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Nation
THE year 2012 will go down in history as a scam-ridden year that saw several corruption scandals rock the country. Past records of public impropriety were shattered as the national auditor estimated Rs 1.86 lakh crore losses to the nation due to non-transparent allocation of coal mines by the government to private beneficiaries who never cared to even mine the ore. Coalgate, thus, pipped the 2G scam as India’s top political scandal since Independence. It cost us six times the 2G scam did. Top politicians, notwithstanding which party they represent — came under a cloud this year. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was questioned by the Opposition for allowing faulty allocation of coal mines as opposed to public auction as minister in charge of coal from 2006 to 2009. UPA chief Sonia Gandhi had her share of troubles after her son-in-law Robert Vadra’s firms were accused of accepting huge sums in unsecured loans from real estate giant DLF. Corruption dented the reputation of BJP president Nitin Gadkari whose name was embroiled in the Maharashtra irrigation scam. His chances at a second term as party chief were evidently stymied. The year ended on a low note as the government conceded to a judicial probe into charges of the world’s biggest retailer Walmart spending $25 million in the past four years to lobby for FDI in multi-brand retail in India. Parliament of India approved the FDI policy in December despite opposition from the BJP and the Left. The BSP and SP made it possible. India’s position on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2012 remained a poor 94 in 176 nations. We scored a dismal 36 out of 100 on TI’s scale of corruption from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (least corrupt) as China and Sri Lanka improved their governance ratings and Denmark emerged the world’s cleanest by defining corruption to include not only bribery, embezzlement and forgery by politicians or government officials but also nepotism. Advisory firm Kroll reported that 50 per cent Indian company officials admitted to being vulnerable to bribery-related frauds. Coalgate apart, CAG showed how the government gave away prime Delhi airport land with a potential earning capacity of Rs 1,63,557 crore to GMR-led private operator DIAL for a small equity contribution of Rs 2,450 crore and allowed DIAL to make Rs 3,415 crore unduly by levying development fee on passengers. A third audit report later revealed that Reliance Power made Rs 29000 crore by using surplus coal from blocks allocated for one plant in other projects against rules. The government denied all CAG reports even as it faced the heat not just from the auditor’s side but also the apex court which this year cancelled all 122 2G Spectrum licences former Telecom Minister A. Raja had issued to telecom players in 2008. Raja was found guilty of tweaking rules to benefit few. The states also contributed their share to the central pool of corruption. Former BJP Chief Minister of Karnataka B.S. Yedyurappa being chargesheeted by the CBI in the mining scam. Former Chief Minister of Kerala V.S. Achuthanandan was accused of bending rules to award land to a relative while former Congress Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chavan was charge sheeted in the multi-crore Adarsh housing scam.
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