Quarter of a century ago, when I was Sales Officer of HPCL in Coimbatore, a Sales Area notorious for adulteration and corruption, I decided to take on those Petrol Pump owners and Tank Truck owners who were party to the adulteration. A few of my colleagues in our own storage facility were also involved in this. It was a racket. Diversion of Kerosene, adulteration of Petrol with Kerosene, adulteration of Diesel with Kerosene, replacing original lubricants with duplicate ones and finally Short measure while delivering were quite rampant. Not all the dealers were corrupt, but at least 35% were, with another 25% being fence sitters, happy with the extra money they make by indulging in short delivery of 25 ml per litre, a relatively minor offence. My predecessor Sales Officers have over the years turned a blind eye to this racket, and some in fact benefitted by it. I decided to clean up the Sales Area. I called a Dealer Meeting and read the riot act. Few took me seriously. Then I deliberately did an inspection of the biggest crook, who was also politically powerful, and suspended Sales for 15 days. Despite getting threats against my life, and considerable pressure from my superiors, I stuck to my decision, and the Retail outlet stayed suspended for 12 days, when in view of an impending festival, I lifted the suspension unilaterally. But this act of mine sent a message to other dealers who felt, "If XXX couldn't get the suspension lifted despite his political and official connections. what chance do we have, if we get caught?".
Added to this, I also suspended one LPG distributor and found considerable malpractice in another's dealership.
I had a relatively smooth period for the rest of my tenure. But when I started the campaign, my father advised me to maintain highest standard of ethics, and be especially careful with small issues - like accepting dinner invitations, using the car of a dealer for official/personal use, taking small favours from dealers etc. He said that I am more likely to be caught on such things which will undermine my moral right to fight corruption. I was very very careful. If I went with a dealer for lunch, I ensured that I took him out another day, when I paid. Even when I took a stamp from a dealer for Rs 2, I paid for it. And when I filled petrol in my car, I paid and collected the receipt and kept it with me as a record. I booked my own hotel rooms while travelling and paid for it. Of course it helped that I had no vices, for I am, then and now, a teetotaller.
And I never regretted the advice I received. I have tried to maintain this high level integrity through my life. While I was teaching, my students knew that it doesnt pay to try and influence me. Obviously, when you teach a lot of students, some are bound to be closer to you than others. But come Assignment valuation time, all the assignments were treated equally. In fact, I used to be a little tougher on students who were close to me. Though, there were some odd allegations of favouritism raised by some disgruntled students, who got poor grades, none of it stuck on me as those who heard them laughed it off, for they knew I was bloody objective while doing valuation.
I was reminded of this, when read stories about how Kiran Bedi fudged her Airfare bills, or Arvind Kejriwal still owes IT Rs 9 lakhs. When you take a moral high ground, as the Anna Hazare team does, it is important that you be impeccably clean, because the whole fight is at an elevated ethical level. Any tiny slip or crack is bound to have serious consequences. One can laugh off saying the amount involved is small, but it is not the question of amount, but the thought and action behind it. Kiran Bedi is not lily white. There were allegations how she misused her position to get a medical seat for her daughter some time back. And despite Kejriwals honesty, he still needs to explain how he ends up owing the Government so much money. If he doesnt owe them, then he should defend himself by dragging the Government to the Court. Small things do matter.
Though I fully admire Anna Hazare and his mission, I still do feel that the cause they took up was good in intentions, but week in Objectives and Goals. The Jan Lokpal Bill, which is imperfect (but a great improvement on the Governments Jokepal Bill), is not a panacea for the ills of corruption. Corruption in India has deep roots. While it gets you good TV time if you take on the powers that be, sending a few politicians to jail (which should happen in any case) will not make a dent. What is required is creating considerable awareness about the ills of corruption at all levels. One need to have a mechanism to handle corruption at the village level or at any government office level. This is going to take time - at least a generation. The first step would be to reduce bureaucracy. Second step will be implement local self governance. Third step would be to go for e-governance in a massive way. Why should a villager be dependant on village officer for getting a Caste Certificate.? He should be able to print it out for any kiosk. What is the need to have a police verification before issuing a passport? Everyone knows it is a sham. Either make it a proper verification or scrap it. Why dont we privatise Electricity Distribution? The power theft in India, with the connivance of the EB employees, is close to 20% (The loss to exchequer as per a latest report is Rs 70,000 Crores per year!!). Privatise it, and the private party will ensure this is taken care of, as such high losses will have an adverse effect on the bottom line. Why should the LPG consumers be tied to a particular distributor? Since Gas cylinders are standardised, he should be able to pick up a cylinder from any distributor of his choice. Why is the Government pouring money on loss making State Road Transport Corporations? The Private Bus operators are running much more efficient services and making profit too. The STRCs are haven for corruption- from purchase of vehicles, to appointments, to theft of fuel and spare parts to god knows what. Ditto for Air India or Doordarshan, which no one watches. Why do we have check posts on the State Boundaries. Is it not simpler to have a uniform tax structure across the country, and allow free flow of movement of goods. We are talking of Globalization and reduction of import barriers. What about reduction of removal of Trade barriers between States? Charity should begin at home. The corruption in check posts is disgusting. Abolishing them will also allow the government to reduce its fuel import bill, as the fuel lost in check posts is mind boggling. In fact, if you abolish many of the taxes, and rationalize the tax structure, life will be cleaner for the citizens. Finally, reduce the number of ministers and ministries. Once Government adopts the role of a facilitator, it is suffice if we have just 15 ministries and a total of 30 ministers. In any case 50 of the 80 odd ministers have no work, especially the junior ministers. Reduce the ministries and corruption will reduce exponentially. Finally, allow legal funding of political parties. The illegal fund raising by political parties is the root cause of corruption in India. We have a case of accumulating disproportionate assets against a CM, that is being heard in Bangalore. But why have we never heard of a case of disproportionate spending by a political party. Every election, EC goes about videographing the constituency. Even a kid knows the money spent by each candidate is way way over the limit set by EC (which is ridiculously low). But to date, not a single candidate has been disqualified for this reason. We have laws, but the implementation is poor.
This is the country which has as its motto 'Sathyameva Jayathe'. Let us ensure it is so. Corruption is anti sathyam. Lack of ethics is again asathyam. Let us not leave it to others to solve the issue of corruption. Let us make a beginning at home. Let us all maintain highest level of ethics and probity in our lives.
Finally, increase the number of courts and judges 4 fold. I am sure a rapidly growing country like India can fund it easily. We need speedy , timely justice to fight corruption. And rewamp our judicial process. There are far too many appeals, far too many adjournments and delaying tactics. You would have noticed that I have not mentioned about revamping the police force. I did so deliberately, because even the creator Brahma cannot do anything about our current police force, which is politicised, corrupt and a disgrace to our country.
This is the country which has as its motto 'Sathyameva Jayathe'. Let us ensure it is so. Corruption is anti sathyam. Lack of ethics is again asathyam. Let us not leave it to others to solve the issue of corruption. Let us make a beginning at home. Let us all maintain highest level of ethics and probity in our lives.
