`As I see it, there are five key players in our Indian corruption scene. These are the neta, babu, lala, jhola and dada,' says Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) N. Vittal in his blueprint for a plan for ridding India of graft. This is intended to give substance to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's commitment to zero tolerance of corruption.Vittal has come up with 13 commandments in a paper which was circulated to the Union Cabinet on Friday last week. A mix of the old and the new, they apparently number 13 because the term `zero tolerance' has 13 letters. The CVC has already spoken of his plans in Hyderabad, where he addressed the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet at Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's invitation this week.A bemused AP cabinet heard about the radical plan which has the blessings of Union Minister for Human Resource Development M.M. Joshi to set up a youth-based National Vigilance Corps (NVC). According to the blueprint, anti-corruption clubs will be set up in colleges and will work inclose coordination with the CVC. The members of the NVC will be authorised to expose and check cases of corruption.A ``corruption perception index of all government departments, public sector units and banks'' will be put together. ``Zero tolerance of corruption should begin with zero tolerance of the reputation of government departments,'' writes Vittal. The index will be compiled through private organisations such as the IIMs and industry associations which will be asked to rank various wings of government in terms of perception of corruption. According to the corruption-watch body Transparency International, India has one of the worst corruption perception ranks in the world. Vittal says that if India can rise in the index from the current 66 rank to at least 40, if not 30, he will retire a happy man on completion of his tenure in 2002. He says that the country's ``economy is a standing monument to the corruption and inefficiency of four departments Customs, Central Excise, Income Tax and theEnforcement Directorate (ED)'' he says. Vittal maintains that the ``peculiar aspect of the government system is that while everybody will concede that these organisations are corrupt, the moment anyone makes a statement officially, or in a report, it instantly becomes a matter of defending the `fair name' of the office. I want to call their bluff.''Commandment number five takes a bow for the CVC by asking that the CVC Bill be made into law by Parliament. Vittal states that this must be the first step to make the concept of zero tolerance of corruption a meaningful expression.Encourage whistle-blowing and pass a Whistle-Blower Act, says the 7th commandment, giving citizens statutory protection. According to the blueprint, the Law Commission is in the process of drafting an Act on the lines of the UK Public Disclosure Act. This would essentially mean that all the people who make corruption disclosures will be given protection. In the most serious cases, where powerful people are involved, the governmentis also considering a plan on the lines of the US witness protection programme of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This may form part of the Act.Other measures listed include the removal of obsolete laws through `sunset principles' that make periodic review mandatory: ``Obsolete laws and time-consuming bureaucratic procedures are the breeding grounds for corruption. The blueprint states that ``no law should be on the statute books for more than five to 10 years unless it is re-enacted and repromulgated after careful examination.''The blueprint has asked for the repeal of the Sick Industries Companies Act (SICA) and the BIFR. Taking a swipe at the the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS), describing it as ``legalised corruption blessed by the government'' the blueprint says that a government that practices zero tolerance should never consider schemes like VDIS. This particular commandment has caused a lot of red faces: the architects of VDIS are currently ensconced in the PMO.Vittalalso wants the property returns of ministers and MPs to be made available to the CVC and Speakers of both Houses annually, since the Supreme Court has clarified in the JMM judgments that MPs are public servants. Vittal says that he has broached the subject with some MPs informally and their reaction was positive.Other measures include the implementation of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, and the enactment of a Corrupt Public Servants (Forfeiture of Property) Act and the Freedom of Information Act for empowering the public.Vittal wants the chambers of commerce including FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM to sign an anti-bribery convention to ensure that their members will not pay bribes. This is in line with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), enacted in the seventies, which made American companies which gave bribes in third world companies liable to prosecution in the US.Incidentally, Vittal's host in Hyderabad, Chandrababu Naidu, gets a pat on the back in the blueprint for his use ofe-governance to check corruption. Vittal wants e-governance to be adopted by more states to encourage transparency. On his directive, all ministries and offices of the central government now have huge blackboards where members of the public can list their complaints.While that was hailed as a giant leap towards the transparent state, it pales into insignificance in comparison to Vittal's present proposals, almost all of which are extremely welcome. It remains to be seen, however, whether he does not discomfit enough people for the blueprint to remain tacked to the drawing-board for ever.
