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INSTITUTIONS




      Protecting integrity becomes                                                                                       dered to give details of the action taken   take actions against violations of code of   deal has its roots in the decision making

                                                                                                                         on a letter from then Reserve Bank Gov-
                                                                                                                                                          conduct and failed to devise mechanism  process. Rahul Gandhi alleges that the
                                                                                                                                                                                            deal was done without the approval of
                                                                                                                         ernor Raghuram Rajan asking for action  for curbing money power. It also could
      quite difficult for institutions                                                                                   against willful defaulters of public sector  not take action against paid news.  the Cabinet Committee on Security. The
                                                                                                                         banks. He has also ordered Reserve Bank
                                                                                                                                                             How institutions were ignored can
                                                                                                                                                                                            Modi government is yet to respond to
                                                                                                                                                                                            this specific question. If the allegation is
                                                                                                                         of India to provide details on these de-
                                                                                                                                                          be seen in demonetization of notes of
                                                                                                                         faulters. Acharyulu is upset over the at-  500 and  2,000. No proper consulta-  true, it only reveals the extent of decline
                                                                                                                         titude of both the institutions that have   tions were made and the move resulted   in the institutional mechanism. Ito shows
                                                                         director despite the opposition from the        chosen not to provide the information.   in large scale displacement of informal   that the institution at the top is also not
      The ongoing destruction of the key institutions, one after the other,    CBI which was investigating charges of    He has even approached Parliamentary   economy. It created virtual anarchy in   immune to manipulations.
      is intricately related to political, social and economic changes    corruption against him at the time of his      Panel to regulate the mechanism of pro-  the sector. The economy became more   Recently, the governor of Jammu and
                                                                         selection.                                      viding vital information on finance and   centralised. The outcome was almost   Kashmir dissolved the assembly to block
      in the country, writes ANIL SINHA
                                                                           Most astonishing of the allegations is        economy by the RBI.              zero as 99 per cent of the money came   an opposition government. The institu-
                                                                         against a junior minister of Modi cabinet,        Chief information Commissioner’s in-  back into the system. People with black   tion of governor has been in controversy
            or the first time, most of the   gations. However, the Court was forced to  Haribhai Chaudhary. In his complaint,   sistence on execution of his orders has its  money escaped and those who had hard-  for long. However, the J&K governor
            institutions in the country are   term the organisation as a ‘caged parrot’.  MK Sinha has accused him of bribery.   own implications. The government chose  earned money had to face immense   added to the continuing controversy by
            up in arms against the political   Over the years, the political interference   The allegations and counter allegations   not to paralyze the organization by not   hardship.   saying that the parties that were coming
            leadership. They want freedom   increased and became overt from dis-  put important institutions like PMO, Re-  providing enough manpower. Accord-                              together had no common ideology. Ac-
     F from political interference. If   creet and covert ones. There were also   search and Analysis Wing, Intelligence   ing to the reports four commissioners                            cording to the Supreme Court ruling in
      the director of top investigating agency   chances of these operations being ques-  Bureau, CVC and National Security Ad-  will retire soon and the CIC will have only   The ongoing    famous SR Bommai case, the governor
      of the country, the CBI has come to the   tioned at one or another level. The inves-  visor in dock. According to them, the   tree commissioners against its strength                 has not to decide on the claim to form
      Supreme Court to allege that the people   tigations into 2G and coal scam clearly   midnight coup was affected under the   of 11. Four commissioners are retiring but   tussle in the CBI   a ministry. The majority is to be tested
      at the top wanted investigations to take   show that corruptions hardly had organ-  direct supervision of NSA Ajit Doval and   no one has been appointed in their place.              on the floor of the assembly. Here, the
      to a desired direction, the RBI is issuing   ized support. That is why contradictions   Department of Personnel actively sup-  The CIC has now pendency of 25000 cas-  only shows that   governor not only acted unconstitution-
      warning that infringement in its auton-  could be unearthed and many bigwigs   ported him.                         es. It will soon have thousands more.  entire structure            ally but also tried to malign the political
      omy will jeopardise the monetary situa-  were brought to book.       Chief  Information  Commissioner                The Election Commission has been                                 parties by accusing them of indulging in
      tion. While CBI director Alok Verma was   The war in CBI only shows that entire  Acharyulu complains of PMO’s non-  under a cloud over functioning of EVM   of investigative          “horse trading”.
      upset over interferences in important   structure of investigative mechanism   cooperation in giving information that it   machines and announcement of election   mechanism was        The recent decline of institutions
      cases, the RBI is unhappy over govern-  was attacked to effectively turn the or-  owes to the common people. He had or-  dates. The Commission has also failed to                     could be linked to the growing percent-
      ment attempt to grab its surplus money   ganisation into a real “caged parrot”. The                                                                   attacked to                     age of black money in the country’s GDP.
      to finance populist programs ahead of   Supreme Court had put in place a mech-                                                                        effectively turn the            Noted economist Arun Kumar said that
      2019 elections.                  anism to ensure the integrity of it. The                                                                                                             increased circulation of black money has
        Other institutions too are feeling suf-  Court made compulsory two-year ten-                                                                        organisation into a             raised corruption. Corrupt bureaucrats
      focated. The Central Information Com-  ure for the post of CBI director. Within                                                                       real ‘caged parrot’             hardly care for institutional integrity.
      missioner is complaining of suppression  this tenure, he could not be transferred.                                                                                                      Expansion of private economy has
      of information illegally and non-cooper-  In order to circumvent the directive, the                                                                                                   caused an unprecedented increase in
      ation on the part of government and the  government sent the CBI director on                                                                                                          corruption. Anyone can see the rise in
      Election Commission of India is being ac-  an indefinite leave. The allegations and                                                                    A close look at the process of destruc-  number of scams since 1991, when new
      cused of taking decisions that are favora-  counter allegation made by senior offic-                                                                tion of institutions suggests that it has lot  economic policy was launched. Most of
      ble to the government. The impartiality   ers of the agency reveals that the CVC it-                                                                to do with the changes in the polity. The   the scams have their roots in crony capi-
      of ECI is being suspected.       self was embroiled in the internal war of                                                                          process is intricately related to politi-  talism. The favourites get everything and
        No one had anticipated that the CBI   CBI. The CVC chief’s impartiality has been                                                                  cal, social and economic changes in the   people without connection get nothing.
      would be raided and a midnight coup   under cloud. He himself was facing alle-                                                                      country. The governance under Modi   This could only be done when institu-
      conducted. But it was far from being an   gations of corruptions at the time of his                                                                 rule has become centralised to the ex-  tions are prone to manipulations. The
      unexpected incident. It was the result of   selection to the post. A petition was also                                                              tent that even senior ministers do not   conversion of Planning Commission into
      a situation that was brewing for many   filed against his selection to challenge                                                                    have say in important decisions. Most of   NITI Aayog was perhaps first incident
      years now. The manner in which the   procedures adopted in it.                                                                                      the decisions are taken by Prime Min-  which showed that the country is going
      midnight coup was effected clearly in-  The petition filed by DIG of CBI MK                                                                         ister Narendra Modi and BJP president   to be run at the wishes of corporates. This
      dicates that a clique has come into exist-  Sinha in the Supreme Court against his                                                                  Amit Shah. Involvement of National Se-  is essential for the government to resort
      ence at the top level of the government to  transfer to Nagpur alleges that the CVC                                                                 curity Advisor Ajit Doval has been seen in  to falsehood to divert people’s atten -
      command institutions without any legal   chief has been siding with Special Direc-                                             • Power struggle  Arun   many vital decisions of the government.   tion from real issues. How could anyone
      sanction.                        tor Rakesh Asthana, the key player in the                                                     Jaitley and RBI Governor   When it came to dump Mehbooba Mufti  expect institutions to protect their integ-
        The Supreme Court wanted to stem   civil war in CBI. According to it, both of                                                Urjit Patel are trying to   led PDP, Doval played vital role in decid-  rity in the age of post-truth?
      the rot in CBI as early as in 1990s and   them enjoy a good relationship with each                                             resolve row over authority  ing the matter.
      gave CVC power to supervise its investi-  other. Asthana himself was made special                                                                      The controversy surrounding Rafale               LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM



                                      TEHELKA / 15 DECEMBER 2018  32  WWW.TEHELKA.COM                                                                 TEHELKA / 15 DECEMBER 2018  33  WWW.TEHELKA.COM


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