NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Kerala is the most honest state... so they say

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Communist-led Kerala government's claim that corruption has been contained after it came to power in May 1996 will come for close scrutiny when the international watchdog Transparency International surveys the perception about the menace in selected government departments.

The anti-graft body's first state chapter in India, which was set up in Thiruvananthapuram recently under member of Law Commission N R Madhava Menon, plans to complete the survey in three months. Based on the results, the departments will be ranked in order of 'decreasing corruption'.

The Berlin-based non-governmental organisation has been existence for the past seven years. It is famed for its annual corruption perception index. India is one of the most corrupt nations according to its last survey.

The organisation gained in credibility when it persuaded 34 countries of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development to make it a criminal act to pay bribes to public foreign officials.

"Before this came into force in 1999, it was legal for businessmen in many countries to use bribes to obtain contracts and even to treat the expense as tax deductible," said K P Joseph, secretary of the Kerala state chapter.

Joseph, who is a former accountant general, said that the impression is that Kerala is much less corrupt than the rest of India; a survey conducted by a national magazine some time ago had found it the number one 'honest' state. "But it is dangerous to be complacent," he said.

According to him, millions have been swindled by contractors with the help of engineers and politicians in government projects and little progress has been made against legislators charged with bribery.

"Though the Lok Ayukta Act, 1999 provides for the declaration of assets by public men, this is not strictly enforced. Even now the public does not know if the declarations from the leaders have been received," he said.

Another serious problem is that the Act does not provide for verification by an independent agency of a declaration of assets to ascertain if it is correct. Nor is the declaration open for examination by the public to enable it to point out deliberate wrong statements, he pointed out.

"The declarations are now received in sealed envelopes and are not opened unless there is a complaint. All this is made much worse by the extent of benami [nameless] transactions in Kerala as in many other states. These problems have so far received no attention. The Kerala chapter proposes to examine all this in depth and suggest remedies," Joseph said.

The Communists in Kerala had come to power by declaring a war on corruption. It slapped vigilance cases against 1,905 employees in1996-97 and 2,061 in 1997-98. Vigilance officials conducted raids on the residence of 27 government employees, including on that of a former chief secretary.

Cases were also registered against seven former ministers, including former chief minister K Karunakaran. But most of these failed to stand up in court. Worse, the government withdrew several cases in the course of investigation. A vigilance judge had even complained to the Kerala chief justice against undue governmental intervention in investigations. And the high court, for its part, has directed the chief secretary to look into all such cases.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report