Where Are The Anti-Corruption Movements Now?

Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable: Mark Twain.

Today, let us focus on some facts and figures. Let us dissect some ‘stubborn’ truths and the ‘pliable’ statistics. In a recent report, The Comptroller and Auditor General Of India (CAG), the Supreme Audit institution that is dedicated to truth in public interest, flagged certain irregularities, calling for increased transparency. The entire list can be seen online, where everything is posted in black-and-white. But here are the highlights.

• The magic number 9999999999. In the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the report reveals that around 750,000 beneficiaries were all registered with the same mobile number!
• It identified 4,761 registrations that were linked to only seven Aadhaar numbers, which also pointed to potential irregularities.
• A case of ‘missing hospitals’. There were instances of hospitals that were ‘absent’ from the list of facilities registered under the Public Health Insurance Scheme.
• Honouring the dead! A database revealed that In MP, over as recent as August last year, over 1.1 crore was paid to about 403 patients. None of them were alive.
• The case of ‘empty but occupied’ beds. Twenty four state hospitals including a Government hospital surprisingly showed much higher occupancy than the actual bed strength.
• Honouring the dead, once again. In the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Health Insurance Scheme, it has said that 6.97 crores was paid for the treatment of 3446 patients, who have been declared dead.
• The magic of multiplication. In the construction of the Dwarka Expressway, a project under the Bharatmala Pariyojna, the amount spent on the project has exceeded the amount by about by (hold your breath) not 1, 5, or 10 but 14 times than what was allocated.
• ‘Ram ka naam badnaam’. Undue benefits were given to contractors in the Ayodhya Developmental Project under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
• Travelling woes. In two instances, the National Highway Authorities of India have collected 154 crores from commuters in violation of Toll rules.
• Welfare benefit for advertising. Over a period of three years, a diversion of funds of 2.83 crores meant for NSAP (National Social Assistance Programme) activities, including old age pension schemes, were redirected to promote other government schemes.
• HAL the ‘aan baan shaan’ of our nation was also pulled up for serious design lapses and of using substandard and not original materials for the aircraft engines that led to a loss of 159 crores.

All of the above are nothing short of scams. What is interesting though is that all these projects were not planned and executed by any immature person without any experience. They were done by professionals.

So if there is a flaw in the plans or in its execution, we need to know what exactly went wrong. If a situation was created where people charged more than was supposed to, it calls for transparency because any discrepancies or inconsistencies in key projects and welfare schemes are prone to spark discussions.

Any improper allocation of such resources calls out for a discussion. Are these not scams? Is this not corruption? Then why is no one talking about it?

Where are all the activists and protestors who went on hunger strikes at the Jantar Mantar? Where are all those ‘movements’ aimed at alleviating corruption? But most important of all, where are all those TV anchors who were howling and screaming their lungs out trying to draw attention to all the frauds and the exploitation?

Now that all these anchors are surprisingly quiet does it mean that all the scams are over and done with? That there is no more corruption and everything is clean and pure? Unfortunately not.

The ‘stubborn’ truth is that there is as much, if not more sleaze now as there was before. Averaging a 6.21 percent from 2006 until 2023, reaching an all time high of 9.10 percent in 2022 and a record low of -5.80 percent in 2021, there was GDP growth then as it is now. The life and struggles of a common man is also pretty much the same, if not worse, as it was before.

Anna Hazare is missing, he seems to have switched over from hunger strikes and gone into a ‘maun vrat’. The fearless activists who stood there on the platform, spouting poetry and shouting slogans, are missing.

Also missing are the dauntless protestors who could sit all day without any fear of being threatened, dislocated, beaten or arrested. What is missing are all the politicians and bureaucrats highlighting the scams because they feel it is better to side with the ruling party to score their brownie points than be troubled by ED and CBI.

What is missing are the gutsy journalists who asked questions and the hollering anchors on the TV channels who screamed their lungs out because they wanted the Nation to Know what exactly was going on. But most importantly what is missing is a government that was bothered to give the brave and courageous journalists answers (however meek in response), without threatening or arresting them.

Facts may be stubborn and the statistics more pliable, but as Aldous Huxley pointed out: facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

Nargis Natarajan is a writer and commentator. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.