CC_India

The students are only too aware what corruption means for their lives —
a bankrupt educational system. Without hefty bribes there is no access to
government jobs, basic welfare entitlement schemes and compensation.
CORRUPTION
Operation Sadbhavna opened up the army to charges
of corruption. Anant’s study showed that, since there
was no specific recruitment for Sadbhavna, soldiers and
officers were getting involved in the nitty-gritty of getting
clearances for projects, acquisition of land, inviting
tenders, ensuring quality in the infrastructure projects
. “The downside of being a people-friendly Army is that
people no longer respect the Army. Many felt that they
were being perceived by people as corrupt government
officials looking to make money by awarding contracts”,
army officers said.
The sarpanchs, educationists, and the local leaders
were openly sceptical about Sadbhavna and spoke of it
as another source of corruption. As a local journalist in
Mendhar observed, contractors to the army for implementing
Operation Sadbhavna projects made crores,
especially on rural projects. In the urban areas there
was some accountability but in the rural areas, none.
The CO was the only check. It was commonplace to
inflate costs. Cheap computers were bought, and their
cost quadrupled. A couple of ‘defence contractors’, one
involved in building infrastructure, the other supplying
foodstuffs to the forces said “commissions were routine
and a cut was given at every level of the state administration”.
“Women administrators were amongst the
most demanding”, the defence contractor said. Mark
ups were at least 28%.The food and milk supplier to the
soldiers said that the skim off was 30 percent and the
quality of the meat, vegetables and milk very poor.
There was a widespread popular perception that “militancy
and the army were linked with corruption.” A
group of women in Poonch baldly stated that the army
had a vested interest in staying on despite declining militancy
— “army kidukandaari” (the army’s in business).
Army sources insisted that the crores of counter insurgency
money goes not to the army but to the state government
and the intelligence agencies. However, there
is the tranche of “Security Related Expenditure” — for
‘sources,’ and informers. The “root of corruption is New
Delhi’s desperation to keep Kashmir,” said a perceptive
Sarpanch. The younger generation that has grown up in
the shadow of militancy and has tasted the ‘dividends’
of ceasefire and ‘pacification’ resources has its own analytical
understanding of corruption.
“Militancy began in the decade of the 1980s. But
corruption in J&K is not an outcome of militancy.
It has historical roots. It is the elite, the ruling
class that is responsible for corruption. There’s also
no point in blaming the army because a majority
of their ranks belong to the same class as we do.
The central government does not want to end the
problem of militancy, as it is economically and
strategically beneficial to them.”
The students are only too aware what corruption means
for their lives — a bankrupt educational system. Without
hefty bribes there is no access to government jobs, basic
welfare entitlement schemes and compensation. The
principal of a Girls College in Rajouri, Razia Quereshi
decried the corrupt educational system which forced
her to pass illiterates. Reshma the panch from Banwaat
village, had to accept as normal the Block Development
officer would cut funds, before releasing them for the
NREGA scheme of guaranteed 100 days employment
for the poor. What about the funds of the Border Areas
Development Programme (BADP)? “It’s controlled by
the army and they decided who to favour”.
Reshma, Alafi, Sameena, Fatima, Shahpari have few
resources and even fewer choices but they refuse to
be broken and become the state’s expendable peoples.
These unequal citizens have shown resilience and courage
in rebuilding their lives and that of the community
in the face of an indifferent security state and political
militancy turned into extremism.
UNEQUAL CITIZENS: Women’s Narratives of Resistance, Militarisation, Corruption and Security
39