No Subject

["Komaragiri, Param (Param)** CTR **" <param@lucent.com>]

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>Param: I in particular will be v. happy to have a write-up on you on this
>subject on the IPI web site. From that a larger debate can begin. Could you
>pl. write up the full modalities of your proposal?
>SS

Sorry for the delay but here I attempted to come up with a writeup with the
extent
I could run my imagination.This is open for updates .

Parameswar

text form is pasted here:
____________________________________________________________________________
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		Political Corruption - How to Fight it
								By
Parameswar

Our system provides for political corruption the following way.
1)	Remuneration given to elected representatives and even ministers in
negligible compared to the costs they have to meet by way of election
campaigning, entertaining guests, taking out tours etc. To meet the
expenditures one has to find a way out. That also leads to corruption given
the fact that his remuneration is negligible and there is no mechanism to
provide uninterrupted flow of funds for one to spend other than party funds
which are mostly based on extortion.
2)	Though the system in principle provides for honest citizens to
contest , It does not provide for flow of finances to meet all such
expenditures. Hence it has become a profession only for affluent who can
veild enough clout to extract such funds from society by foul means which is
inturn , 'political corruption'.
           We must account for such expenditure which is inevitable before
embarking on cornering a politician for his corrupt deeds.

The problem can be fixed rudimentarily in two ways.
1)By  providing a high remuneration in proportion to what he has spent to
come to elected office and what would be needed to carry out his business
with out depending on mercy of a God Father of his party.
2) Or to design a mechanism to enable him gather such funds lawfully.

		Proposal in point no.1 above will fail as it does not
account for expenses of a candidate defeated in election as it pays only
those elected .Given the fact that no body can be sure of getting elected,
even in the event of an elected representative getting a good remuneration
like 5 lacs per annum for example for a Minister, all the contestants who
spent several lacs and do not gain such huge amounts in return will only
attempt to recover costs by various un lawful means .

		There is no doubt remuneration for elected representative
must be enhanced at least to the tune of his nearest comparable civil
service official. But it is reasonable to design a system where one does not
depend on such huge earnings by way of salary alone. There were successful
leaders who took a nominal fee of only one rupee even though for political
stunt and ran the show.That means he is still able to discharge all
functions simply by party funds, the legitimacy of which is always a
question being a product of political corruption that has to be 'treated'.
A leader should be able to gather similar amount of funds by way of campaign
financing or party donations on his party's name or his own means with our
resorting to corruption while in office and with out resorting to extortion
before attempting for the office.
Hence apart from voluntary donations subject to a limit It can be
contemplated to gather such funds under law by way of Legalizing Lottery
earnings for elections which can be designed according to principles
underlaid here in point no.3.

		First of all let us not be carried away by the sentiment of
lottery visa vis gambling.The lottery here is designed to serve a noble
purpose to serve the function of corruption free elections in a large
democracy like ours.It is a necessary evil , if at all it is one, and better
than current vicious cycle of political corruption.When people understand
the purpose, they will cooperate. Rather they will participate
enthusiastically . As it is once in an election term, not an every month
affair, it can be safely presumed that poor man does not squander all his
hard earned money for such lottery which is also one valid apprehension.
		Basically the philosophy for lottery financed campaign
funding is fueled by following argument : In the conventional system now,as
an individual citizen ,  I get irked if am demanded or asked for party fund.
If I am a businessman, I would not donate 50,000 Rs to a party with a smile
in heart unless I expect an out of way favour ! But with lotteries, with
full knowledge about the purpose I may prefer to spend 30 Rs and buy all
three different party lottery tickets and read their agenda printed on it !
Parties may also chose to mention on each lottery ticket that this
percentage of the ticket money goes to so and so 'Charity' or a 'Noble'
cause, depending on their choice and taste . This adds dignity to the entire
operation and relieves any gambling stigma !. All figures will be in media
each time including the amount received by charity recipients. This also
entails in healthy competition for good deeds and Candidates can spend with
out a doubt about black money white money etc. It also promotes inner party
democracy because cadre doesn't depend any more on Godfathers' pockets .

3) Modus Operandi of Lottery financing for election (a general overview) :

          Each candidate will be allowed to float a lottery under party's
name or his election symbol if he is independent, subject to a lottery
amount of not more than for example 15 lacs for parliamentary constituency ,
not more than for example 5 lacs for an assembly constituency.
---It is always a 'Candidate Centered lottery' meant for election funds and
'his' career expenses. He should not depend in principle on party funds
alone for all his functions. Once it is legalized, such lotteries are
subject normal auditing.
---Presuming that a representative needs atleast 5 lacs per annum in his
term to function in his elected post with ease, and spends about 5 lacs for
campaigning alone, all together he should be allowed to gather 6 times the
lottery amount to be kept for himself when the lottery amount is 5 lacs in
assembly campaign . This ceiling is to ensure out of way greed on part of
public or the politician .(Figures are speculative.But the principle is
important here).
---- To avoid the person becoming greedy and keep all the funds to him self
and all possible crimes, it can be contemplated to be kept under common
account under statutory audit,  a joint account held by Govt authority and
the candidate with with-drawing authority only for candidate (politician
here) subject to such "conditions" that only a certain percentage has to be
spent per month,  after getting elected , and whether spent or not, the fund
shall be routed to PM disaster relief fund or some thing similar after
"every year" automatically, but in no case shall that facilitate him to
encash as future reserves for his personal accounts !
---- To facilitate some degree of freedom, donation funds subject to a limit
can still be allowed , which are under control of his party treasury, but
lottery funds shall be separately subjected to such control described in
above point .
-----Donations may not reflect in individual's lottery collection, they are
subject to current rules and regulations but lottery earnings are.
----A party can float a lottery for its candidate but party shall not be
allowed to take out state wide lottery on large scale, seducing public for
very huge funds like crores !.It should always be Candidate-Centered
whether he wins or not.
----A winning candidate shall spend every month out of such funds every year
before the funds go lapsed and go in to PM relief fund.His spending shall be
always by way of giving checks for donations whether it is to various youth
organisations or associations and shall always be by way of check and
receipt which determines limited freedom for him to siphon all the money in
to his pocket.But at the same time considerable leverage can be provided for
petty cash expenses just like one sees such leverage in case of a senior
Govt Official or a corporate executive while on tour , instead of picking on
each and every 100 Rs bill. This entails in controlling and at the same time
not suffocating the leader. And the expenses are always posted in press or
similar publicized forum, may be internet, allowing a cushion of 10,000 Rs
for example for trivial expenses.The most important point of entire
mechanism is that the figures will be open to public through press and
internet , in order to avoid an apprehension in public mind that this is yet
another means devised by some body to stuff politicians' pockets. Ofcourse a
pilot project is a must to openly evaluate the out come of such experiment
and publicize all the results .
----A losing candidate shall claim all his election expenses from the
lottery funds by showing election expenses to Govt official as well as to
public through press or some such open forum . This again can hold some
leverages to petty cash expenses which need not show receipts.As it is open
to press, even though it is not an important news item, the very fact that
press shall be inpicture ensures there is no fraud either from Govt Official
involved who sanctions it or the leader who lost the seat . All this
ofcourse after giving the lottery amount to lottery winner . These funds are
always reimbursing type, so that the leader always spends in a calculative
way based on sale of tickets.
--- A lottery ticket can claim certain percentage of funds flow to certain
charities or good causes, may be boast the moral image of leader or that of
lottery it self.
---- To eliminate too many Independent candidates coming in to fore in view
of this facility,
they can be limited to few candidates on first come first served basis, to
the capacity of ballet paper stipulated by election commission .Ofcourse all
major political parties will be allowed to take out their candidate centered
lottery subject to all these stipulations.
----The entire process shall be publicised so that people will get to know
how funds are gathered and spent before and after election .
----Lottery ticket price can be about 5 Rs or 10 Rs and their number to be
printed shall be based on taking in to consideration other related figures -
population, howmany times the amount goes to candidate account etc .
----Number of tickets printed also shall be determined based on such
figures.The very fact that the way funds are spent is publicized before and
after election, even during the tenure of leader holding the office will
enthuse public to take part in it actively.Of course it is lottery. Election
Lottery ! Common knowledge prompts me to think every body will participate !
I repeat, as it comes once in few years, this system is not going to rob the
poor man of his hard earned money, atleast not more than current other
lotteries and cheap arrack. For middle class, it is just a movie ticket to
buy all five or six lottery tickets !
----In the event of death of a Candidate before election , the funds shall
be directed to PM relief fund after paying lottery prize to winner, and
reimbursing the expenditure till date, to the nearest kin of candidate who
has been his nominee just like in a bank account. In case of a winning
candidate's death, all the balance funds should go to PM relief fund(He
already got his election expenses reimbursed).

Actual Lottery figures and modalities can best be formalised by those at the
helm of affairs once it is agreed in principle . Too heavy prize amount
shall not be allowed to avoid too much greed on part of buyer or candidate
for election .

Looking from a voter's perspective,  as  voter I will be happy to see that a
part of my money goes to a noble cause like red cross, cry, armed forces
relief fund  any thing that is in the ticket even if I do not win the
lottery (if it is envisaged).
4) Apart from lottery earnings it can also be envisaged to collect funds
through organising food camps where mirchi, singada, chats will be sold by
party volunteers for fund collection, and system should facilitate such
funds also to be pointed to same election fund governing lottery funds
stipulated in point no.3 if the candidate chooses so. Again all figures
open.This will sanctify the entire election funding mechanism.

Despite all this one can say a politician can still be corrupt.But that is
for our conventional systems like Lok Ayukta  to take care of. The attempt
here is only to 'remove'  gray areas of politicians commonly known expenses
for which there has been no answer than bribery ,extortion, and goondaism.

The only alternative to this appears to me is
*	Current system as it is which is ridden in vicious cycle of
political corruption .
*	Pure voluntary participation of business groups with out any
pressure and pure sacrifice of leaders coming to serve country, and pure
Volunteers as cadets who want to spend their time and energies for their
leaders during campaign, all of which seems too unrealistic.

Finally to repeat, an elected representative's salary or remuneration also
should be enhanced to the tune of  atleast he draws equal to his parallel
Civil Service Official till his term.That income is his income subject to
normal taxing, but is not subjected to thorough scrutiny as  against
campaign lottery funds thus earned from point 3&4.






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