2G Scam: Manmohan Presides Over Corruption

Corruption has coexisted with governance since time immemorial. India has witnessed royal corruption throughout its history of administration. Favouritism and manipulation have always kept the stirred up the recipe of politics in the country. So, it was nothing new the the two successive UPA government resorted to the same age old (mal)practice of governance. And, there are many, including the public perception, saying that the Manmohan Singh's government is the most corrupt government post-Independence. The allegation does hold some water. Manmohan Singh's government has seen scams after scams at a pace that had been unprecedented. The NREGS scam, the NHRM scam, the CWG scam, the cash for votes scam, petroleum scam, the Air India scam etc etc and above all the 2G spectrum scam.

Let's focus on the 2G scam with a general background of the spectrum that finds itself in the centre of a huge controversy. Spectrum is an invisible band in atmosphere. It behaves in a certain way depending on the radio character of the waves passing through or hitting it. The scientists, say at ISRO or DRDO, spend crores of (tax payers') money to understand its behaviour in different bands and then they develop mechanism to use the bands or spectrum in the sky for all types of communication. Once created, the band is available for all but for costly technology it is controlled by govt through laws. The government has its own mechanism to let people derive benefit from this discovery made out of their money paid to the government through taxes. The mechanism involves an interface, we can call it telecom service providers or big corporate houses. They are given licenses to use a certain space in the spectrum (by means of frequencies) for operating their business of telecommunications. They provide service to people and then charge money for the same. Interestingly, people pay again for using something they have already paid for its creation! But, this is how governance goes.

In 2G scam case, the government had distributed band widths among the telecom companies on the basis of first come first serve principle. Such a principle is good for things that hold no price. The government, including the previous regime under Atal Behari Vajpayee, considered spectrum as just invisible object and is of no value (conveniently) ignoring the well known fact that the companies will mint money by facilitating chats among people. Auction was another option before the government, but it preferred to consider the spectrum created after investing people's money as an ordinary object. Just to digress, I would like remind people of the power of auction by recalling the same at the IPL auction. Had the government resorted to the second option, it might have recovered a good part of the investment made out of tax payers' money or might have afforded to give some relaxation to the populace by announcing some tax relief to them.

But, when alter things (agendas) prime the considerations, even the most common wisdom takes the back seat. The same thing happened with the 2G spectrum allocation. And, the CAG of India calibrated that the process or the dereliction of duties by the government has had cost the nation, the tax payers an income of about Rs. 1.76 lakh crore. Now, this was a huge amount that the collective wealth of the nation was deprived of. Government argues that the CAG calculations are not sound and whatever loss was incurred to the exchequer was only imaginary or virtual. The government did not have the money in the first place, which the CAG talked about. True, that the government never had that money in question. But, it is also true that the government was denied to have that amount of money by those running the government. But, then again, the people running the Manmohan Singh government are not honest enough to admit that they caused the nation a loss to the tune of what calibrated by the CAG, the most authentic audit body in the country.

Two things are more shocking in the entire episode. One, that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh let all this happen while every decision was approved by his cabinet. Secondly, Manmohan Singh is widely hailed as an able economist but surprisingly, he presided over the greatest loot of virtual money in India during his tenure as the Prime Minister. The changing organizational structures of the 2G spectrum allottees (companies) betray either the short-sightedness or culpability of the Manmohan Singh government. The latest secret note (which was seen and approved by Pranab Mukherjee) from the finance ministry to the PMO and former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran's letter to the prime minister have broken the shield of defence of the entire UPA machinery.

In this context, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is holding an all important meeting tonight, ironically in the United States. Pranab Mukherjee's tussle with P Chidambaram is well known in the inner circle of the UPA establishment. But, ever since the spat came out in the open over the issue of 2G scam has eroded the thin crust of credibility to this government. Pranab Mukherjee has sought and got couriered (as reports suggest) a bunch of files related 2G spectrum allocation from his ministry all the way to New York. This meeting between the two topmost leaders of the country on perhaps the biggest scam at venue outside the country speaks volume about the mess that the UPA government presently finds itself in. The Prime Minister and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi must be making all efforts to keep the 2G taint away from their respective offices. It is really tough on the economist and presumably honest prime minister to preside over perceptibly the most corrupt government ever.

BUDGET 2010-11: LAST MAN'S PERSPECTIVE

I am not a Gandhian nor do I have absolute faith in Gandhian philosophy but I do admire Gandhiji's idea of uplift of the last man of society. I do believe this is the ultimate test of governance in any society. If a government is able to reach and listen to the pain of the last man of society then the government deserves the mandate to rule and make policies for the whole nation. And here Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and for that matter the UPA government failed to clear the test.

Mukherjee's budget is by no means a path breaking budget and people have evaluated it largely on the premise of which side of the table they are sitting. That the Budget proposals are good for corporate houses is evident from the immediate response from the sensex which hardly reflects the health of our economy and wealth of a common man. Budget is a statement on how the county will be governed financially in the next one year. I would like to consider a few proposals given by our finance minister.

Mukherjee talks of bringing second green revolution in eastern states, precisely, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa. And he thinks Rs 400 crore for four states that are agriculturally backward is good enough to achieve that! This is not prudent, pragmatic, well-intentioned and economic budgeting. This is political budgeting and it cannot serve the interests of the last man of our society. On the top of it, that man is battling with very high food prices which have not been taken care of in Pranabda's budget.

Arguments were put forth by people of all sides on whether budget is the right tool to tame soaring inflation. I do believe, being an annual financial statement budget must address the day-to-day financial problems of the people, of the nation. For long term planning, we have a Planning Commission and also a National Development Council which some people have forgotten that it ever existed. Here too politics is eating up economics. In an age of utmost media scrutiny and unimaginable reach made possible by media, every finance minister tends to become more political than humane and economic. The last man suffers in consequence.

However, the most important thing from aam aadmi's perspective is the hike in petrol and diesel prices. A five percent basic duty and a hike of Re.1 per litre resulted in petrol costing nearly Rs 3 more per litre. And, this is state economics that hits the common man the hardest. Pranab Mukherjee's proposals will ensure that all the articles get dearer in the next one year because the transportation cost for almost everything will go up. Even the railway transportation will go costlier despite the fact that Mamata Banerjee refused to show fiscal prudence by not hiking passenger fare and freight charges.

To add, we have shortage of foodgrains available in the market with the purchasing power that we individually enjoy today. Our public distribution system shows no sign of improvement and it is sure that it won't go on corrected lines during 2010-11 fiscal. This means that the fight for Roti is going to only intensify in the ensuing year. For service sector earning people especially those on the higher side of tax slabs, Mr Finance Minister has given some relief to counter that intensifying struggle for existence but the common man, forget the last man, will only become commoner in the coming year. This would further swing the (im)balance in favour of the heavier side.

If this is the budget for an aam aadmi, it is no surprise that he does not feel for the budget that has become a mere ritual for the country to follow. And if this is so, I raise a fundamental question, do we need a finance minister in our country? This democracy is run by the parliamentarians and other legislators only in name but the real carrier of this largest democracy is our Last Men who are in millions but still wanting. This sums up our governance and perhaps democracy as well.