The limits to disciplining of corruption in West Bengal

The corruption discourse is back in the Bengal public sphere after about five years since 2016 election when the opposition tried to capitalise on the issues of Sarada scam where several heavyweight Trinamool Congress leaders were allegedly involved and Narada sting operation where several key leaders were seen as accepting bribes. A fieldwork based study in four districts reveals that corruption is accepted as a necessary evil by the people at large and that they are happy to pay to expedite the process of public works. Using Foucault’s notion of Discipline and Punish this process is theorised as disciplining of corruption by the ruling TMC. While everyday corruption was overlooked by the electorate in West Bengal, globally corruption became crucial electoral issue that brought political change in countries like Brazil and India particularly because of the involvement of a growing middle class. Ruling BJP continues to use corruption narrative rooted in India Against Corruption (IAC) movement to channelize the dominant narrative against the Indian National Congress that even gave dividend to failed experiments like Demonetisation. Global initiatives like the corruption indices of Transparency International or anti-corruption drive, social audit or the Right to Information in India should be seen as a continuum of the recognition of corruption as a major issue of democracy and governance.

Politics, Corruption and West Bengal:

Corruption and politics interface as an outcome of the cost of democratic functioning in demographically and territorially vast location is well documented. Existing literature show that while everyday corruption is acceptable to a certain extent; large multi-million scams are still seductive to the public sphere. Field research on West Bengal shows that a change from elaborate party mediated governance during the Left era to local leader dependence of TMC has created a new form of dependency structure bringing people closer to corrupt form of transaction in West Bengal, Corruption, therefore, has microscopic stories ranging from getting public services delivered to grabbing a government job. The stacked money recovered from properties of erstwhile minister Mr. Partha Chatterjee and his friend for the first time gave an impression of the accumulation of microscopic stories in piles of cash. Such recovery is the visual spectacle of a juxtaposition of bribed money for job and continuous job seekers’ movements. The recruitment scam or more lately the cattle smuggling scam is neither everyday disciplined corruption nor a large scale multi-billion scam against which IAC was organised. Yet, the spectacle of the accumulated stacked money has shaken the new form of middle ranged corruption that got wide public attention. TMC’s initial response was to distance itself from the arrested Mr. Partha Chatterjee to scapegoat one person to save the party’s overall image. As more heavyweight leaders including Mr. Anubrata Mondal got arrested, TMC felt the importance of image recovery. They launch protest against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) standing with Mr. Mondal, district TMC secretary of Birbhum. Although CBI and ED investigations are often seen as politically motivated which earned the Supreme Court sobriquet that CBI was a caged parrot speaking in the master’s voice, the public demand for CBI enquiry shows the level of people’s confidence on these agencies.

The limits of disciplining:

It’s been five years since the last serious allegations of corruption was in the public discourse. Will we witness a continuation of disciplining of corruption in the public sphere as we have seen in 2017 West Bengal, or for that matter of late, globally. Although, it is difficult to predict the future, nevertheless, the recent corruption charges against TMC have several unique features.

·         While West Bengal is full of petty corruptions, they are usually restricted to relatively smaller amounts ranging from a few hundreds (e.g. ₹200 for Samobyathi scheme meant for assisting the performance of last rites of a poor person) to a few thousands (e.g. ₹10,000/- for getting entitled for housing scheme or ₹5000/- getting caste certificates). The bribery for recruitment made it into lakhs. During my fieldwork at Purba Medinipur in 2012-2013 TMC leaders reported a ‘demand’ of the party to seek an amount of ₹400,000 per job. They were free to charge more to feed themselves. For a secured job people have sold off their assets and arranged for the money. In my subsequent fieldworks across Southern part of West Bengal I came across same incidents everywhere.

Figure 1 A generic model of the flow of bribed money bottom-up (Source: Field data)

Partha Chatterjee’s arrest has several consequences. First, those who got the job are uncertain about their future; second, it opened up the open-secret of the scam which was going around for quite some years now and third, the involvement of a relatively younger lady in the scam has added additional moral dimension to the character of not only of Mr. Chatterjee but also of the TMC leaders as a whole.

·         The wide media coverage of the money stacked in cash has created a perception of ‘positive’ implications of Demonetisation. Consequently, a narrative of BJP over TMC has started to float. Bribery, money stacking, extravagant life of ministers- all these have added something new to the taken-for-grantedness of everyday corruption.

·         During the last decade of Left rule people got employed in hundreds of schools each year. Since 2011 the recruitment process has slowed down considerably. A movement of the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) qualified job seekers is continuing for months in front of education directorate in Salt Lake, Kolkata. Meanwhile, on August 21, five contractual teachers consumed poisons during their demonstration in front of the Education directorate. Apart from these, frequent incidents of teachers being harassed by the TMC’s students union personnel which includes beating up college principal adds to the existing grudge. A combination of the vanishing of much coveted teaching jobs, protesting educated youths on the streets of Kolkata, regular incidents of teachers’ harassment by the party leaders and cadres and ultimately the recruitment scam have created a unforeseen challenge to the TMC leaders to wash their hands off from the issue like they did easily in case of the earlier financial scams.

·         The recruitment scam, therefore, is quite different from other existing scams which include, amongst other, an accumulation of individual grievances against local party cadres, people’s frustration for not being able to pay for their dream job and disgust towards the moral and financial corruption of the key TMC leaders. Additionally, there is a cultural and cognitive dimension of the students attached with School Service Commission (SSC) as a gateway to respected profession and settled life. There are three reasons for aiming at SSC: a) the SSC examination is relatively easy compared to other administrative positions like West Bengal Civil Services Examination (WBCS) or banking jobs, b) the recruitment process has largely been simple and subject specific, c) school teachers have an added social capital especially in the villages which has a long legacy rooted in the Left era.

·         There is a growing scepticism in people’s everyday discourses regarding the authenticity of all of the government employees recruited in TMC era. This is subtly creating a division among those who were recruited during the Left era and those who are in the TMC era. Labelling of government employees as products of recruitment scam is a problem that adds to employees existing dissatisfaction with the widening gap in the Dearness Allowance between the centre and state.

While everyday corruption is not new to the people of West Bengal who have ‘accepted’ it as a necessary evil with a trust that party requires money to function, the recruitment scam has unravelled a different dimension of the accumulation of everyday experiences of corruption. It is true that TMC could get away with serious corruption charges during 2016 Assembly Election and bagged even more seats, but 2021 election has shown an astronomic rise of the BJP in the state at the expense of LF and Congress. The opposition voice is sharper and heavier than 2016 and central agencies are investigating against one after another heavyweight leaders. The recruitment scam is perhaps going to be the acid test for the limits of disciplining of everyday corruption. It also bears the potential to redefine and liquefy the boundaries between petty and everyday corruption and large scams for the corruption research in future.   

Suman Nath teaches Anthropology at Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Govt. College, West Bengal.

stories beyond the classrooms

Kaleidoscope like everyone else in the industry of dissemination of knowledge knows that their clients are hooked in their smartphones. So, how about doing an experiment with their smartphones to create something new?

Kaleidoscope told his otherwise inattentive students to take photos of interesting things and post it in Instagram along with a few lines describing the story behind it, with a hashtag #apjanthro22. This is a funny way of preparing them for the fieldwork which they will undertake in the next semester. It will definitely enhance their observation and writing skills. #apjanthro22 is booming and kaleidoscope cannot help sharing their excellent narration and photography skills!

While it was an assignment for the fifth semester students, third semester is also joining in!

Reclaiming space - Built-in exclusivity and the rebels

Ignoring and avoiding the past is a tendency that often engulfs the people who have successfully 'climbed up the stairs'. This is most conspicuosly manifested in the spatial arrangements of the late capital built in spaces. The first among those in rhe city of Kolkata happened to be the shopping malls and gated communities. These are often built on poor performing and locked down factory sites. Like Kaleidoscope saw that the South city was built on erstwhile USHA factory. One of the workers stayed back in the middle of rubbles, and earned by working as a bus conductor. His protest was too small to be heard, his body was found mysteriously beside a road. No one knows what happened to his family. Kaleidoscope has had his brief experience in South city mall, attended programmes at the post residential complex nearby and like everyone else he too has forgotten the story of the bus conductor. 

Diamond plaza, pantaloons, quest are all success stories of conversion from places of production to spaces of consumption. 

New town, the extension of shopping mall, built on the country lands is perhaps showing every symptom of the othering process. While the residents are demanding more and more exclusivity from the rest of the world, the so called natives curve out a variety of places and transform it on their own. Kaleidpscope has seen cows and buffalos are grazing on the neatly kept lawns, people occupying such lawns and hawkers making quick sales. 

As water is a great leveler, so during a spell of rain kids started playing football on the park where gralss lawns were supposedly representing aristrocacy. 

Absent trace and forest - an intimate story

Twilight, cloud and a mysterious forest  can make things even. As the forest canopy, hundreds of years old trees carrying old memories opened up the old souls wake up. What makes them standing tall, geometrically super proportionate, against the gravitation? Instinct! The increasing demand of the sunkiss that makes life worth living. The clouds laugh out and engulfed Kaleidoscope once and for all. Yes, love demands privacy, it was the intimate moment of whispering winds, foggy cloud and the neverending longing for the home - nostalgia. Kaleidoscope thought of shouting out the name of his love to see if it echoes back! The forest stops him immediately. Demanding an intimate search for the soul in soul, hand in hand. Kaleidoscope made love with the absent trace, the nostalgia with a belief that someone somewhere is also longing to become one once and for all. The forest will remember the absent trace and longing for the lost connection and cravings. 

of matters Time, when you make love

It is the meeting and melting point of day and night that make people realise how fast time runs, kaleidoscope! The half finished tea cup said. It was a windy late spring afternoon and as slowly darkness started to spread its tentacles, Kaleidoscope knew its time to rethink time. Is it the fast moving Sun that makes people realise that time runs fast? No! Kaleidoscope exclaimed! 

Time runs fast when you hold hand of the person you love the most. Time speeds up when you forget everything else and make love. A liminal day only brings night, as the tea turns towards the soda! 

A Destination nowhere or a time travel

It is their turn to meltdown as the entire city attempts to engulf a small cab. It should be the yellow one, Kaleidoscope thought. What would be best way to end an wonderful day as the love struck romeo and his princess had surreal hours of togetherness. You are not the author, or are you, Kaleido? - The city asks him. Kaleidoscope didn't know what to say as he saw the princess was already melting down in the warmth of the space where she sat for the last few hours. She is beautiful and she shouldn't just leave the Romeo now, not in this way, thought Kaleido. But he is not the author, or is he?

They hurriedly left, as the love-struck Romeo was already bridging the boundaries between the possible, impossible and beyond, between the known and the unknown, limits and beyond. Would they go for a smoke now? Would they walk through the alleyways where the neon lights, streetlamps and trees were busy making a twilight? Would they wonder as the city was preparing for a more mesmerizing hours? 

Yes Kaleidoscope is not the author. Ah! a yellow taxi. City is writing the rest of story, Kaleido thought. 

So an impossible journey begins. A journey that doesn't have a destination. Nothing to achieve, nowhere to go, Princess and Romeo were melting down inside as the yellow taxi directed by the city itself move passed through the city traffic and neon lights. They were rather quick to become one and a frozen moment was created. They reached nowhere in time, yet they moved through the space, only the frozen moment remained like an absent trace that lingers. Thousands of these absent traces in-scripted by the city itself make up the city, a beautiful love affair. Kaleidoscope knew he is not the author.