General Singh's allegations are not new, all are aware about bribes in defence deals

- Anil Narendra

Chief of the Army Staff General VK Singh has created another controversy at the fag end of his career. He has alleged that a retired Army Officer has offered him a bribe of 14 crore rupees for the supply of inferior vehicles. General Singh also said that the controversy about his date of birth was due to the fact that he was opposed to the corrupt elements in the Army. He said that the cancer of corruption has spread to such an extent that minor operations will not do, but it will need a major surgery. This statement of General Singh is no doubt quite sensational, but not unbelievable, but the question is why the General did not bring this matter to light immediately? But this is also true that talks about bribery in defence deals are nothing new. If one goes through the allegations made by General Singh, it would be evident that his target is the government and Defence Minister AK Antony. The Defence Minister did not support General Singh in the date of birth controversy. General Singh has also said that he had informed the Defence Minister about the offer of bribe. It is right that Antony has referred this matter to the CBI for investigation, as this question is still unanswered that when the General had immediately informed the Defence Minister, then why decision about handing over the case to CBI is being taken now? Was the Defence Minister waiting for General Singh to make public this matter? There is one more question that needs to be answered, why did General Singh leave this matter so casually? Whatever may be the answers for these questions, but one thing is clear that our government machinery does not have will to deal with corruption. Should we accept that the  role of middlemen is limited to the defence deals with other countries? This is very shameful for the country, which had to face immediately after independence, the jeep scam in 1948 that noow it has to face efforts made to initiate truck scam. It is clear that no effort has been made to stop those practices that are instrumental in stopping such scams. The most important question that may cause serious concern is that how an offer of bribe can be made to the Chief of Army Staff?  This indicates the extent of resolve and courage of middlemen to bribe the government machinery. It appears that no defence deal can be consummated without bribe. Iss the Parliament unaware of the bribery in defence deals? Then why this drama? Will this commission business come to stop by trading allegations? The real reason is that the Parliament has not taken any effective step to stem this evil. There is a dearth of adequate laws to effectively deal with corruption cases and to punish the middlemen engaged in corrupt practices and these middlemen exploit this situation. It would be better if we legally decide about a certain percentage as commission. We, too, in newspaper business pay commission to the hawkers to sell the newspapers. But, it must be ensured that inferior defence equipment would not be accepted in lieu of commission. This amounts to treason to the country, for which strict punishment should be meted out.