In both the 2G scam and CWG scam - the biggest source of public anger against government - the corruption in my opinion was an important but side issue. I believe the biggest issue was incompetence or bad policy making. I believe our anger is more than justified but that anger is misplaced. In both the CWG and 2G cases the corruption part is just a small side issue. For instance in the 2G case the biggest lose was caused by the daft policy decision of government to follow the same prices that were used in 2001 to give away telecom spectrum. They could have continued with first-come-first-serve policy but could have calculated spectrum prize with prevailing market conditions in mind, which would have resulted in significant rise in spectrum prices without the need for the telcos to raise tariffs. This was a daft policy making but it cannot be termed as corruption unless it is proven that there was some quid-pro-quo between new telecom entrants and govt. for keeping the prices at the 2001 level. The little corruption gig that Raja had going on the side where he did not follow govt's policy of first-come-first-serve entirely and did favors was the real corruption and while it was bad the real damage was done by the bad policy making in determining spectrum price rather than corruption.
Same way in CWG it is even more clear the incompetency of Kalmadi and gang and the whole games village fiasco was the real loss because it effectively defeated the whole purpose of the exercise which was to shore up brand India abroad and energize the locals and increase their confidence. It achieved exactly the opposite. The corruption part frankly nobody knows how big it was. It seems we have decided that there is some corruption that has taken place and are searching for it desperately. While the bigger issue of why the DDA and Emmar-MGF didn't finish the games village on time and with satisfactory quality (and didn't even seem to be aware of the state of condition until athletes arrived) is forgotten, we are chasing small scams, which does need to be investigated, but the incompetence at various levels that hurt us the most also need thorough investigation.
Would we have cared about the scams in CWG if the actual events had gone off perfectly and be hailed as a great success around the world? Would we be searching for scams had the headlines world over been about successful games and India's arrival at the world stage? Similarly would we be so much outraged about Raja's scams if the govt. had priced the spectrum more aligned with the market conditions? Perhaps we should have in both the cases. But the point is ultimately it is the incompetence and bad policy making or lack of good governance that hurt us the most. And our outrage should be most about that.
You may say why is it important, the govt. is getting flak regardless whether be it for corruption or bad governance. Because if you don't know what specifically ails you, you end up getting the wrong medicine. Vast populace of India doesn't know the nuances of 2G "scam" and CWG "scam". So while we did need anti-corruption crusade like Anna's because of other scams like Aadarsh and mining, we also need to improve governance by voting better people in and making them accountable. And if we have better more accountable and more responsive govt. then the corruption is naturally taken care of.
Same way in CWG it is even more clear the incompetency of Kalmadi and gang and the whole games village fiasco was the real loss because it effectively defeated the whole purpose of the exercise which was to shore up brand India abroad and energize the locals and increase their confidence. It achieved exactly the opposite. The corruption part frankly nobody knows how big it was. It seems we have decided that there is some corruption that has taken place and are searching for it desperately. While the bigger issue of why the DDA and Emmar-MGF didn't finish the games village on time and with satisfactory quality (and didn't even seem to be aware of the state of condition until athletes arrived) is forgotten, we are chasing small scams, which does need to be investigated, but the incompetence at various levels that hurt us the most also need thorough investigation.
Would we have cared about the scams in CWG if the actual events had gone off perfectly and be hailed as a great success around the world? Would we be searching for scams had the headlines world over been about successful games and India's arrival at the world stage? Similarly would we be so much outraged about Raja's scams if the govt. had priced the spectrum more aligned with the market conditions? Perhaps we should have in both the cases. But the point is ultimately it is the incompetence and bad policy making or lack of good governance that hurt us the most. And our outrage should be most about that.
You may say why is it important, the govt. is getting flak regardless whether be it for corruption or bad governance. Because if you don't know what specifically ails you, you end up getting the wrong medicine. Vast populace of India doesn't know the nuances of 2G "scam" and CWG "scam". So while we did need anti-corruption crusade like Anna's because of other scams like Aadarsh and mining, we also need to improve governance by voting better people in and making them accountable. And if we have better more accountable and more responsive govt. then the corruption is naturally taken care of.
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