Facebook Pixel Code

Column : Congress should fully own RTI

The UPA had succeeded in altering the public discourse over the past two months by focusing on some bold economic decisions.

Commoditisation of real estate has become an easy milch cow for a small elite

The UPA had succeeded in altering the public discourse over the past two months by focusing on some bold economic decisions. For a few weeks, newspapers and television channels only debated the pros and cons of foreign investment in multi-brand retail as well as the impact of diesel and LPG price hikes on the aam aadmi. The opposition was visibly stung by this changed narrative which the UPA had audaciously managed to pull off. However, some of that advantage seems to be dissipating with Arvind Kejriwal and his team launching serial attacks against the allegedly corrupt practices of some key Congress leaders.

Of course, the government?s response to Kejriwal?s revelations in regard to the real estate deals of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, has been most ham-handed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?s silence on the matter, for a change, was most appropriate. There was really no need for some of the ministers to comment on the allegations made against Vadra?s allegedly cosy business deals with the real estate company DLF. The government initially rightly said Vadra had been dealing with DLF as a private citizen and businessman. If that was so, the government had really no business to say Vadra?s business balance sheet had no irregularity. For instance, the corporate affairs minister, under whose administration the Registrar of Companies (RoC) falls, had prematurely stated there was nothing wrong with the balance sheets filed by Vadra with the RoC. Within 48 hours, the Corporation Bank gave out a statement proving that a key balance sheet entry in Vadra?s company was false.

Vadra had shown an overdraft of R7.4 crore received from the Corporation Bank. This has been outrightly denied by the Corporation Bank. Now, Arvind Kejriwal?s team wants the RoC and other relevant government departments to investigate the source of R7.4 crore in the balance sheet, shown as overdraft. Whose money was it? In short, the government is tying itself in knots over the Vadra-DLF affair.

In public perception, at least among the middle classes, Kejriwal has seized the moment and has managed to distract the government from its task of implementing new reforms it had embarked on. The focus may well shift back to corruption in high places now. In such a charged atmosphere, it is not even clear whether the BJP will cooperate with the government in the next phase of implementation of overdue reforms in the financial sector which P Chidambaram recently announced. Indeed, it appears to be a rough road ahead for the UPA.

At a broader level, by highlighting Vadra?s allegedly privileged associations with the DLF group and Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kejriwal has succeeded in opening the sluice gates for another series of allegations and counter-allegations concerning members of important political families. Indeed, talking about them was taboo so far. Even on the Vadra-DLF affair, most established political parties were quite muted in the first few days. In some ways, all these developments must be traced back to the right to information (RTI) legislation which the UPA-1 had enacted.

RTI was indeed a silent revolution which now seems to be devouring its progenitors! The documents relating to Vadra?s business or Salman Khurshid?s NGO in Lucknow were both procured through the instrument of RTI. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week suggested that RTI should not be allowed to invade the privacy of people. Manmohan Singh was trying to be nuanced in his formulation but to suggest any dilution of the RTI legislation in the current political climate would go against the spirit of the times. The Congress should fully own the process of system cleansing it has triggered through the instrument of RTI, even if the government?s own reputation takes a beating in the process.

True, the current churn caused by the campaign spearheaded by India Against Corruption (IAC) would appear to impede the government?s efforts to push further economic reforms, but it is equally true that the campaign by IAC is striking at the very roots of the system of spoils that the elite among big businesses and politics had created in the 20 years since economic reforms were launched. This system of spoils is getting regularly exposed as seen in the spectrum scam or Coalgate.

The Vadra-DLF association simply shows how the geometric growth in land values in the past 10 years, driven by global and domestic liquidity, had led to the commoditisation of real estate which became an easy milch cow for a small elite that had the benefit of privileged information. Regional parties and politicians have also made hay by buying up massive land near developmental sites such as airports, roads, etc, about which they had privileged information. Information asymmetry in the marketplace is what divides the elites from the non-elites today. This divide had reached unsustainable levels. A critical governance reform is to minimise this information asymmetry which is threatening to derail India?s inclusive capitalist development.

Therefore, the current anti-corruption campaign against the established political and business elite could be seen as eventually leading up to governance reforms which will make information and opportunity far more inclusive than they are at present. In a sense, the Congress party needs to be commended for giving the RTI legislation to this nation, even if it is making the pNational Load Dispatch CenterNational Load Dispatch CenterVBresent political class and business elite look so ugly at times.

mk.venu@expressindia.com

Get live Share Market updates, Stock Market Quotes, and the latest India News and business news on Financial Express. Download the Financial Express App for the latest finance news.

First published on: 16-10-2012 at 00:06 IST
Market Data
Market Data
Today’s Most Popular Stories ×