Whistling them away

How does India treat its whistleblowers? The short answer: by letting some being blown off, while others fear they may be next.

This may have sounded facetious at another time. But in the wake of the Munna Bhai-turns-macabre saga in Madhya Pradesh — better known as the Vyapam scam — few would disagree.

Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam) conducts exams for admission to professional colleges in Madhya Pradesh, as well as for recruitments to various posts in the state government. An avalanche of news reports in recent days has revealed the extent to which this organisation and its processes have been bent to suit the corrupt and the influential. What’s more is that over 40 people connected to the Vyapam scam — either as whistleblower or suspect or potential prosecution witness — have died unnatural deaths in recent years.

As a reluctant state government is forced by the Supreme Court to hand over the Vyapam probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation, it is now clear that being involved in the scam in any way — or even looking into it — is highly injurious to health.

Just a few days back a Delhi-based TV journalist with a leading media group who was following the Vyapam scam suffered a sudden heart attack and died, bringing the horror deeper into our living rooms. A student of medicine had died in 2012. Her post-mortem examination report said she had been murdered, but the Madhya Pradesh police investigated it along the lines of a suicide and an accident and closed the case. Now hit by a furore, the police is saying it is ordering a review of the case. Others connected to the scam have fallen off buses, been run over or died in other mysterious ways.

This consequent climate of fear has turned the spotlight on a critical issue — protection of whistleblowers.

India’s record is ugly. Whistleblowers have been attacked and continue to face threats. One Vyapam whistleblower was allegedly warned to lay off or risk having a bullet pierce the left side of his skull. Scared, he has left the state. Another whistleblower has been attacked more than a dozen times. Yet another says he has been provided security cover only from 11 in the morning to 7 in the evening.

On Tuesday, Vyapam whistleblower Aashish Chaturvedi said he is afraid he will be killed and the incident will be passed off as an accident. But, he said, he did not want the security guards provided by the district administration because the policemen tasked to protect him were not ready to accompany him on a bicycle, his mode of transport, and he could not afford to pay their auto-rickshaw fare.

How did we manage to turn something as important as whistleblower protection into another fraud?

India actually has a law — the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2011. But here’s the rub — the law cannot be implemented because the rules to do so have not been framed yet. Act can be enforced only when the Central government gets around to framing the rules and declaring a date on which the law comes into effect. That means today there is little by way of statutory protection for those who blow the whistle on malpractices and corruption.

Vyapam whistleblowers are in the limelight now. But this is not the first time whistleblowers have been under threat or have been killed. Famous whistleblowers who gave their lives in public interest include Satyendra Dubey, an engineer working for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and Shanmugam Manju-nath, a sales manager at Indian Oil Corporation.

In 2002, Dubey blew the whistle on widespread irregularities and corruption involving NHAI officials and contractors engaged in the Golden Quadrilateral roads project. In 2003, he was bumped off in Gaya where he lived and worked for NHAI. Manjunath was killed in 2005 while trying to prevent sale of adulterated fuel.

Everyone knows that those who seek to expose malpractices do not have it easy. That is universal. Whistleblowers have had their desks moved to broom closets and basements. But an increasing number of countries now have whistleblower protection laws. Many countries still do not have specific laws, but legal protection for whistleblowers has grown from 44 per cent to 66 per cent in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) between 2000 and 2009. Today, in most democracies at least the whistleblower is not under constant threat to his or her life.

Since that is not the case in India, the question has to be asked: Is India’s political class really interested in protecting those who risk their lives for greater public good? The continued assaults on right to information activists and the current state of the whistleblower protection law suggests otherwise.

The 2011 Act was intended to protect anyone who exposes alleged wrongdoing — fraud, scam, corruption or mismanagement — in government bodies or offices. The law was not perfect and the then United Progressive Alliance government was in no hurry to operationalise it.

Now it is worse. In May this year, the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government declared that the 2011 Act needed amendments on national security and sovereignty considerations. The amendments introduce a long list of “don’ts”, disqualifying public-interest disclosures for various reasons. They say that whistleblowers will not be allowed to reveal any documents classified under the 1923 Official Secrets, even if the purpose is to disclose acts of corruption, misuse of power or criminal activities. They cannot reveal anything to do with intellectual property, trade secrets and even information that can be considered “unwanted invasion of privacy” of an individual. Only information obtained through an RTI query can be disclosed.

The amendments were passed by the Lok Sabha. They are stuck in the Rajya Sabha. The Monsoon Session of Parliament is starting on July 21. Activists say the proposed amendments will further dilute the existing law. If passed, in future there may not be that many whistleblowers left to protect.

The government cannot preach good governance without taking concrete steps to help and protect whistleblowers. Two key steps are legal protection and the political will to enforce the law. That means stiff sanctions and penalties against those who victimise and bully whistleblowers. Without courageous people who blow the whistle on fraud, malpractice and corruption without fear of harm, there will be no achche din.

The writer focuses on development issues in India and emerging economies. She can be reached at patralekha.chatterjee@gmail.com