***No law can hr foolproof, nor cun ruler cover every eventuality. All those engaged in high business or placed at top positions have to realise that certain thingr art not done. This is not the question of morality but of norms that the people of an organised society have to follow for their common good.

INDIA'S btggeal poat inde pcndence Mandal of bank securities ecam has cro* wd the figure of Ra 5.500 crore, nearly 80 time* more than the Bofora gun ktckbacka. which coat the Congreaa (II power in 198# The Central . Bureau of Invest lotion (CHI) had initially estimated the Main at Ra 3.500 crore it ha* raised the amount by Ra 2.000 crore after aubaequent dtocki sure* Income-tax authorities, also trying to trace where the money la parked, still believe that ihetr original calculation of Ra 8,000 crore would come true.

Both of them, however, agree on the way adopted lo transact dubious deals They believe' — one committee has endorsed their findings - that the bull was act rolling by the public sector undertakings, which passed on deposits run ning into thousands of crores of rupees to certain banks They, in turn, made the money available to the selected bro kers. who channelised tt lo the slock market.

The finance ministry, which cume to know what was hap ping quite early, preferred to keep quiet. Slung by the ertti ctsm ol economic reforms, it considered the boom in shares a public rebuff lo those who were picking holes in the policy No remedial action was taken. Even S Venkitaraman. then the Reserve Bank gowr nor. who was not above suspt cion, was retained lest his re-nvival should In any way create doubts in the minds of aid going countries or the tn vectors from abroad. "We did not want to take any further beating," says a top finance ministry official. Indeed, India's stock had sagged at ihat lime due to the disclosure* of dishonest deals.

IMt it was not only the fi nance ministry which was at rophied. The entire govern nient. more so the ruling Cougrcss party, did not know which part of disclosures II should own and which part 11 should reject Practically all economic ministries were In volved in one way or the other. Prime Minister Narastmha Rao preferred lo await the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee UPC), appointed to probe 11k* scandal

Ram Niwas Mlrdha, a Congress (I) member. who heads the JPC, says that the scum is much more Ihan a mere crime Strange no at tion was taken even when the complicity of a union cabinet minister was apparent, he con ttnucs lo be a minister Similarly, one minister was let off by mere resignation, although there was little- doubt that he had purchased certain shares at par. Rs 10 each, when the market price was 15 times more. A lew bureaucrats have resigned but only after the disclosures at the JPC’sittings. Others, who had no con-_ vincing defence for not acting when they should have or for acting in a particular manner, continue lo occupy key positions.

It is the same nonchalant altitude when It comes to the bureaucrats who have thetr near relations In foreign banks, which account for two per cent business in the country and which handled 50 per cent of transactions in the

scam There Is no proposal to even 'question the officers concerned, much less to pul them on Ihc mat. Even the half hearted measures, dis c ussed to dilute the prac tice, leave been abandoned

"We are a soft stale, says a JPC member He was referring Ip Gunnar Myidal s observation in his Aslan Dranin, that western theories, models and concepts have distorted the study of economic development in India by separating economic

theories from the radically different environment in atti tudes, cultures sad institutions.

I do not think the statement made In the context of sluggish economic growth can be stretched to cover corruption or fraud. In any case. they are not part of our culture Institution* have got devalued, thanks to the type of Indira Gandhi s governance and they are. indeed, too politicised lo check the scandal of the scam type

Bui the real malady is the lack of sensitivity For many a public functionary, minister or government servant, the divld ing line between right and wrong, moral and Immoral, lias ceased to exist. There is no compunction In breaking laws or bend, pg rules for personal

benefit There Is prat '(rally no realisation of what is wrong. Therefore, those In the gov eminent or outside never best talc to plunder when they set the opportunity

Many years ago, It was provtxl — Mundra was then the businessman — that anyone who was loriMious of loop holes can reap a harvest. Many amendments were made to the insurance and other relevant laws to slop unscrupulous from taking an advantage of d« ft

plenties Alli r nearly 30 years. Harshad Mehta a deft stock broker, comes to ihc scene and exploits Ihc system.

No law can lx. foolproof, nor ran rules iw« every eventual tty All those engaged in high business or pkx-cd at top post lions have to realise that certain things are not done. This t* not the question of morality but of norms that the people of an organised society have lo follow for their common good This Is pari of Ihc value system whiFh we In Ihc east < latm lo espouse

On grounds Icsm i than the ones Involved in scandals lily.' the scum, minister* and officials abroad haw quit. Scandals arc no leant in the wc»l but once the needle of suspicion i* direticti against a person In

public gazt be resigns. Our much-vaunted oriental morality stops at blaming kismat (fate) or god The bigger the racketeer the more regular he is on saying prayers or visiting religious places. Sole mottva tion of our actions is personal benefit. That is the reason why the ethical considerations inherent in public behaviour were beyond th<- mental grasp of the bureaucrats when they played havoc with public moixiy In the- scans

Some JPC members suspect that at least one top industrialist, whose hands are dripping with guilt, substantially financed the destruction at Ayodhya lo divert attention from the scandal The Bharttya Janata Party (BJP) is said to haw become disinterested tn the scam It is sad because the party was, till recently, vociferous Ip punishing the guilty.

One fallout pf the probe Is the exposure of CHI's function Ing. It has been seen again and again that the organisation wilts under pressure This was true during the emergency (1975-77). So much so that the Shah Commission, looking Into the excesses, propos-d a regular scrutiny of such organ I sat Ions Things obviously dkJ not Improw because the CHI was once again marginalised during the Bo for* gun kick -back* probe. The story has been repeating itself since the la-ginning of warn Scwral official* have been changed un der one pretext or another.

Personnel Minister Margret Alva told parliament that K Madhavan, who was the ftrat Inquiry officer, had sought premature retirement on per social grounds. His statement before the JPC shows that he was ignored on two point* and henec he quilted One, he wanted the CBI to approach George Fernandes, a JPC member, for evidence he had claimed to posses* on the in voiwment of certain minister*. Madhavan repeated the same thing when K- and his three tor S K Dutta, met Finance Minister Manmohan Singh. (Strange, even Manmohan Singh did not pursue the matter)

The second point that Madhavan made was that the foreign account of Harshad Mehta, the key broker In the scam, be frozen This was not done A few days ago. the CBI said that certain accounts were first frozen and then unfrozen But Ihc authorities tn Switzerland have said that no bank account linked lo Harahad Mehta was ever frozen The CBI was under standably handicapped In the Bofors gun scandal because the late Rajiv Gandhi and subsequently hts men were exert frig pressure But why In the scant?

The obvious cxplanattorwto that too many influential p^> pit ut the ministerial official and other lewis are involved. How much money they have made and how much of It haa gone lo the coffers of certain political parties may never be ascertained At least some people should be held rcspon slbic, if they are not senotttw enough to leave on their own. For some reason*, the word accountability' doc* not extol tn the dictionary of public aer-vanla or minister*.