The Aam Admi and Corruption Issue

Elections India 2014

By: Amit Bhushan Date:13 Mar 2014
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The media is lately agog with news about the recklessness of newbie parties with special focus on one of them and the brand of politics represented by it. This has credence since the opportunity-ism displayed in acquiring cadre is mixed with almost total lack of coordination resulting in chaos that is directed towards literally no end in sight. This unruliness is symptomatic that the leadership seems to be not spending enough time to identify a clear ideological space for itself in politics. However, we have many such political parties and leaders who do not understand their ideological space. Take the case of intellectually brighter state of West Bengal for example: with the communists shunning there labour related pangs (in the home state and not for the rest of the country though), their position is almost same as the centrist ruling coalition except for Foreign investment and some differences on Foreign relations of the government. The ruling party seems to represent more of ideological opportunity-ism and occupying the anti-corruption space there. The party seemed to be attempting to take the same space in Delhi and other parts of the country as the newbie party although without much success. We also have a lot of parties attempting to go national over their secular credentials alone while some other are proud of their secular identity is a state or possibly two where they can either succeed or probably play a decisive spoiler (and spoilers do have an important role in politics). Given such a scenario, this thought paper tries to argue that there does exist a space in the anti-corruption sphere which the newbie parties can exploit however the parties need to be better prepared and attempt to be more organized to fill this political space and challenge politics of stereotypes being practiced by those who have nothing much to offer. It may however be pointed out that mountain is being made out of mole hill of work by the newbie political party and this would need to change for them to become some sort of contender at a state or national level. We still do not have the relevant questions being raised at the state level by political people and parties and this creates enough space and opportunity and much work needs to be done by exploring relevant points some of which have been exposed selectively by some the information volunteers but have not be picked up by the so called politically smart in a systematic way to be relevant politically. Below, some of the ideas are narrated: 1. The Real Estate or Land Use cases have come to light but most focus went on selected individuals giving impression that this is a localized problem around the Capital city. However, the problem persists in a big way across almost all major cities and most of the political avatars have not done much about the same. Incidentally this area remains grossly under explored. 2. There have been some reports about irrigation works in a selected state. It is however ordinary knowledge that in most states, the irrigation department has underperformed on public expectations despite being amongst large chunks of states capital investments.

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The above is also true for most of Public Works including laying of state highways and bridges. One also needs to look at purchase of electricity by state and identify those pockets where T&D losses are the highest. This may also include procurement of goodies by the department/SPV.

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One can look at the state controlled business of liquor procurement and licensing of distribution. Mining rights including those of sand and stones may often be found to be controlled by an oligarchy which is closely knit in a state.

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The distribution of Food of PDS in states is often riddled with puzzles which are remaining well hidden from public.

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The state expenses on education incentives as well as healthcare rarely have desired impact often due to leakages.

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We also have lack of governance of financial institutions especially those collecting deposits from ordinary people and their answerability to meet underlying obligations on time. This has resulted in widespread public grievances which remain away from media glaze.

10. Mismanagement of forests and water-bodies including non-arable land owned by the states, tourism infrastructure as well as office spaces created by the government for its own use and sports related infra are some other areas. The above is at best a partial list of areas which have not been focused upon in this so vigorously fought election with colorful people and parties some of which claim to be holier than thou. It may be partially because of the tendency to lose focus with people being speculated upon and who are targeted in the elections rather than issues which have risen out of mismanagement or corruption. It could also be because of the tendency not to unruffled feathers of people who are relatively smaller and focus on big targets. It may also be because of difficulty of gather information which is much more difficult in state in India as compared to center. It may be due to sheet unconsciousness of the political personalities. It may also be due t o corruption within political parties which forces them to remain silent. As also, the challenges of vengeance and violence during and in aftermath of polls may be another reason for both the low activity of RTI activist as well as that of political challengers. But unless such local power centers are challenged, the chances of making any significant difference to people on ground may not be realized by any party. As far as the current major political forces are concerned, they run the political shops by aligning with the forces and buying peace with them by sharing power at the center and allowing a few of these rather smaller players, to break into bigger league. So this is a space for the contrarian political party and political leader.