The answer to the above question would be - Of course, the government, isn't it? Being the decision maker, it is the government's responsibility to ensure that this decision making is effective. However, it seems that government has found a scapegoat for its policy ineffectiveness. And it is none other than our investigative agencies. Our Prime Minister believes that investigative agencies are too vigilant. As a result, administrative officers are unable to take decisions for the fear that any un-willing wrong decision can come under the lens. This is leading to policy paralysis.
This is perhaps the most crippled excuse one could ever get from anyone. Or should we say that it was a perfect excuse considering that the UPA government is itself embroiled in a number of scams. It is natural that chances of corruption increase in high growth and low income countries. And India happens to be one such country. But instead of eliminating this evil, the government feels that excessive vigilance from investigative agencies is hurting decision making and thus growth.
Corruption, to a certain extent, is prevalent in every country. However, in India, the way it is shaping up and the involvement of the government is really disappointing. In India, most corruption issues pertain to allotment of natural resources. Take for example the 2G scam or the coalgate scam. The product involved was a natural resource; coal and spectrum, in this case. So, by indulging in corruption of such resources, the public servants are benefitting themselves at the cost of the general public. These resources belong to the nation. Hence, it would not be wrong to say that they are looting the nation.
When such widespread corruption exists, it is bound to result in investigative agencies becoming more vigilant. Rather than asking these agencies to go slow so that decision making gathers pace, government should ensure that it takes appropriate steps to eliminate corruption itself.
We feel that such lame comments of over vigilance are just one of the ways through which the government is looking to wash its hands off the corruption mess it has perpetrated. With elections nearing, it will be interesting to see what impact such blame games will ultimately have on the results.
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