Once, in the past, Sri. A K Antony, our minister for defence, talked about transparency revolution undergoing in the country. During the heydays of the Anna revolt, the minister like a philosopher has reminded the whole of his political peers about the need to make public activities more transparent.
“Country is passing through a new era revolution — the transparency revolution. The walls of secrecy are crumbling in every field gradually including politics, business, administration and judiciary. Once the trend has started, you can’t stop it midway,” he observed.
Now, his own ministry is coming under public attention for wrong reasons. The Army Chief- Gen. VK Singh’s statement about bribe charges and the absence of follow up on the issue from all quarters shows that the ministry should undergo the transparency revolution of its own, and the minister himself should play a lead role.
Often, the defence purchases are accused of corruption in the past. From recruitment to procurement, the defence is the one department where corruption practices are widely prevailing according to popular perception.
Mr Antony has been posted at the ministry by the UPA to project the defence deals clean. He is a clean personality, but he can make the department clean only the he himself actively intervenes in the affairs of defence.
“All those are in key positions in India; they are still not ready for this transition…” Mr. Antony added about the transparency revolution we mentioned earlier.
Countries like China are rapidly modernizing their military infrastructure through careful moves. On the other hand, our defence department is misused by people to make illegal money. So, time has reached for us to enhance governance standard especially in matters related to national security.
The government should not continue to be a captive of corruptive practices by making mock enquiries only when such issues affect its image. Instead, it should be powerful enough to root out corruption from national safety related deals.
There is no question that the defence department is the right place to launch the transparency revolution. Is the minister powerful; or the government willing to grab the corruption monster? Need to be hopeful.
Of course, ‘the trend has started; you can’t stop it midway’, my dear government!
