If salt loseth its savour with what it shall be salted? — Bible

First a story. Once upon a time in this Dharma Bhoomi, in this Karma Bhoomi and Punya Bhoomi known as Bharat, there was a king by name Karmaveera. He was a benevolent king but very proud. He did not know that pride goes before the fall.

One day he summoned his Prime Minister and the courtiers for the Durbar. Being a very proud king, he told them that as a king he was busy administering his realm, the teachers in his kingdom were busy teaching, preachers preaching, farmers cultivating, all the courtiers were busy assisting him. "Now I want to know what the God busy is about? Our wise Prime Minister will tell me this."

There was a stunned silence in the Durbar Hall. The wise Prime Minister sought His Majesty's permission for a week's time to come up with the answer which was granted by the benevolent king. But the proud king did not forget to tell the Prime Minister that should he fail to give the correct answer he would have to pay with his life.

The worried Prime Minister went to the forest and was sitting alone thinking about the king's question and an answer for it. A cowherd, young and shabbily dressed, approached the Prime Minister, sitting alone, forlorn, looking like a layman without his royal regalia and enquired what was bothering him. The Prime Minister poured out his problem more to keep the cowherd away than to get his help. To the Prime Minister's surprise, the cowherd said with overwhelming confidence that he had the answer but would himself deliver it directly to the proud king. The boy spoke with such confidence and conviction the Prime Minister decided to take him to the king.

Once before the king on his throne at the Durbar Hall, the cowherd was asked to come up with the answer to the question: "What is God busy about?"

The cowherd awkwardly offered his obeisance to the king as advised by the Prime Minister and said: "Your majesty, but before I do so, a little protocol should be observed as per the tradition of this Punya Bhoomi. Could we both observe that protocol before I deliver the wise answer?"

"But why?" asked the king not quite pleased with the cowherd's request.

"Your majesty, if I were to answer your question, then our relationship would be not that of the king and his subject but that of a teacher and his disciple; Guru - Shishya Parampara."
"So, what?" the king asked again.
"So, the teacher should be on the seat where you are sitting now and you should be where I am now. Just for the period of getting the answer."

The proud king, though it hurt his ego, reluctantly agreed for this temporary arrangement to honour a tradition.

Once they swapped their positions, the cowherd on the throne and the king before him standing like a disciple, shishya, the cowherd delivered the answer to the king's all important question: "God is busy teaching lessons to proud and egoistic people like you, the way I am doing now."

This, I think, is happening in the on - going tussle between the government and the "India against Corruption" in the matter of drafting the Jan Lokpal Bill. The government is the proud king and the "India against Corruption" is the humble, poor cowherd.

Maladministration and corruption are two indicators of an effete government. On this test, we can say India did not get an effective government after Nehru. All compliments to Nehru for steering this ship of State just emerging from a long colonial British rule and earlier to that, from Muslim rule, in a manner no other leader at that time could have done, towards political stability and economic growth.

After the initial euphoria of Indira Gandhi's rule, the governance lapsed into a stupor of maladministration and corruption. And it continued, even after P. V. Narasimha Rao's policy shift from a license - permit Raj to an economically liberated Raj. Decentralisation of power via Panchayat Raj is another liberal democratic change that was introduced, thanks to Rajiv Gandhi and here in Karnataka too, Ramakrishna Hegde and his trusted lieutenant Abdul Nazir Sab. With these changes and ideas, the level of maladministration was reduced, but correspondingly it enabled corruption to persist ever more vigorously. So rampant it became that the existing laws, many are there, could not cope with the crime of corruption, to curb the evils.

Look at some of the laws:
1. Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, 2. Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, 3. Benami Transactions (Prohibition Act), 1988 and 4. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

India is a signatory to the UN Convention against Corruption since 2005. [Sadly, this has not been ratified by our Parliament, as required to become effective!].

It is not surprising these Acts suffer from many infirmities that help the accused to get acquitted. Take for example the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. In order to prosecute a public servant on charges of corruption, it is necessary to obtain prior sanction from the Central or State government. The Ministers themselves being corrupt or being partners in corruption with these corrupt officials (sharing the loot), will the government ever give sanction to prosecute the official? Only those who have not shared the loot or not ready to bribe the Minister will be allowed to be prosecuted. Which is why we find the government not allowing the Lokayukta to prosecute many corrupt they have caught.

The five main authorities to inquire investigate and prosecute corruption cases are: 1. Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), 2. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), 3. State Anti - Corruption Bureau (ACB), 4. Directorate of Enforcement (DE) and 5. Financial Intelligence Unit.

Lokayukta does not exist in all the States. Karnataka has, but its powers to prosecute are limited, hence not so effective. All corruption cases are tried by special judges appointed by the Central or State Governments.

Because these laws are not strong enough to combat corruption in the matter of detection and prosecution, the need for a new, robust near-draconian anti-corruption law in the form of Jan Lokpal Bill was felt by an exasperated people of this country. It is the very reason why Anna Hazare and his knights decided to force the present UPA government to draft a new Anti-Corruption Law — the Jan Lokpal Bill — with teeth strong enough to bite the corrupt in our government, not just bark at them. All honest people of this country must support this effort of our civil society, not the government which is desperately trying to make this also as weak as the earlier laws by maligning the civil society members and by putting forward irrational arguments to scuttle some Sections in the Draft Bill that would make it a robust law.

According to "India Corruption Study: 2010" prepared by Centre for Media Studies:
a) A rural household had to pay Rs. 5 as bribe to get an application form for Ration Card and pay around Rs. 800 for getting a BPL card (without document).
b) Bribe needed for getting scholarship and admission in government schools.
c) Rural households in the country could have paid a whopping Rs. 471.8 crore last year as bribe to avail basic facilities such as ration, health, education and water supply.

There are other areas of corruption mentioned in that Study.

If this is the dance of corruption in the rural area, the Tandava Nrutya of corruption in urban areas are mind-boggling — CWG, 2G spectrum, Adarsh Housing Society, etc.

Sometimes, I wonder, of what avail is all our religious holy books? What do they teach to these corrupt, immoral people in the government service of our country? Do they have a sense of paapa and punya, sin and grace? Do they wish to have a place in heaven or in hell? Or are they getting remission of their sins by bribing the Gods and an acquittal by bribing the politician, police and the judge? GOK.