Here’s what a determined man can do…
Excerpts from Bribeless In Bihar, a remarkable report on how things are changing in a state widely reviled as amongst the worst governed in India. There is still hope. Read on (emphasis added)…
…It was clear to Nitish Kumar that merely catching a culprit was not enough. A major handicap was that under the Prevention of Corruption Act, vigilance officials had to get clearance to prosecute an errant bureaucrat from his own department. That took time. He realised that the only way to deter corruption was to take away the wealth itself — ASAP. Kumar put his then attorney general P.K. Sahi on the job.
…After consulting experts and studying the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Sahi prepared a draft bill by the end of 2008 and it was passed by the Bihar Assembly in February 2009. It then languished in the union home and law ministries for a year…(and) was eventually signed into law by the President in March 2010.
…the Act comes into play when investigating agencies are convinced that an official owns assets in excess of his known sources of income. Now, even as it pursues a corruption case against an official, the state separately seeks to take control of the assets owned by the person. Bihar has set up six special courts that exclusively deal with this.
The vigilance department files a declaration with a special court that the target has amassed unexplained wealth. The special courts then conduct speedy trials and decide within six months whether the property should be confiscated or not. The property would be returned with interest (at 5 percent annually) if the person is acquitted.
…A.K. Chauhan, principal secretary, vigilance, says that he has not come across any instance of politicians or high-level officials trying to influence a case. “They know that we report to the CM. So there has not been any attempt so far,” says Chauhan..
“MLAs have also been warned that they should not call up officers directly and try to influence these cases. The Chief Minister has made it clear within his own party as well that he will not tolerate anyone trying to influence the officers,” says Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar, who is considered to be a close confidant of Nitish Kumar. The results are yet to show, but the tremors are already being felt.
…Nitish Kumar’s two terms, when he first re-established law and order and then began weeding out corruption, have brought new hope to Biharis in the state and those living outside.
…Academician Shaibal Gupta, considered an expert on governance in Bihar, says tough times are ahead for bureaucrats. Next the state is planning to enact a Right to Services law to ensure efficient government service. Officials will be punished for failure to provide time-bound service.
Pl read it in full here. Thanks to Raj Kamireddi for the link.
Related Posts: First Shashi Tharoor, next Kathlal now Nitish Kumar and the NDA alliance… and Good Governance Matters
Well beginning and seems half the work is done.
Rest can be done by reorganizing the structure which he is already upto.
Right to service will open the can of worms. This is what India needed.
Is there a way to document the lessons learned from the Governance of Gujarat and Bihar. If not then FTI should start doing it.
||namO Bhaartam, namO Sanskritam||
Looks like theres hope, after all.
Jai
That was a low hanging fruit for preventing corruption. It is really a shame that it took more than sixty years for India to put this in practices, that too in a single state.
But challenge is to get “right” level of balance because such laws often get a tool at the hand of the political class to beat an honest office (admittedly a rare breed in Indian bureaucracy).
For a long time, we forgot that it is not the process, but it is the people that brings in reform and change. It is people like Nitish and Modi which brought in change. Would others listen? Opinions like this do not give me hope.
Why can not center do such a thing? Oh, I forgot, UPA believes in NREGA style entitlement based democracy not Modi or Nitish style “dictatorship”.
But for all we know the ‘babus’ will strike, demanding corruption rights. There was an incident a few years ago where a new principal at a college in Bihar suddenly banned cheating, and the students and their parents organized protest meetings…
Wishes are not horses . Much has changed in Bihar , but corruption is still rampant in almost all the govt. offices in Bihar . We have to appreciate that Bihar is no island . If there is corruption at the national level , Bihar can’t be an exception . However , even the talk of ending or reducing corruption is a step in the right direction . But we have to admit that unless the people come forward to fight corruption , it cannot be eradicated .
On a down side, here is a discouraging tale about a honest police officer in the administration of ‘determined man’.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Honest-cop-nears-retirement-sans-fair-deal-during-career/articleshow/7505727.cms
@Sid: History has taught us that “Adharma” need to be fought with “Hosh” not “Josh”.
||namO Bhaartam, namO Sanskritam||
@AAryan,
And the context is?
@Sid: The context is Manoje Nath.
As a wise man, one should understand that the corruption is like a triangle which have three vertices: Industrial bodies. , Legislative bodies, Executive bodies. These three has to go hand -in-hand for a non-penetrable corruption.
||namO Bhaartam, namO Snaskritam||
another view on nitish kumar in a small little known magazine published form delhi.appears informative and exposes sushasan as any other regime concerned with money making .
http://www.scribd.com/doc/77345384/Stealing-from-the-Poor-to-Give-to-the-Rich#source:facebook
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