Stronger Accountability to End Denial

Editorial:
The near hysterical support extended to Anna Hazare’s movement to get the Jan Lokpal Bill into Parliament was obviously not because the lakhs across the country who took to the streets had read the Jan Lokpal Bill or understood how it compared with the one drafted by the UPA Government. The people came out because they were frustrated by rampant corruption which ambushes them in their daily lives in the form of denial and because in the Anna campaign they spied a chance to do something about it.

Thus far, corruption debates have been traded as allegations and counters between politicians and political parties and while these might be followed by the people on TV and newspapers, they do not excite any hopes of correcting the balance among them. It was different with Anna, who, supported by an effective team of organisers, gave out the message that he was taking on corruption itself, not isolated incidents, scams or disposable individuals. This appealed to the people, especially since it did not come attached to a party manifesto. Team Anna might have the politicians and their coteries in their sights with the Jan Lokpal Bill and admittedly, the people have been embarrassed, even disgusted, by the rash of scams which have been making the headlines of late, but it is the corruption which denies them their basic rights which must have convinced so many across the country to don ‘I am Anna’ caps and scare the elected representatives into submission.
Corruption works at many levels and while the kind which requires pay-offs to escape action against a misdemeanour is not something most people mind, it is the one which obstructs access to their basic rights that frustrates the people most. As an observer rightfully pointed out, Team Anna managed to effectively harness the public anger against corruption to muscle Parliament into addressing its demands. Let’s face it, repugnance for abuse of office has still not reached levels which can draw so many people in so many cities into the streets in protest. Through Anna, the people expressed their disillusionment with the manner in which the system engages with them and so frequently favours a few while denying them what is their due. The political fraternity is in for a shock if it thinks that with the Resolution passed by the Parliament, or even the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill [if it happens] will calm the groundswell which has risen against them. The mass mobilisation is an indication that unless stronger systems of administrative accountability are put in place, the people will rebel again.
How does one erect such a system of checks and balances? Some five years ago, the State Government of Rajasthan attempted something on these lines on a very limited scale – directed at one government Department. The Department of Personnel, Govt of Rajasthan, issued a notification announcing that those health officials who failed to check something as predictable as the outbreak of seasonal diseases would be denied salary increments for up to three years. This was applicable to doctors from the junior to the CMO level. It is not known what came of this notification or what impact it had on the healthcare facilities in distant Rajasthan, but the message was clear – somnolence had to be combated and negligence punished. This needs to be replicated at all levels of governance to ensure that the basic rights of the people and access to facilities and schemes targeted at them are neither siphoned away nor diverted. It will be easy to do it at the department level because there are enough administrative reforms reports gathering dust in every corner which include details on how this can be done. It needs to be institutionalised at even more levels. At the panchayat level for example, the vigilance committees can be made more meaningful, perhaps with a policy decision to include the losing candidate of the panchayat polls as a member. Education, another important issue could attract at least an explanation from the heads of schools and teachers where too many students are taking tuition classes after school. LPG supplies, a shortage of which is bound to hit now that the festival season is setting in, should not be limited to knee-jerk demands and allegations. Questions should be asked officially on where the extra supplies ended up at the cost of harassing those without the right contacts. The system has been abused for far too long and now that public resentment is rising and will express itself more often, stronger accountability needs to be fixed to ensure that fewer denials are heaped on the people.