“Don’t push vested interests”:Top-level corruption’s down in Modi govt

NEW DELHI: Regardless of whether things have changed or not ‘on the ground’, things appear to have changed at the top. Most businessmen including a few who do not necessarily agree with everything that the government has done – say there’s been a conscious effort to curb corruption, at least in the upper reaches of government.

Almost from the early days of the Modi government, it was clear that middlemen and lobbyists would no longer enjoy the unfettered access of the past. They found it more difficult to gain entry to key government offices or to roam the corridors at will. In fact, soon after taking charge, ministers such as Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan publicly spoke of keeping middlemen out.

In the finance ministry, for instance, there were a few corporate affairs executives who would enter North Block around 11 am and spend the entire day sitting with low-ranking babus or chatting up peons to check on the status of various proposals. These people are no longer in evidence.

Similarly, a prominent businessman who had a regular routine for meeting ministers and senior bureaucrats in the previous administration seems to have cut down on his travel to the capital.

Even bosses of public sector organisations, including banks, were more or less told that they should avoid visiting their administrative ministries unless they had been invited for a specific meeting, or “hang around” with flowers and bouquets. Several ministries have installed CCTVs to keep tabs on movements.

In the past, senior PSU officials were known to frequent ministries in order to raise their visibility, promote themselves, and push their own agendas with mantris and babus (including powerful private secretaries).

For years, PSUs, especially the cash-rich energy companies, would provide vehicles to junior-level babus to gain access. Soon after he took over, Pradhan made it clear that this practice had to stop and if cars had to be provided, they should come from the ministry.

In the finance ministry, thanks to the arrest of former Syndicate Bank CMD SK Jain, the entire appointment process has been revamped and moneybags who often pushed appointments, are no longer as active.

The message to bureaucrats is also clear: Don’t push vested interests. At least two secretaries have lost their jobs on this count. Of course, one was transferred also for his flamboyant ways as his minister noticed that he would carry expensive pens and wear top-of-the line watches.

The crackdown on what is being widely described as ‘corporate espionage’ is only the latest – and most demonstrable measure – to end a long-entrenched culture of give-and-take in the capital. It’s been one of New Delhi’s worst-kept secrets that classified documents (both hard and soft copies) routinely find their way out of ministries and government departments – particularly the ‘resource-based’ ones such as oil, coal, power, telecom and defence — where decisions worth tens of thousands of crores are taken regularly.

The crackdown of the past three days appears to be aimed at sending out the message that there are limits to ‘business-as-usual’. A secondary purpose could also be to counter the perception that the government is too close to business. A number of ministers have told this paper at various points of time that they’ve been told by the Prime Minister that there can be no soft-pedaling on corruption.

The Supreme Court, too, has played a role in trying to clean up the system: Its order resulting in dismantling of the first-come first-served principle has brought about transparency in allocation of spectrum, coal and, soon, mining rights.

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Source:Timesofindia

Narendra Modi