Corruption: The Mother Of Poverty

HERALD

OPINION

www.oheraldo.in

Corruption: The Mother of Poverty

o= HERALD o= Vol No CIX No: 73 Goa, Saturday 14 March, 2009

Third (class) Front? 

W

hat happens when four Left parties and half a dozen regional outfits join hands on the very eve of elections to formally project themselves as an alternative to the two main contending alliances led by the Congress and BJP? You get a ‘Third Front’; the ideologically inclined Left parties in bed with mostly opportunistic elements that are unwilling to make a commitment now, in the hope that they can strike a better bargain in post-poll negotiations. That is precisely what Thursday’s grand alliance hosted by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda at Tumkur, in Karnataka – ostensibly on the plank of decentralisation of power – turned out to be. The Third Front comprises CPI(M), CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc, Telugu Desam (TDP), Telengana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Janata Dal-S (JD-S) and Bhajan Lal’s Haryana Janahit Party (HJP). Mayavati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK are also officially members. But neither of the party chiefs was present. Jayalalithaa sent one V Maitreyan, who carried a letter from the supremo saying she could not come in view of the “protests” she had undertaken in Tamil Nadu. The only protest she undertook was days ago; a single day’s working-hours ‘fast’ – from 9 am to 5 pm – to highlight the plight of Tamil citizens trapped in Sri Lanka-LTTE war. Did it leave her too weak to make the journey? Mayawati’s case was even more amusing. Insiders say she has made it clear that she will join the Front only if she is projected as its prime ministerial candidate. BSP General Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, who attended on her behalf, said so in so many words: “It is the aim of the BSP to make Mayawati Prime Minister.” Thankfully, both the TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu and JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda have said they are not prime ministerial candidates. However, no one can ever believe Deve Gowda entirely; his record in Karnataka over the last few years speaks for itself. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Naveen Patnaik, who severed ties with the BJP in Orissa recently, stayed away. Of all the ‘Third Fronts’ floated in the last two decades – the BJPsupported government led by V P Singh in 1989-90, the Congresssupported governments led by I K Gujral and Deve Gowda from 1996 to 1998, and the recent, short-lived UNPA – this one seems the most shaky. At the same time, objective conditions have never been better for a third alternative. For the last decade, the vote percentage of regional parties in national elections is rising, and national parties have become increasingly dependent on making the right partnerships to come to power. Today, both the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led UPA are in difficulties, and the voter is looking for better choices. But the operative word here is ‘better’, not just ‘choice’. What sort of front is it in which the probable projected PM candidate’s party is unwilling to enter into any kind of seat sharing arrangement with even a single of its ‘allies’? Mayawati’s BSP plans to field candidates for nearly 500 of the 542 Lok Sabha seats, barring only the North-Eastern states. The BSP will be contesting against nearly all the parties in the Third Front. In the last election, Mayavati’s BSP contested 435 seats across the country but managed to win only 19, all from Uttar Pradesh. And it is UP that is the basis of her claim to the PM’s ‘gaddi’. As her representative so cogently pointed out, the Left party ‘strongholds’ – West Bengal (42 seats), Kerala (20 seats) and Tripura (2 seats) – together have less than UP’s 80 seats. The BJP has described the launch of the Third Front as a political ‘nautanki’. The Congress has said that it is a ghost that puts in an appearance every once in a while; only to help communal forces. These may be unnecessarily unkind and factually incorrect remarks, but the point is that the Third Front is just a medley of discontented parties with ambitious but mercurial regional chieftains like Mayawati, Jayalalithaa and Gowda, which the Left is struggling to hold together. All of them want to be PM, but not a single one would be able to hold a coalition together. Post-election, it will be each one for him (her) self.

Adding Sarpanchas Sidonio Mendes, Chandor A well-documented article on grassroot empowerment (Herald, ‘Opinionated’, 6 March), by Dr J C Almeida, IAS (Retd) focuses on exemption of Zilla Panchayats in a small state like Goa, and to place his point he equates our Legislative Assembly to the Zilla Parishads of bigger states like Maharashtra. The writer, learned as he is, feels that this whole intermediary exercise could have been avoided had the Goa Government placed its proposal at appropriate time, similar to exemption agreed upon for states like Nagaland, Megahalya and Mizoram. Decades ago another such drastic event bifurcated many well-set Village Panchayats, simply because a notification created an opportunity for a segment of 2000-odd voters to have a separate Panchayat. Thereby the historical amalgamation and parochial affinity of many villages

100 Years Ago

PRIMEIRO DIARIO NAS COLONIAS PORTUGEZAS

14 March 1909 Vancouver authorities sued

Eleven persons sued the authorities of Vancouver demanding $20,000 in compensation for their criminal detentions in March 1908, under a law which was nullified at a later stage.

India following 1818 law

In the House of Commons, Mr Buchanan, replying to a series of questions, said that India is still following the Law of 1818 to prevent any internal revolt.

Atrocities in Belgian Congo

Lt Arnaud, a Belgian Officer, was sentenced to 12 years of forced labour for atrocities committed by him in Congo.

Trident-bearing Bose arrested

Kedar Nath Bose was arrested on the last Sunday night when he was stealthily following a Sub-Inspector of Police, armed with a trident, and bent on harming him.

Pg8

Corruption always causes poverty, since the losses caused by it are invariably greater than its gains, says TEOTÓNIO R DE SOUZA

A

ntónio Barreto, a prominent Portuguese sociologist and political analyst, sounded a grim warning, in his weekly Sunday column of the popular Portuguese daily Público of 8 March 2009, to the growing number of the Portuguese who tend to believe that there are better values than being honest or regard as naïve those few who still cherish honesty. I liked his quote from the old philosopher Socrates to remind the Portuguese that if the dishonest had discovered the advantages of being honest, they would grab it, even be it for dishonesty’s sake! A pretty suave manner of marketing honesty to the dishonest in the land of “brandos costumes”. I wish to present here some random reflections and some conclusions drawn from a PhD thesis that was successfully defended last week by Armando Rui Teixeira Santos, Professor in the Department of Law at the Universidade Lusófona (Lisboa), a long-time journalist and owner of the weekly Semanário since 1993. I was invited to be the research guide of this thesis in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. The theme selected for research was “The Political Economy of Corruption: The case of Lusophone States”, a fascinating subject that has been causing heartache in these times of worldwide crisis. None will disagree that corruption is not the exclusive domain of any scientific area, though politicians may rightfully lay a greater claim to it. The thesis was a multidisciplinary exercise, sharing conceptual tools from Political Science, Economics, Law, and History. My defense of the concept of the ‘History of the Present’ may explain my interest and justify my involvement in research projects of this type. It represents also my efforts for discovering Portugal to Me. I had already guided the candidate in his MPhil dissertation a couple of years ago, and it turned out to be the first analysis of the kind undertaken in Portugal outside the realm of legal studies. The onset of the financial crisis motivated me to take up the theme for a deeper analysis in a PhD thesis. To recall what I wrote thirty years ago in my doctoral thesis published as Medieval Goa (New Delhi, Concept, 1979, pp 152-153): “If the decline of the city (Goa, the capital of the Portuguese eastern empire) was gradual and the breakdown was never complete, this was due to the resilience its organisation had achieved. It was its constitutionally determined corruption that kept the Estado da Índia from falling apart.” That organisational and

HISTORICAL EXPLORATIONS constitutional corruption could not leave the judicial system untouched. Diogo do Couto, the Portuguese chronicler and founder of the Goa Historical Archives, was writing in the early seventeenth century that in Goa “one who has more power can have more justice and this cobweb does not catch anything else than mosquitoes; a Gujarati is arrested and condemned for squatting while urinating; a Hindu is put in irons for quarrelling with another of his kind or for abusing him; but if a favourite of the authorities or a wealthy person breaks open the safes of a Hindu and takes away his goods by violence, it is considered a light issue and permissible.” It was not without good reason that among Goans who migrated to Mangalore it was common to curse and wish ill to someone by saying: Goyncho nyai tumcha matear poddum (May the justice from Goa fall upon your head), because it could be an endless procedure that would lead nowhere, but would not fail to exhaust those involved and their material resources. One of the key issues to be studied in the PhD

Election Time

Tongue in Cheek

T

his happened five years ago. The chap at our doorstep looked quite familiar. I was a bit puzzled. I asked my better half if she could place the guy. She seemed more puzzled than me. Yes, now I remembered. I had seen him quit a few times on the local TV channels. Yes, you have guessed it right. He was indeed our local politician. The reason he was at our doorstep? When elections are close by, the politicians cannot be far away. Indeed elections have a great levelling effect. It is during this time that our politicians identify themselves with the aam aadmi (and aam aurat). Elections are round the corner once again. That is the only time the common man gets to shake hands, and probably even hug, these now powerless people who hope to be in power again very soon. Having said that, elections mean different things to different people. For the politicians, of course, there are hectic days ahead. Knocking on every door in the locality is no mean task. The response of the aam aadmi varies from not opening the door at all to welcoming the guest with open arms. Some may even click snaps along with the politicians. The photography session will be an exercise in futility if he is not elected. All this running about could take a toll of these politicians. Many could be shedding a considerable amount of body weight. But then, once in power, there will always be time to regain the weight and even improve on

was disturbed, and it looked as if the only fancy of some hotheads was for the numeral ‘paanch’. In no way has this segmentation of Panchayats helped Goa in its development, other than adding a few more Sarpanchas, and consequently maybe a few more marriage proposals. And the major contribution of this episode of segmentation of Panchayats in Goa we see today is the “felicity” of toppling games.

Vote – but for whom? Marcos Alemao, Varca I gracefully accept the recommendations of our beloved Archbishop Filipe Neri to cast our votes for the party which is more secular and corruption-free and which will rule the country without any discrimination among citizens (Herald, 8 Mar). But which party? Congress? BJP? Both are not reliable parties. The Congress party, which claims to be secular, is not really so. There is no security to the Christians in our country under Congress rule. The Congress party in Goa is an anti-Goans’ party and also most corrupt. On the other hand, the BJP is a well-known communal party which promotes only Hindutva. I feel that the candidates contesting as independents or under regional outfits will do better than these national parties. They are free to join or support any party which is broadminded and secular.

Entirely between them Nataline Gomes, Panjim Apropos Vikram Varma’s letter to the editor (Herald, 4 Mar), defending the legality of the ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act, I fully endorse and support his view that the ordinance was perfectly legal and within the ambit of the Constitution. Firstly, it is blatantly wrong to call it the ‘Cidade Ordinance’. Though this might appear juicy to headline writers, this is an ordinance which will correct past wrongs and ensure that if land has been acquired and given to a party, it is entirely between the government and the party. A personal dislike for a company or its owners cannot be an excuse for bashing anyone who defends them. In this case, Varma only pointed to the spirit of the Constitution, which makes passing this ordinance completely legal. Too bad

research under review was to know if the long Portuguese experience in corruption in its Asiatic empire, covered by the MPhil dissertation and now included as one of the three long appendices of the PhD thesis, made Portugal immune and resistant, or rather more fragile in the context of the new crises. Basing himself upon the findings contained in the reports of the Bank of Portugal, the reports of the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index and upon a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) poll specially structured for the purpose of this study, the researcher comes to the conclusion that Portugal is not more corrupt than Italy, Spain or most East European Countries. He points out that in Western democracies there is a nexus between the media and scandals that are perversely used to magnify and project “scandals of corruption” in order to make political gains. Most noises subside after electoral gains are assured. Curiously, nearly 70 per cent of the respondents confirmed this trend and considered the political

leaders and sports barons as the most corrupt. It was also interesting to note, that despite new legislation to curb corruption during the past decade, including the creation of a Council for Prevention of Corruption, the corruption has only increased. So much so that Portugal fell in the ranking from 28th to 32nd place from 2007 to 2008. From among the other Lusophone countries, Macau ranks 43, Cape Verde 47, Brazil 80, S. Tomé e Príncipe 121, Mozambique 126, East Timor 145, and Guinea-Bissau and Angola 158. One of the most interesting features of the thesis is where it seeks to prove that corruption always causes poverty. This is illustrated with a diagram, where the losses caused by corruption (triangle represents the dead-weight) are shown as always greater than the gains of corruption. It is also concluded that there is a correspondence between the transparency rankings of the countries and their respective GNP, excepting cases like Angola and Timor, both oil producers with patrimonial income that do not need to overburden the citizens with taxes. In the case of Macau the income from casinos has a similar effect as in the previous two cases. For the rest, there is normally a correspondence between the levels of corruption and the levels of GNP. The levels of corruption are also reflected in other indices of public welfare or lack of it, such as education, health, civil liberties, etc, to which the Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has drawn the attention of the world in recent times. The great challenge facing the world is now linked with the State initiatives to nationalise banks and engage in Keynesian projects. But are the governments prepared to check themselves while seeking to check the financial institutions? That’s what the next April summit of G20 will have to find out. In the case of Portugal, it has fine legislation, has entered the path of good democratic practices, there is no spiral of corruption to point to, but political stability and laxity of controls of democratic politics, and the old tradition of counting on “padrinho”, lead to a low and chronic or endemic type of corruption. Congratulations to Dr Armando Rui Teixeira Santos for his insightful and courageous analysis, and I wish him fresh insights and courage following his participation during the coming weeks in the Georgetown Leadership Seminar of Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington DC. A rare and privileged opportunity indeed, but well earned.

it. Hard work for a fortnight or so can mean a life of luxury for the next five years, till the next elections. It is also a time when candidates make tall promises and long speeches. “Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him,” wrote Charles De Gaulle. For the party leaders it is all about bargaining and seat-adjustments. No leader worth his salt would like to win fewer seats (because of seat-adjustments) than their party could otherwise win. Hence the principle of give-and-take comes into force. For the party workers it is work time once again. It also time to pocket a pocketful of crisp notes. It is all about making hay while the sun shines. After all, the politicians cannot survive without these cronies and the musclemen who parade as party-workers. For these party workers it is work during the day, and at night it is party time. That is probably why the nomenclature ‘party worker’ suits them just fine. Well, the model code of conduct does come into force. It would be in the fitness of things to also have a moral code of conduct for most of our politicians contesting the elections. Indeed they would do well with a lesson or two on morality. Once the model code of conduct comes into force, nothing, absolutely nothing, can be depicted by the politicians that will even remotely remind the electorate of the party the candidate belongs to. But then today’s

Inconsiderate driving

J Sonnex, Cansaulim

It has been mentioned in Herald recently that Goa is set to improve the condition of its roads in order to lower the number of road accidents. May I venture to suggest that in order to help prevent the increasing number of accidents, it is not the roads that are in severe need of improvement but the majority of people using them. People drive without due care, displaying a lack of even basic common sense when they are behind a wheel. There isn’t any lane sense, main roads are total chaos, and even on narrow country roads, oncoming vehicles hog the road and rarely slow down. Drivers turning right do so on the wrong side of the road, thus forcing any approaching vehicle to slow, or stop, even though they have right of way. Two-wheeler riders use mobiles, ride two abreast, and also drive in the centre of the road, only occasionally producing a hand signal when turning. All vehicles pull into main roads without even slowing at junctions, often without looking. Riders do not wear protective head gear. Often, mum, dad and two or three children are carried merrily along on a bike, regardless of the dangers, as dad happily weaves in and out of the traffic. Pedestrians stroll casually, sometimes three or four abreast. Motorists do not halt at road junctions and pedestrian crossings. On overtaking and finding they cannot go ahead because of oncoming traffic, they cut back into the flow without any care, forcing the vehicle behind them to brake. No-entry signs are completely ignored. Before improving roads, improve every driver’s road sense. Insist on proper tests, observing traffic signs, being courteous to other road users, pedestrians included. Dogs and livestock are not the problem. Narrow country roads are not the problem. But driving without any consideration for others, driving at night without lights, often while wearing dark clothing, driving erratically in the centre of the road, without using basic common sense – these are the root causes of all accidents. Until people learn to drive properly and with care, many more lives will have been lost to selfish, inconsiderate people, and many more will be injured unnecessarily by those who think they own the road immediately they find themselves behind a wheel. Consideration and care at all times ought to be every single road user’s mantra. Goa is picturesque, and the country roads part of its appeal. Is it too much to ask of those using the roads to treat others with care and respect?

Tourism vs culture Viraj Dessai, Quepem

Due to boost to the tourism industry, social and cultural values in Goa are badly affected. I am of the opinion that tourism is responsible for eroding Goan culture. Under the pretext of promoting tourism, the ecological balance of this land is being damaged. There are encroachments on the coast, government reserve forests, destruction of mangroves, etc. Illegal constructions are rising rapidly.

politicians have discovered other ways of wooing the voters. One way is to send SMS to the voters after the party-workers have made a list of the mobile numbers of the voters. So just as we have a voters’ list, we also have a list of the mobile numbers of the voters. Elections are the one time when we hear about the Chief Election Commissioners and other election commissioners. They go into oblivion after the elections, till the next elections. What do elections mean to the aam aadmi? Many would consider it a waste of public money as mostly the same corrupt faces come back to power at every election by hook or by crook. Some are hardly bothered about the elections, as they go on with their everyday lives. There are also those who watch the tamasha as politicians engage in party hopping and have strange bedfellows. It is rightly said that in politics there are neither permanent friends nor permanent enemies, only permanent interests. Yesterday’s enemy could be today’s friend and probably tomorrow’s enemy again. And when it is voting day some are grateful for the elections as they get an extra holiday in the calendar year. They probably even head to the beach or just laze in bed the whole day without exercising their franchise. But the multitude of voters think it is their moral duty and responsibility to cast their vote. Yes, indeed, every vote does count. Your vote can bring about a change. So vote you must! 

Letters to the Editor

Letter of the Day

that some people are uncomfortable with it.

By Adelmo Fernandes

Golden Goa is fast becoming a centre of international drug trafficking. In every city there are so many liquor shops and bars, giving a boost to the liquor trade in the name of promoting tourism. The easy and widespread availability of alcohol is playing havoc with Goan youth. Chewing paan and gutka, and then spitting in public places is the bad gift of tourists to us. There are many illegal activities goes on like gambling, molestation of minor children, etc. Even though the government may get revenue from it, tourism is turning into a means for eroding Goan culture.

Tottering Pakistan Michael Vaz, Merces Pakistan today is in worse shambles than ever before. An uneasy democracy on the brink of collapse is loosely holding the shattered country together. There is utter chaos and the rule of law seems to be eroding treacherously. Though Pakistan is our immediate neighbour it has never enjoyed democracy in its true sense. Whenever a civilian government has been set up after tremendous extraneous pressure, especially from the West, it has survived in patches and that too shakily. The Taliban has been wielding its clout over Pakistan as never before. After successfully taking control over the Swat valley it has been eyeing Peshawar as its next target, which could bring it closer to the Pakistani capital. That can pose a potential danger not only to Pakistan and its neighbours but to the whole world as well. With the state of affairs across the country it won’t be a surprise if the military would take over Pakistan once again.

Love affair with Goa Alf Tupper, UK/Goa Many congratulations and thanks on your editorial re the Russian land racketeers (Herald, 7 March). This was the first piece of positive journalism to be published about the long and very worrying problems facing foreigners who have bought property in Goa, and followed all the guidelines and advice given by Goan advocates, builders and developers alike.This situation has damaged Goa’s reputation in the UK. The Goan government should now publicly declare an amnesty on all illegal threats of confiscations of FN property and at least give those involved some breathing space. A joint committee could be then set up between the lawyers acting for the foreigners involved and the government, and perhaps call in the services of the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Council, which would end this nightmare we are enduring. As well documented, the foreigners involved are in the main aged 50+ and not troublemakers or drug barons, just ordinary people who fell in love with Goa many years ago and wish for that love affair to continue.

Words of Wisdom

Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach’s bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull is an uplifting fable of a seagull, Jonathan, who decides he is much more than just a seagull, who wants something else out of life. It consists of fewer than 100 pages, including many dreamy photographs of gulls in action. The book is now a symbol of the alternative or New Age spirituality that emerged in the 1970s – yet, as many have noted, Jonathan’s experience in the story is an allegory for the life of Jesus Christ. Jonathan is different from other birds in his flock: “For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.” His father tells him that “The reason you fly is to eat”, and that flying for the sake of it is not done. Jonathan spends his days experimenting with high-speed dives and flying very low over the water. One day he tries a dive, and is able to accelerate to a hundred and forty miles per hour, “a gray cannonball under the moon”. The next day, he goes even beyond this, over two hundred miles per hour, the fastest a gull had ever flown. Yet, the next day, Jonathan is summoned to stand before the gull Council. For his ‘reckless irresponsibility’ he is shamed and banished from the flock. He is told he does not understand the purpose of gull life – to eat to stay alive as long as possible. Jonathan later meets a group of more advanced gulls, gulls like him who fly for the sake of it. They take him into another dimension, a sort of heaven for gulls, and he is told that he is a one-in-a-million gull, because he has learned the lesson of life: that it is not just to ‘get through’ but to seek your own perfection in some way. It is easy now, 35 years on, to overlook the originality of the book’s concept, and though some find it rather naïve, in fact it expresses timeless ideas about human potential. Like the British explorer of the same name, Jonathan Livingston knows that “The gull sees farthest who flies highest”. If pondering big changes in your life, this book may inspire the confidence you need.

Printed and published by Vinayak Pai Bir for and on behalf of Herald Publications Pvt Ltd. Printed at Herald Publications Pvt Ltd, Plot No: L-135, Phase II, Verna Industrial Estate, Verna, Salcete, Goa. Published at PO Box 160, Rua Sao Tome, Panjim, Goa - 403001. Editor-in-chief: Mr R F Fernandes. Editor: Ashwin Tombat (Responsible under PRB Act). Regd Office: St Tome Road, Panjim, Goa. Tel: 2224202, 2228083, Fax: 2222475 (all Editorial); 2230535, Fax: 2225622 (Advertising); Margao: 2737689. Mumbai Office: 16-A, Bell Building, 2nd Floor, 19 Sir PM Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400001 (Tel: 22840702/22844908). RNI No: 43667/83. HOW TO CONTACT US: [email protected] — For press notes, general queries. [email protected] — Junior Herald. [email protected] — Sunday Mirror. [email protected] — For Reporters. [email protected] — For Business news. [email protected] — For Letters to the Editor. [email protected] — For Sports news. [email protected] — For Advertisements. [email protected] — For Herald 2day. [email protected] — For Tiatr Reviews and Reports