health and judiciary among others is estimated as Rs883 crore a year. This gigantic figure encompasses the entire country.

This could only be a conservative estimate and more an indicative one. The BPL families paid the bribes directly to the officers in charge of the government  departments.
Though the newfound ‘class bribing’ is known to the law, the courts have in the past suggested ‘hanging’ of the corrupt and exemplary penalty for those were found betraying people’s confidence in the unpolluted governance. But the court’s anguish had come in cases where petty officials were involved in receiving paltry sum some years ago.

It is expected that the courts, particularly the supreme court, set a tone for the judiciary that corruption cases must be disposed of expeditiously and if the accused are found guilty they must be given the maximum jail terms.

It would be expedient if some pending cases are disposed of before the country goes to the polls early next year.
b_rakesh@dnaindia.net