ANTI-CORRUPTION COALITION

Corruption may have become a non-issue in politics, but the common man, who has to bear the brunt of its pervasive ramifications in his daily life, still entertains the hope that some day, someone will muster the courage to launch an all out offensive against corruption and stem the rot that is eating into the vitals of the nation. The problem is too big to be tackled by any single individual or institution; only a coalition of committed individuals and institutions can possibly make a tangible impact on it. The civil society has a major role to play in the mobilization necessary for the campaign against corruption. It was against this backdrop that the following appeal was issued from the platform of COMMON CAUSE to a carefully chosen set of individuals and institutions.

“Dear Colleague
As must be apparent to anyone with eyes to see or ears to hear, the state of corruption in our nation continues to get worse by the day. The limits we keep hoping to reach in the greed, venality and moral degeneration of some of our compatriots – at all levels, high and low – seem to keep on stretching outwards and upwards – without limit. And the ones at the top are those who should be setting the highest examples of propriety.

There are, fortunately, a few initiatives in civil society and even in government that have not given up their valiant efforts to deal with the problem. They include such outstanding examples as Transparency International India, Parivartan, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Public Affairs Centre, Lok Satta, Centre for Media Studies, and our own organisations, Common Cause and People First. – not to mention numerous other local and national citizen initiatives. Government bodies at various levels have their vigilance units. But all our (somewhat isolated) efforts added together have not been able to stem the ever-rising tide of societal decay.

The problem is clearly complex and becomes more intractable with each day that passes. Despite our wish to find one, there does not appear to be any silver bullet that can alone deal with it. The solutions will have to be multi-pronged to match its complexity, and immediate to prevent it from altogether consuming the nation. They will demand a concerted attack by many different groups, each working to its respective areas of strength.

The range of action needed is vast: creation of large-scale public outrage, demand for change and commitment, changes in the laws (and perhaps even the Constitution of the land), redesign of institutions (particularly of enforcement), transformation of public transactions (eg, government procurement or citizen services) and introduction of technologies for transparency. Above all, cleaning up on this scale will require an effective system of penalties and incentives that truly encourage good behaviour and punish the bad – to an extent that a soft society such as ours may well find less than comfortable. Numerous analyses of corruption testify to how many different interventions are needed.

For the different actions to reinforce each other and reach the critical, “tipping” point, all this must be achieved together and simultaneously. If not, we can only expect to relapse to our present condition and even worse.

We believe that the time has come for us to put together a “Coalition of the Worried” (or, perhaps more appropriately, of the “Exasperated”) to mount a concerted War on Corruption. All of us fighting our little guerilla battles with one local enemy or another must now recognize that victory lies only in coming together under a carefully designed, coherent strategy that can be implemented by a combination of efforts from each of our units. We may well work jointly or independently on what we are best at but our collective goal can only be achieve by working to reinforce each other.

The gravity of the current situation should persuade all of us that this is not a time for petty territorial or turf issues, and we, the undersigned, propose only to take the initial step of inviting whoever is willing to join this war, asking only that we all work together to design that overall strategy and come to a better understanding of each participant’s needs and potential. Each of us will then go on to our chosen battlegrounds, with the armaments and ammunitions that we wish to select. A small group of us will hopefully volunteer to take responsibility for facilitating the flows of information and regular interaction needed to maintain the momentum of the war until it is won. However, we neither offer nor suggest that we act as the leaders of this effort.

To this end, we invite you to join us and a few other concerned persons at a structured (moderated)
brainstorming to identify and categorize the range and kinds of actions needed to fight corruption (the theatres of war, arms, etc), and the strategies and tactical implications of the socio-political terrain we are fighting on. It will also need to identify the major units, present at the meeting or to be invited subsequently, and their respective roles in the war. Above all, it will need to specify the kinds of commitments needed from those who wish to be a part of the Coalition.”

The appeal had a fair response and a day long meeting was held on August 9, 2008. The assembled activists pooled their experiences and intellectual resources to formulate a collective strategy to mount an offensive against corruption. The deliberations of the brainstorming session are reproduced below.

‘War on corruption’ - Brainstorming Session
- At Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi - 09.08.2008

List of Participants

Jagdeep S. Chhokar, Association for Democratic Reforms
B.G. Varghese, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
Madhu Kishwar, Manushi
Alok Srivastava, Centre for Media Studies
Anupama Jha, Transparency International
Surendra Srivastava, Lok Satta
Prashant Bhushan, Campaign for Judicial Accountability
Parshuram Ray, Centre for Environment and Food Security
B.P. Mathur, Common Cause
Maj. Gen. J. P. Gupta, Common Cause
Ashok Khosla, Common Cause & Development Alternatives
Vikram Lal, Common Cause
Kamal Kant Jaswal, Common Cause

The important points that emerged from the Brainstorming Session are the following:

• Need for a coalition: Most of the participants had a positive feeling in favour of a coalition, network or consortium in the ‘War against Corruption’, but they differed in the plan of action to be adopted. There was an apprehension that such a coalition might eventually become an organisation, as was the case with the Lok Satta movement. It was felt that there were lessons to be drawn from the experience of Lok Satta. There was a clear indication that a lot of work was happening in different pockets on the issue, but the need now is to combine forces to make an impact.
• Highlighting success stories: The participants emphasized the need for highlighting instances of
transformation of a highly corrupt system into a clean system. The examples cited included Singapore, Taiwan and Hongkong at the international level, the reform of district/municipal administration in Ahmad Nagar, Surat and Nawanshahar, the self-regulated vendors’ market in Sewa Nagar, New Delhi and the Vote Mumbai Campaign. There was a suggestion to hold a special session on success stories in combating corruption and invite a few hand-picked innovators and change agents to share their experiences. These stories could then be documented and disseminated.
• Areas of Intervention: There was a detailed discussion on the areas of intervention by the coalition.
The areas of focus suggested ranged from police reforms, judicial reforms and municipal reforms to political and electoral reforms. Many of the participants agreed that political reforms in various aspects were of utmost importance.

Other than the above some of the specific areas that were brought up are:
• Code of conduct for civil servants
• Dispensing with the requirement of official sanction to prosecute officers of and above the rank of joint secretary under the Single Directive.
• Budgetary reforms
• Revamp of the procurement system for goods and services.
• Minimizing the influence of organized interests like corporate entities.
• Criminal justice system reforms

The group agreed that further discussions on the issue would be required to get greater clarity on the priority areas for intervention.

Way forward for the coalition

The following were the main suggestions for a way forward for the coalition that emerged from the session.
• People’s Commission against Corruption: It was suggested that the coalition should establish a People’s Commission against Corruption comprising 10-12 distinguished individuals with the mandate to conduct public hearings on corruption, especially in rural areas, since the rural population has no recourse. It was agreed that the idea could be discussed and refined further.
• Common Website: It was felt that it was imperative to set up a common website, which could act as a tool for pooling of information and resources from across the country. The website could help in networking of activists all over the country and enable them to learn about the strategies adopted and the degree of success achieved in individual cases. The focus should be on the coverage of issues on which the build-up of a momentum could conceivably result in the tipping point being reached.
• Partnering with potential allies within the Government: It was felt that the coalition should join hands with government institutions mandated to ensure probity in public life, as well as with the known crusaders against corruption within the government system. A meeting could be organized with the Election Commission, Central Vigilance Commission, Public Grievance Redressal Committee, Lok
Ayuktas, and a few well chosen bureaucrats with established credentials to share information and
experiences and offer the coalition’s help in combating corruption.
• Mass Movement against Corruption: There was a broad agreement regarding the need to show the
strength of numbers, but most of the participants were skeptical about the possibility of launching a
mass movement mainly due to the lack of structural capacity. The participants were in favour of expanding the current network of organisations and co-opting more like-minded organisations.
• Police Reforms: There was general agreement on the importance of police reforms on which a number of committees and high power commissions have reported over 30 years and on which the Supreme Court has issued specific directives for implementation that have been ignored. Implementation of these police reforms, a state subject, in at least Delhi and the Union Territories could give a lead and provide the “tipping point” for their wider adoption and further reform.
• Educating Citizens: It was recognized that an active citizenry that is aware of its rights and duties is the sine qua non of a war on corruption. Hence, it was agreed that massive awareness and advocacy campaigns should be launched to educate the citizens who will then be able to make rational decisions and safeguard their interests.

The meeting was concluded with the view that more thought needs to be given to various critical issues that were discussed and probably a bigger group discussion would be required with more organizations on board to get more clarity.”

Follow up action on the decisions of the meeting is being taken and the readers will be kept informed of further developments.