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Who will destroy the monster of corruption?

I read H.K. DUA’s front-page editorial, “The stink of corruption” (April 29). The hierarchy of the corrupt has become so powerful and self-perpetuating that it is virtually impossible to destroy the monster of corruption. The judiciary, by its cumbersome procedures and inexplicable delays, has become redundant to punish the corrupt expeditiously.

There is no ignominy attached to the means of acquiring wealth. The ends are justifiable in today’s social ethos. Anyone with pots of money is instantly accepted in exalted circles. No questions are asked and no answers are given. People have accepted corruption as a way of life, some out of exigency and some have joined the bandwagon. With money comes power. Money and power have a symbiotic relationship. They are mutually inclusive.

Mr Dua cites the media’s limitations because of the contempt laws. If the media, despite its wider reach and the power it wields, throws up its hands what can the common people, who are vulnerable on all fronts, do? When the ministers and officers are guilty of wrong doing, who will change this sorry state of affairs? Street justice? As has been happening in parts of Bihar?

PINNIE GUPTA, Rajpur (Dehradun)

II

Nowadays no one discusses about corrupt officials or politicians as the people have taken for granted that they have to live with them. The worst part of kleptocracy is that even the judiciary is becoming a part of it. The Union Law Minister talks of a “committed judiciary”.

Admittedly, though politicians are the largest beneficiaries of state kleptocracy, bureaucrats are its main perpetrators, either by complicity or through compliance. The sale of public assets to the preferred people and giving subsidies to particular industries close to the ruling party all for a price is the worst form of corruption.

Those named before the High Court may not get any punishment as necessary permission to prosecute high profile bureaucrats may not be given. At least publication of their names in the newspapers may give them some shame.

V.K. GUPTA, Kurukshetra

III

No doubt, the selfish politicians of all hues are squarely responsible for this mess, but the real problem lies in the electoral system which is infected by the cancerous ailments like caste-based reservation policy and voting rights to all the adults. This has led to a situation in which the value of a D.Litt scholar’s vote is equal to that of a stark illiterate Dalit. Surely, this cannot yield democracy but mobocracy of which corruption is a natural outcome.

If we must stem the rot, we will have to strive for true democracy. For this, we need to amend the electoral system. The caste-based reservation policy would have to be scrapped and some minimum educational qualification prescribed for eligible voters and candidates. Nobody with more than two kids should be allowed either to vote or contest an election. Let us have a true democracy instead of mobocracy to get rid of the monster of corruption.

A.K. SHARMA, Chandigarh

IV

It is a very serious matter. Can these corrupt officers give justice to the public and common man, when their integrity is in question? The Centre must frame a new policy for the IAS and IPS officers, making their transfers mandatory after three years. Giving the cadre rule a go-by, inter-state transfers can break the politician-bureaucrat nexus.

The corrupt officers have brought disgrace to the IAS. They formulate developmental policies in public interest. If they are under cloud and enter into shady deals in collusion with corrupt politicians, what can we expect from them?

SIMMI MOHINDRU, Jalandhar City

V

Corruption can only be checked if editors like Mr Dua cone forward and openly speak against it. Mr Dua has rightly pointed out that the cancer of corruption has spread in the administration and the judiciary. The common man is fed up with the corrupt system. He could not get his work done without giving bribes to officials who openly say that they are collecting this money for their political bosses.

Corruption is rampant in departments like revenue and excise. There is no police station in Punjab where a citizen can get his work done without giving bribes. Bureaucrats, with their money power, go for Central deputation when their political masters change in Punjab.

There are only a few IAS and IPS officers in Punjab who are honest to the core. The judiciary is the last hope for the common man, but people are fed up with the time-consuming legal process.

GURPAL SINGH SEKHON, Patiala

Injustice to old pensioners Notwithstanding the pension hike of about 15 per cent that most old pensioners are likely to get with the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission report and distorted upgradation of existing pay scales as a result thereof, there is a lot of inequality in the proposed pensions of pre and post January 1, 2006 retirees. Of course, the parent scale and the new pay band is the same. A dispassionate look at the report suggests that the pension of the old pensioners is less in almost all cases (irrespective of the pay scale on which they have retired) and the difference in pension goes up to Rs 6,785 only. This is gross injustice to old pensioners who have retired from the same pay scale on which a post-January 1, 2006 employee retires at the initial level of the pay band. The Empowered Committee should look into it and rectify the anomaly. N.P. MOHAN, Chief Engineer (retd) (Indian Railways), Chandigarh