My musings from Bangalore

It's been many a time when I've wondered about how thoughts appear in your mind and seem to all fade away equally fast. Doesn't that initial thought always seem so original and pure -- and then you come back and think through it more and you find it no so refreshing.

This blog is an attempt to record my thoughts as they occur as I live in this city of Bangalore, India. I will try to cover everything I see -- from life in India, the people around me and my passion around technology and culture (and the play between the two). I welcome your feedback on my humble start. Here we go...

Today's papers are filled with an interesting debate on the role of a Lok Ayukta. The meaning of the term Lok Ayukta from the Cologne Sanskrit Lexicon is "people's agent".

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Ayukta

mfn. joined with , united , applied to ; appointed , charged with L. ; burdened with , slightly joined L. ; m. a minister , an agent or deputy.

The Lok Ayukta is focused on anti-corruption and is a parallel institution to the state government legislature and the judiciary. Many states in India have enacted laws to create this role (there's even a upa Lok Ayukta at the district level). Justice N. Venkatachala, a former Indian Supreme Court Justice has been the Lok Ayukta for the state of Karnataka since 2001 until his retirement last Saturday. Karnataka has been classified as one of the most corrupt states in India in certain polls and is also derisively called the "Bihar of the south", Bihar being a state in Northern India that is generally regarded as one of the most corrupt states in India. Justice Venkatachala has been in the news regularly "arresting" corrupt government officials with sufficient evidence, particularly around amassing wealth beyond their means that is unexplained. The culprits range from Police Officers to Government and City body officials, usually from in and around Bangalore.

This makes front page news and there is much angst among the population about how blatantly corruption goes on. However, the Lok Ayukta has not been given the powers to criminally prosecute them and typically the folks "apprehended" continue on their jobs and presumably their behavior as well. Given that Venkatachala has now ended his term the public opinion has been in general to given him another 5 year term or ensure another person takes over promptly and continues the good work that Venkatachala has been doing. The State Government, being the receiving end of this vigilance has not been enthusiastic on renewing Venkatachala's term or placing another person promptly in this role.

All this activity brings out a few thoughts:

- India's constitution has clearly demarcated the role for the legislative and judiciary offices and also delineated the role of the central/federal and the state authority. However, I wonder why the framers of the constitution left out detailing the vigilance and checks 'n balances aspect for these lines of government.

- There are precendents to it -- the central vigilance commission (CVC), the central election commision and so on that have the ability to question government. However, corruption continues to rage on without abatement. Why?

- The combination of a strong and independent judiciary, a free and active press and offices of vigilance that have free reign to bring criminal prosecution to the courts for proper resolution, should, in theory, keep the government in check and responsible and ensure reduced levels of corruption. However, this doesn't seem to be the case -- the Lok Ayukta has little power to prosecute, the judiciary is slow and corrupt in certain cases itself and the government seems to want to focus power and control at higher levels (centre, state) rather than down to the people.

What is the root cause for this? The people's apathy? Lack of a widespread education to raise questions? More transparency of public records? A more active press corp? Is it because of the disproportionately low income that people who work for the government get that forces them to do this? Is it a lack of core ethical beliefs?

What could the tipping point be to bring down corruption in India? Create more centers of power within government to act as checks and balances? Push through more delegation of power to lower levels (panchayats, municipal corporations, wards)? If so, how does one check corruption at these levels?

My theory is, reducing government corruption at the various levels should add 5% to the GDP growth all by itself! If we reduce the amount of red tape and government corruption, we all could theoretically get more richer (including the folks in government). Are we stuck in our age old behavior of bypassing queues and getting to the destination ahead of the others?

How can we get a wider movement to rein in corruption in India? I welcome your thoughts.