The Opposition Congress has come out with disturbing allegations of “forgery, cheating and fraudulent drawal of huge public funds” under Social Welfare Department, Government of Nagaland by “bogus firms and societies” reportedly belonging to the very people who are supposed to represent the will and interest of the public. The Congress party in Nagaland has lodged a complaint with the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) for thorough investigation. However the past track record of the SVC is not very encouraging for us to expect any sort of justice. Why only the Social Welfare Department? The scourge of corruption spreads across the length and breadth of the government and not just one or two people but there are many more who are neck deep in corruption. So one should not assume or be misled into thinking that only a few departments or people are involved in corruption. It is a shameful thing for a Christian state like Nagaland to be blatantly corrupt and to be indulging in all sorts of illegal activities like forgery, cheating and our penchant for all things bogus. Just pointing out corruption of one department or a few individual is not going to help in cleansing our system. Much more has to be done. However for now this column will not go into the complex and multi-dimensional nature of the corruption problem but will only dwell on one or two things.
All of us are aware that the tools to fight corruption include both legal and institutional mechanisms. We have available before us the various section of the law, which needs to be applied by those who are supposed to enforce the law. However our institutions have not been able to deliver, leave alone punish the corrupt. Since the 1970s in Nagaland also we have the State Vigilance Commission (SVC). However the neglect of this institution is there for all to see. That the SVC in Nagaland is living a lonely existence and without any dynamism is brought out by the fact that it does not even have an online edition that could have served public interest. The SVC is also seen as selective in its functioning. Rather than being an independent body it has been brought up in such a way that it remains subservient to the government of the day. For instance, the State Vigilance Commissioner who heads this important office is a political appointee, carefully chosen to serve its master. So unless the mode of appointment is changed, the SVC may not be able to do justice to its high ideals and mission statement i.e. to be a watchdog, promote transparency, accountability and weed out corruption from all government establishments.
At the Central level we have the Central Vigilance Commissioner appointed by the President after obtaining the recommendation of a Committee consisting of the Prime Minister as Chairperson, Home Minister and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha as members. Also to put an element of checks and balances, in Nagaland also we could have the State Vigilance Commissioner assisted by two Vigilance Commissioners. The Opposition Congress, which has been demanding proper functioning of the SVC could have brought in these changes while it was in power. So clearly if both the ruling government and the opposition are sincere in fighting the menace of corruption, then the institution of the SVC must be made more strong and enabling to take on corruption. At present the SVC appears to be below par in terms of manpower, resource, motivation, independence and direction.
