Omesh Saigal is a 1st class
engineering graduate (1962) from IIT, Kharagpur and an IAS of 1964 batch.
Whether General V K Singh’s
sudden public revelation of the bribe offer, a year and a half after it was
made, was the deft move of an ex-commando or the innocent protest against
civilian apathy of a third generation soldier….well, let future historians
decide. For me, though, it is a bold effort of a person who stands for probity
and honesty and, maybe, it is a blow against the ‘consultants’ and middlemen
ridden world into which the bureaucrat has to tread. I wish I had shown
just a part of his courage when confronted with a similar situation.
I had just cleared my files
as in walked an Member of Parliament who, though then in the Rajya Sabha from
Uttar Pradesh, earlier represented Delhi, a state where I had spent the bulk of
my working years. It was soon clear that he was here to request for
postponement of an order for embossing a certain statutory warning on cola
bottles, which, if implemented, would cost several crores of rupees to his
bottling company. “We met the minister”, he declared, “he is clear that he will
do as advised by you.” His statement did not surprise me; a minister is
supposed to be guided by the departmental secretary. What he said next took my
goat. “How much do you think the minister will want?” he asked suddenly. It was
all so matter of fact that I didn’t even think there was something amiss. “Why
don’t you ask his private secretary?” was my simple retort. For a moment he may
have been taken aback but soon he quipped. “Okay, Mr Saigal….tell me how much do you
want?”
My response, though instant, was quite
different from the General’s ‘Get out’ reaction. I sprung up in my seat:
“Slap me as hard as you can, Mr….!” And, before the taken-aback MP could react,
I went on: “That will cause me less pain than your query.” With just a moment’s
respite, I went on: “With my retirement just a couple of months away, I was
happy in the thought that at least I could spend my old age narrating stories
about my integrity and probity and the fact this was appreciated and accepted
by all. But, sir, you have shattered that dream. I have nothing left to count
now but my meagre retirement benefits, that won’t even buy me a two-bedroom
flat in Faridabad.”
I salute the solder
in General Singh for having the guts to disclose a fact like this while still
in service because I have been able to do so only now, a full 10 years into my
retirement.
The relationship between the Babu and Bribe
has always been intimate, almost like the left hand to the right. My father,
who joined the imperial services way back in the Twenties of the last century,
often joked: “The corrupt person is a ‘dohathad’ (two-handed)… he takes his
salary with the right and uses the left to collect the balai money
(bribe).”
In the ‘good’ old days the
bribe was really of the nature of bakshish, a voluntary payment by the
beneficiary. Even the British had found a way to ‘reward’ officers who spent
almost their entire lives honestly serving the king and country. Just a few
years before their retirement, they were seconded to the political service and
appointed as agents in one of the princely states. It was a tradition to
give dalis during Christmas. Naturally, the dali had to
measure up to the ruler’s self perception and meant a substantial
pre-retirement bonus for the officer.
Both the balai and
the dali had one thing in common: they were voluntary. And
that was essentially the nature of bribes that babus took. I found this early
in my career, during my first posting in Hamirpur, UP. During tea with the SDO
of the PWD, he had a visitor. Hardly any words were exchanged and the chap left
leaving a few hundred rupee notes on the table. “Did he owe you the money?” I
queried. “No, no”, quick came the reply; “this is my consultancy fee”.
Seeing the puzzled look on my face, he continued: “You know the doctor, sees
your pulse, tells you the medicine…and you pay him. Same with the lawyer….”.
“But what advise did you give him?” I asked, still not clear what he meant.
“Arre what else… I told him how to get his bill passed and to seamlessly get
the cheque.”
It is not that all people
who made balai were ‘consultants’. The SDO himself narrated the case of an
engineer who cheats on cement and steel. “You know what happened to him?” The
SDO confided. “A bridge made by him fell down and he is still serving a jail
sentence!” He himself never let such events cloud his ‘consultancy’.
Another version of the
‘consultant’ was the babu in Akbar’s court who refuses to give up his corrupt
ways even after umpteen transfers from one job to another. A not very amused
emperor orders his transfer to the farther most corners of the empire. His
duty: count the waves. It is not funny how he converted this too into a money
making venture by not letting ships come in (of course without paying) as it
would disturb the waves he was counting.
This guy may have thought
of himself as a genius but he had yet to reckon with the 2G guys of our time.
At least he could see the waves; the latter, who probably made more money than
Akbar himself, was dealing with a much more invisible and insubstantial entity.
Whether the changeover from
dali-balai to multi crore scams was seamless or can be pinned on a particular person
or persons, there is no doubt the old order has changed and has yielded place
to the new. The new order has given a new meaning to the word ‘consultant’, a
meaning that will shake the old Hamirpur SDO out of his dhoti.
Whatever the consultant may
appear on paper or through is CV, he is nothing but a middleman, an agent. His
job is to get the contract awarded and then execute it through third
parties….after retaining a substantial cut for himself and, of course, for the
babu who facilitated his ‘consultancy’ in the first place.
The consultants have made
it big now. In fact so big that they walk into offices of highly placed
functionaries as was done in my case by the MP and in the case of the General
by a highly ranked retired officer of the services. If Anna Hazare has made a big mark by
pointing out to the need of reining in the babu through the aegis of the
Lokpal, General Singh has sounded a
powerful cautionary note to the babu to beware of the army of touts and agents,
whatever they may call themselves.
Apart from whatever
he may have done in the Rajput Regiment, this
will be the greatest service the General has done to promote probity in the bureaucracy.
Omesh Saigal is former chief
secretary, Delhi and secretary to Government of India.
GREAT ! How simply and aptly expressed !
ReplyDelete.Different people will take different inferences and lessons from the write up . there are many who would be like those consultants ,or the officer in the court of AKBAR and some of them do fine tune their methods and also invent new ways to pursue - consultancy like methods and also use both hands and others hands . ALSO, electronic transfer /credit into their and their friends, NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTS and all those banking facilities are made convenient .
Further, V D S ( voluntary disclosure scheme ) is enacted by FINANCE MINISTER ( few are conspicuous ) of this GREAT NATION -every few years or whenever they want to legalise illegitimate wealth of their &friends,relations,supporters...etc.
WITH MY LIMITED KNOWLEDGE I WONDER ,HOW CAN ANY (HOW POSSIBLE ???)BODY MULTIPLY THEIR MONEY (WEALTH ) SO FAST EVERY YEAR BY MULTIPLICATION FACTOR OF 1 TO ,SAY 20 AND MORE STILL ESCAPE LAW OF LAND (despite existence of IT and other laws.). ??????????????????? All these scams in the media and public knowledge. WHY AND HOW THEY ARE NOT NOTICED ON THE POWERFUL NETWORK OF RADAR SCREENS of COMPUTERS OF RESERVE BANK,REVENUE INTELLIGENCE,ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE, VIGILANCE,CBI, FINANCE MINISTRY,............etc.
Firstly, the law is suitably made-tailored for convenience and prosperity of these consultants and business empires. secondly the law implementing offices /officers are suitably placed . After all who are making LAWS and who are implementing those laws ????
STILL , THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WHO WALK ON THIS EARTH WITH THOSE PRINCIPLES AND HONEST LIVING .-like those persons ref and many more. Well,their numbers may be diminishing- but there are and many youth do emulate from such people.
This sort of write up from elders is GREAT SERVICE to the NATION they live/lived.
WHEN A PERSON IS BORN HE CAME EMPTY HANDED AND WHEN HE LEAVES THE EARTH ,HE GOES EMPTY HANDED..............Geeta.
still,considerable %.