Opinion Wanted list bloopers? Sab chalta hai

The lists were prepared as a result of three meetings between the CBI,IB and NIA senior officials of joint director rank and were later sent to the Home Secretary’s office by the heads of these respective organisations. Only lack of due diligence and lazy work ethic could explain these faux pas,for which Home Minister P Chidambaram and Home Secretary G K Pillai have been made subject of much mirth by the Opposition parties and Pakistani media. To add to this comedy of errors,the CBI sent a team to Denmark to get the 1995 Purulia arms drop case main accused Kim Peter Davy extradited to India with an expired warrant. All these mistakes show is sheer laziness on part of these organisations and callous attitude of the public servants. Of course,the CBI has taken action on three junior officials for the list fiasco but the fact is what about the accountability of those officers who whetted and finalised the list. The “ Sab Chalta Hai” syndrome is now part of our Indian DNA with both public and the rulers of this country resigned to this fact of life in the sub-continent. Except that the country pays for all such casual attitude sometimes in money,poor workmanship,delays or even in blood. Consider this:

*The purchase of Boeing C-17 Globemaster heavy lift aircraft for the Indian Air Force stands delayed due to some lazy officer in the force who decided to save money for the ex-chequer by lifting the price for the aircraft from Wikipedia rather than asking for a formal quote from the US aircraft company. This led to objections from the Finance Ministry on account of price differences.

*Names of Indian Mujahideen co-founders Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal are not on the list of 50 most wanted fugitives in Pakistan despite the fact that between 2002-2008,the killer duo were allegedly responsible for some 500 casualties in bomb blasts in all the major cities of India.

*The purchase of 300 million dollar worth of electronic surveillance suits for RA&W’s aircraft has been stuck for the past one year after the Indian agency was caught in the cross-fire of allegations by a vendor who missed the contract. Despite a clean chit to RA&W from two government appointed committees,a final decision is still awaited.

However,no one would be taken to task these mistakes and like always everything would be credited to the systematic failure account. But such attitude does not become of a country that has global aspirations and wants to sit on the high table along with China. The macabre comedy and utter confusion over the missing helicopter of former Arunachal Chief Minister Khandu Dorjee is yet another example of our cavalier attitude. The Eurocopter carrying Dorjee went missing at 9.50 am near Sela Pass while en-route to Itanagar from Tawang on April 30. While the army search parties had not even begun searching for the craft,state Governor J J Singh,a former Army Chief,announced within hours that the chopper had landed and the Chief Minister was safe. After hearing Singh’s announcement,the Army search parties were called off by afternoon and all was well. Except that no one had either spoken to Khandu Dorjee or helicopter pilots. It was only in late evening,the worst fears were confirmed as no one had any idea about the craft. Remains of Dorjee and the crashed craft were found five days later near Sela Pass. The way this incident played out reminded one of India as a banana republic and not a nuclear power. The controversy over the veracity of the Shanti Bhushan-Amar Singh-Mulayam Singh CD and the allegation of mass rapes and killings in Bhatta Parsaul village are classic examples of our politicians shooting their mouths off without doing the basic ground work. And all this is because there is no accountability in the system with the politicians,bureaucrats and even the public all being allowed to go scot free in the name of vibrant democracy. The way things are one should not be surprised if Dawood Ibrahim was living on Aurangzeb Road in the Capital with a face surgery.