New Delhi
Those of you who can smile should smile. I remember journalist-turned-neta M J Akbar who had said long back, in Nagaland payments are made for works done in heaven.
Chingwang Konyak and his outfit, NDPP, should smile all the more and of course Congress in Nagaland needs Rahul Gandhi to revive Congress and ensure return to the golden period.
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| A Naga villager: File snap |
Now the CAG report says, the Joint Physical Verification (JPV) in December 2020 by the Audit along with the Departmental officials (EE, SDO and Junior Engineer) revealed several discrepancies.
"It found that the contractor did not execute five items of works valued at Rs 1.15 crore whereas, the contractor was paid for execution of all the items of works by recording fictitious entries in the Measurement Book".
The CAG noted that the department made an excess payment of Rs 1.15 crore to the contractor without actual execution of the aforementioned items of works. The work which was stipulated to be completed by November 2019 remained incomplete even after a lapse of 30 months (that is by May 2022).
This means effectively I am back in the corridors of the old Nagaland assembly. Such a CAG report was placed and opposition MLAs would be jumping and roaring in the 1990s. The government of the day was embarrassed.
Chief Minister S C Jamir would be dutifully encircled by K Therie and Neiphiu Rio. Speaker was Neiba Ndang, a first time MLA.
Do you know who came to the rescue of the ruling dispensation on one such occasion? The then chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) K V Pusa, also an Independent legislator.
As an unattached MLA, K L Chishi was up on his feet saying the PAC reports mentioned the shortcomings in certain departments. Chishi had fallen from Jamir's grace and was dropped as Finance Minister. Pusa, generally a reasonable legislator, had come out with a rather unusual argument.
"Speaker Sir, I will request you to intervene and not allow any discussion on the CAG report until the PAC has examined them". Guess what next - the Speaker readily agreed and disallowed any reference to the CAG reports.
Chishi was angry and he said, "why then these reports are placed on the floor of the House". Neiba Ndang countered, "No member should challenge the ruling of the chair". Chishi was again furious. He was up on his feet and said, "Sir, I may be wrong but rules must be adhered to".
'Nagaland Page'
NPC parliamentary secretary R Paphino later told me, "It is unfortunate what is placed on the House is not being discussed". Outside the assembly I met Pusa and his friend Z Lohe was alongside.
I told them, why such a ridiculous stance on the floor of the House. Pusa was only smiling, he said, "I will offer you a lift to All India Radio". Lohe too was smiling and he simply said, "At least he (Pusa) prevented the embarrassment for the government". By 1998, Pusa was back in Congress and became a Minister too.
This was an interesting anecdote which always made me think the CAG report is essentially toothless. Around 2010 and 2011, I was in Delhi covering Parliament and again the CAG had made headlines. The clean image of Dr Manmohan Singh was thrashed. The 2G and Coalgate scams surfaced and both alluded to the CAG reports.
In one case the estimated loss to the state exchequer was Rs 1.76 lakh crore and in the coal scam, the allegation was of about Rs 1.86 lakh crore.
Like my friends in Nagaland for months the ruling Congress leaders and
Manmohan Singh's ministers thought these CAG reports would only be making headlines for some weeks and will slowly vanish from public memory.
Kapil Sibal dismissed both the scams and came out with his theory of zero losses in both. Digvijaya Singh sounded more personal against the then CAG Vinod Rai and claimed that the latter was ambitious to please BJP as he was promised something big in return.
The rest is history. Unlike Nagaland, the media and the opposition in national politics did not sit idle and created hungama over CAG reports and the corruption scandals stuck to Congress and the grand old party was ousted in 2014.
The moral of the lesson is the most important message - the CAG papers may appear toothless, the public perception is not. Nagaland can bank on this golden rule of democracy - the need to create a public perception.
On this backdrop, I ought to refer to what Editor, 'Nagaland Page', Monalisa Changkija said in a piece (published April 2, 2023) that there was a time when people spoke against 'Indian elections' and the political system corrupting Nagas. But it is also vanishing slowly. I say, now the 'festival' comes every five years!
In Nagaland and also elsewhere corruption is seen as a chicken-and-egg story. Is the society corrupt due to political leaders or leaders and Babus are corrupt because the society pushes them towards that?
Well, corruption might have been imported in Nagaland from New Delhi and from the 'plains' that is the rest of India; but can such a thing survive if people did not want to be corrupt?
ends
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