Whistle-blowers the fourth pillar - Part-I

Introduction
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodies”? is a Latin phrase found in the work of the Roman poet Juvenal from his “Satires”. It translates literally as "Who will guard the guards themselves?", though it is also known by variant translations.

Eternal vigilance, it has been said, is the price of liberty.

Although this quote is often wrongly attributed, sometimes to John Curran the Irish lawyer and frequently to Thomas Jefferson - one of the architects of the American Declaration of Independence, traditionally it is now accepted that it is an excerpt from a speech made in 1852 by American abolitionist and liberal activist Wendell Phillips.

The reader will recollect that I had referred, in an earlier piece dealing with governance in general, to the fact that exercise of authority in public offices needs to be informed by the linear relationship between authority, responsibility and accountability. These three cardinal pillars have been the foundation upon which democratic governance has been built since the time Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau propounded the Social Contract theory.

While the checks and balances inbuilt into the architecture of the body politic, especially in the system with separation of powers such as the one India has adopted, ensures that a degree of accountability is automatically is ensured, it is also necessary for some agency or missionary external to the system to watch over the performance of these institutions.

This is why I began this piece with the saying that the guardians also need to be guarded. The Ombudsman in Sweden, or the Lokpal which is to be created in India, are examples of such external agencies. Apart from institutions individuals have also historically played an important role in calling attention to misuse of office by public servants, whether they are bureaucrats or elected representatives of the people.

Many fearless individuals have devoted their lives to the cause of protecting the common man from the possible abuse of authority by those in public office. These usually go by the name "whistle-blowers" – probably for the reason that in a game, the reference often blows the whistle when a foul is committed!

Its enactment in 2011, by Parliament was the culmination of a country-wide demand to eliminate corruption in the country's bureaucracy.

A whistle-blower has also been defined as a train “who has and reports insider knowledge of illegal activities occurring in an organization”, “….be employees, suppliers, contractors, … who tell someone in authority about something illegal that is happening….” persons who “expose any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization” etc.

The reader will be interested to note that whistle - blowing is not a recent phenomenon by any standards. In fact, as early as in the 16th century, or to be more accurate in the year 1515 BCE, Bartolom de la Casals, advocated before King Charles. Holy Roman, Emperor on behalf of the rights for the natives. He advocated the use of African slaves in instead of the natives in West Indian colonies and, later on, came to see all forms of slavery as equally wrong.

As we turn the pages of history, the net person we came across who belong to this category was Martin Luther who was a German professor of theology.

Luther is known for having repudiator to many of the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He deferred radically from the Catholic view on the efficacy of indulgences in his “Ninety-five Theses”. In 1520 his refused to renounce all of his writings inspite of the order of Pope Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms.

As a result he was excommunication by the Pope and condemned as an outlaw by the Emperor. The essence of his preaching was that salvation and, eternal life are not earned good deeds but are free gifts of God on account of the believer's faith in Jesus Christ as a redeemer from sin. He thus challenged the office of the Pope and those who identify with his teachings, are called Lutherans.

Srinivasa Iyer, also known "Cho" Ramaswamy was an Indian actor, comedian, character actor, editor, political satirist, playwright and dialogue writer, film director and lawyer in Tamil Nadu. He was the founder and editor of the Tamil magazine, Thuglak.

His popularity in the Tamil Nadu literary circles was mainly due to his impartial assessment of political issues, and the audacity and fearlessness with which he published his viewpoints. Politicians such as J.B. Kripalani, Indira Gandhi, Karunanidhi, Chandra Shekhar, G.K. Moopanar, M.G. Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa, Ramakrishna Hegde, N.T. Rama Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram were some of the targets of his editorial attacks.

He was widely considered to be an unbiased political analyst who would criticize the negatives of both the left wing and right wing political parties. In his last years, he predicted that Narendra Modi would do diligent work towards the development of India and also praised Jayalalithaa for her work in Tamil Nadu. Cho made a strong social statement against caste divisions through his noteworthy play Saathiram Sonnathillai and noteworthy works.

Cho Ramaswamy was an eloquent speaker and his plays expose a deep concern for society and his comments, tickle and tease is only to correct and not to hurt any individual.

He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President of India, K.R. Narayanan. In the Rajya Sabha 12 MPs are nominated by the President of India from amongst persons who have special knowledge or practical experience in the fields of literature, science, art or social service. He served as a Rajya Sabha MP from November 1999 to November 2005.

Cho was a fearless voice who was respected and admired, says PM Modi.In 2017, Government of India announced "Padma Bhushan" award for his contribution towards Literature While JP is undoubtedly a much written about person, those interested in truly appreciating his contribution to a young India's destiny during a turbulent period; those looking for inspiration to become instruments of change in the future, will do well to read M.G. Devasahayam’s book "JP Movement – Emergency and India's 2nd Freedom".

According to one review, while reading the book one "is reminded about JP today as never before". From a period which saw "… months of draconian laws, extinguished freedom, Gestapo type arrests, severe press censorship, forced sterilisations, impotency of intellectuals and abject surrender marked by terror of the minions in slavery of the elite that made India a fascist – type police state…" and a time when “effectively the President, the union Cabinet, Parliament, Supreme Court, Governors, State Assemblies, senior civil servants, police and intelligence agencies in the press were manipulated …. all we take for granted was virtually extinguished ….” normalcy was restored by the indomitable spirit and sacrifice of a patriot called Jayaprakash Narayan".

The Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011 is an Act in the Parliament of India which provides a mechanism to investigate alleged corruption and misuse of power by public servants and also protect anyone who exposes alleged wrongdoing in government bodies, projects and offices. The wrongdoing might take the form of fraud, corruption or mismanagement. The Act also provides for punishment for those who make false or frivolous complaints.