Essay on
Vigilance awareness weak
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(vi)Finally, any organisation works better if the right people come to the right job. To ensure the right people come to the right job, we should adopt what I would call the 2T formula. The first T is Transparency. There must be total transparency so far as qualifications required by a candidate for any post, the selection criteria and process are concerned, So far as the selection process is concerned, this will ensure that right people are considered and the right process is adopted. The second T is the TINA factor. The selection process itself should be such, apart from being transparent, that There Is No Alternative but to select the right person for the job. To this extent, there will be an inbuilt guarantee that for any post in public governance, the right people will come to occupy them. It is not difficult to build in this condition so that automatically, over a period of time, the right people will come to occupy all posts.
(vii)The next major element in changing to political sector is decriminalising it. The concept of the integrity of institutions was articulated by Justice Kapadia in the judgement of PJ Thomas case who was appointed as the CVC in 2010.
This principle may be extended to organisations like Parliament and legislature so that these organisations, which are meant for drafting laws for the country, are not themselves tainted and crippled by the presence of criminals and potential criminals. It is true that for more than five to ten years the suggestion has been pending with the government and these amendments will never be made, if the initiative is left only with the political parties. This Gordian knot must be cut by the Chief Election Commissioner, who can declare that any candidate who is facing criminal charges in court of law can not contest elections till he is cleared finally by the court of law. This issue then could be easily tested in the courts. Where the courts will pronounce the judgement on whether the order issued by the Election Commissioner in discharge is valid. After all, TN Seshan brought a revolution virtually single handed in the powers of the Election Commission by interpreting his constitutional responsibility of the EC in such a way that during the period of elections that is, between the notification and declaration of results, Election Commission virtually became the state government of the state where the elections are held and for elections for parliament are concerned, Election Commission’s power becomes more than the power of Parliament itself! The government of India can not announce any new concession and make laws and the Parliament definitely will not pass any laws which have a bearing on the free and fair conduct of elections. The sensitivity that have been built up over the years, thanks to the movements of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev have perhaps, created today an environment where such an initiative by the Election Commission may proved to be effective. Otherwise, we will be waiting for ever.
(viii)Further, to clean up the entire system and make it more accountable, for every sector, namely, politics, judiciary, bureaucracy, corporate sector and media, we could make appropriate changes to bring in greater transparency and accountability. In this way, it should be possible to in a very reasonably short time of two or three years to break out of the vicious cycle of corruption and make the public life in India an exercise in virtuous cycle of dharma.
If we take a medical analogy, our country today is suffering from a multiple organ failure of governance. I am 74 today. Five years back,. I had an experience of suffering multiple organ failure, a quarter nary bye pass surgery followed by a heart attack, pneumonia, acute renal failure and enlarged prostrate. A battery of doctors consisting of the cardiologist, pulmonologist, diabitologist and urologist worked together and save me from the jaws of death.
Who would be the doctors for our nation, which is suffering multiple organ failure of governance?. In my view, three constitutional authorities, namely, the judiciary, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Election Commission and the statutory authority of Central Vigilance Commission can act as doctors. Exercising their own powers and their skills, they can help greatly in installing such virtuous cycle of dharma for a nation to escape the trap of corruption.