MM : We need sting operations that expose naked corruption : Oct 22,2007
Emperor’s new clothes
We need sting operations that expose the naked corruption of leaders and public servants
Fables and stories heard in childhood convey a lot of morals which we discover again and again in the course of our life. One such story which I find particularly relevant is the story about the Emperor’s new clothes. So much hype, spin and conditioning had been done by confidence tricksters in the story that the entire city believed that the emperor was wearing very costly thin clothes. Until an innocent child pointed out that the emperor did not have any clothes at all! The story highlights the power of persuasion or “branding” in the modern lingo of advertising which leads to group-think. It requires a dramatic expose to discover the truth behind the hype. Sting operations provide such expose.
Information technology and the umpteen 24-hour news channels today are creating a lot of hype about things about which we generally would not bother. The search for the Indian Idol is one. In spite of their track record of failure when it comes to predicting election results, all of us still dutifully watch the talking heads punditing and analysing the opinion polls, exit polls and what not.
One contribution of modern technology to our public life is the use of sting operations. In their race for TRPs, news channels have cottoned on to the sting as a staple diet. Tehelka.com set the precedent for this new trend. The expose of Tehelka.com on 13th February, 2001, forced the then government to go on the back-foot. Instead of looking into the basic facts about corruption in defence deals and politics which the sting operation revealed, the government on a defensive mode set out to instead investigate how the whole sting operation was financed and conducted. Buddha had observed years ago, “When the finger points to the moon, the fools look at the finger”.
As a former Central Vigilance Commissioner, I am fascinated by the tremendous potential of the mobile phones with cameras. These have become quite affordable. Armed with this tool, every citizen can become, in effect, a citizen journalist. In alliance with news channels, anyone can conduct a sting operation and expose corruption. I am not for a moment arguing that we must all become blackmailers. Blackmailing also seems to be taking place, as revealed in the case about a lady school teacher in Delhi who was allegedly forcing school girls into prostitution. What I am arguing for, is the type of successful sting operations which expose the naked corruption of our leaders and public servants. Let us not forget that it was a sting operation that resulted in 11 Members of Parliament being expelled from the House on the question of demanding money for asking questions in Parliament. We need more of this type of sting operations. In spite of our slowmoving judiciary, sting operations seem to have the potential for imposing immediate corrective action, when corruption is exposed.
We all know that the statement that the camera does not lie is no longer true. The cameras can lie convincingly. Nevertheless, in a vast illiterate country like India, the TV has become ubiquitous. It has immediate and nation-wide reach. Thanks to the electronic media, if a child falls in a well in a village in Haryana, within hours the whole nation can follow the exciting story of the rescue operation. The immediacy and impact of the TV is what makes even the slowmoving judiciary sit up and take notice. As our political leaders run our democracy on the basis of black money, they will never be committed to eliminate corruption. Any politician today thinks to fight corruption and eliminate it is in fact committing political harakiri. Hence, it is non-political players like the citizen, judiciary and the media who must fight it. The time has come for all citizens, armed with a cellphone camera to show that the emperor is not wearing any clothes!
Armed with a cellphone with a camera, any citizen can become in effect, a citizen journalist
In the last decade, N Vittal, the former CVC, emerged as the voice of our collective conscience. This is his weekly take on public life in India
Publication:Mumbai Mirror ; Date:Oct 22, 2007; Section:Views; Page Number:31
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