Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organization (NVCO) President, Kezhokhoto Savi while sharing the central idea of his upcoming book entitled – “Citizen’s Charter to ensure Accountability and Good Governance among the Public Services Systems”, highlights five basic reasons on why corruption flourishes in Nagaland.
“Scarcity of goods and services, red tape and complicated rules and procedures, lack of transparency in decision making, legal cushions of safety we have built for the corrupt people under the very healthy principle that everybody is innocent until proven guilty, and tribalism among the corrupt who protect each other,” according to Savi, are the five basic reasons why corruption flourishes.
The upcoming book will commemorate Savi’s 25 years of active involvement in public life in rendering his contribution to society in the field of public services as a social activist fearlessly fighting against corruption, backdoor appointments, abuse of power, illegal taxation, misappropriation and wrong diversion of public funds, nepotism, deduction of certain percentage in the form of commission from developmental projects, nepotism, SARFAESI Act, CAA, etc.
According to the NVCO media cell, the book’s central idea is based on a speech he gave in 2000 at a workshop-cum-seminar organized by the Nagaland government, the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, and the Government of India on the topic “Good Governance for a Better Naga Society” in the Zonal Council Hall in Kohima. “Transparent and Accountable Administration” was the title of his speech.
In his 2000 speech, Savi emphasized the importance of more transparency and accountability in the processes of making choices and policies in order to achieve good governance and, as a result, to combat corruption. He also describes how the corrupt, with the financial clout of their ill-gotten wealth, are able to hire the best legal minds and quibble their way through the legal system, and how, as a result, corruption cannot be controlled.
Using examples such as how Hong Kong fought corruption by establishing the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 1974, Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yew, who single-handedly made Singapore one of the cleanest governments in the world, and how magistrates in Italy and France were empowered to take on the mafia, he opined that what we need to fight corruption is a determined mindset.
In light of the Indian Constitution, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the Officials Secrets Act, 1923, the Income Tax Act, 1961, the Urban Land legislation, and the Representation of Peoples Act, 1988, he advocated the breadth of the ‘Right to Know’ between the individual and the state.
“Citizens should be well informed, to have within their knowledge the true state of affairs in the country. Once they are informed of the true state of affairs, then the citizens can exercise their voting power, to elect a government that is capable of running an efficient administration. People who are well informed will be more vigilant, thus making democracy more dynamic and responsive. Hence, only if people are well informed can they bring pressure upon the politicians to answer for their lapses,” he concluded.