India witnessed a public outcry against corruption across the country in 2011 and the capital Delhi became a symbol of the anti-graft crusade. In the years preceding the 2011 anti-corruption protests, there were examples of alleged corruption in the country including the Adarsh Housing Society Scam of Mumbai, the Radia tapes controversy and the 2G spectrum case. All of these time and again receive a mention in the political discourse even today. The 2011 India Against Corruption movement led to the downfall of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by the Congress. The party since has not been able to recover from the political debacle.
The Right to Information (RTI) Act of 2005 and the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) played a crucial role in indicting the UPA government and its ministers. Fast forward to the present day and one would be surprised that the same laws that strengthened the people with power to question the government’s acts of commission and omission are being restrained.
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According to a report, in the calendar year 2023, only 18 audit reports on the Union government’s accounts, prepared by the CAG, were tabled in Parliament. A year-wise analysis showed that the number of audits on the Centre tabled in Parliament has been decreasing for consecutive years. On an average, 22 reports were tabled each year between 2019 and 2023, compared to the 40 reports tabled between 2014 and 2018. The number of reports tabled peaked in 2015 at 53, but in four of the past six years, 20 or fewer reports were tabled. This points to less scrutiny of the government’s policies and execution.
Again a report in October 2023 informed that more than 3.21 lakh appeals and complaints were pending in 27 State Information Commissions across the country and the backlog has been steadily increasing.
When the world was facing the global pandemic of Covid-19, the Centre was in the eye of a storm over the controversial Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund. The PM-CARES, which was set up in March 2020, has been caught in controversy because it has avoided public scrutiny and receipt of funds from foreign entities, including Chinese companies. The status of PM CARES has been controversial for its nature and the lack of transparency around it. In January last year, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) told the Delhi High Court that the PM CARES Fund is not a “public authority” under Article 12 of the Constitution of India and so is not answerable to the public about its functioning under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
However, government-run listed firms have contributed nearly Rs 3,000 crore between 2020 and 2022 to the controversial PM-CARES Fund.
India ranked 93 out of 180 countries on the corruption perceptions index for 2023, according to a Transparency International report. The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people. In 2022, India ranked 85 out of 180 countries, the slide is significant.
The latest to add to the controversy of transparency is the issue of Electoral Bonds, which the Supreme Court of India has scrapped now and the State Bank of India has been directed to furnish details of the donors who purchased the bonds and the political parties that received these donations. There has been a concerted effort by the SBI to try and avoid providing full details about the donors, donations and the political parties receiving these donations. And quite clearly the largest beneficiary has been the ruling dispensation.
From sending a government home on alleged corruption charges to re-electing a government for withholding information on party funds, India’s democracy from sprinting has been crawling on transparency.
