COMBATING CORRUPTION
The government in J&K has waged a war against the deep rooted corruption which had held the people of the region hostage for decades and was one of the main reasons behind the erstwhile state’s under-development. Soon after taking up the reins of the country, Prime Minister had given a clarion call–Na Khayunga Na Khane Doonga, making it amply clear that days of the corrupt have gone and what has been observed after that was the history as the agencies responsible for containing corruption which earlier were in deep slumber were given teeth and special instructions to bring to justice whosoever is taking undue liberties as far as misuse of position, giving and taking graft and other ways to abet corruption. The case of erstwhile State of J&K is no different as this used to be one among the top corrupt states of the country and its name used to fall in all the lists highlighting corruption in the country. On the direction of PM Modi and after August 5, 2019 changes, the newly carved out Union Territory also saw drastic changes in steps to curb the rampant corruption and the combat is still on with one after another corrupt falling in the net of anti-graft bodies which were mobilized by the LG’s administration on the directions of PM Modi and what is good is the outcome of this war against the corruption because many are behind bars and many others’ cases are in pipeline and sooner than later all the delinquent will be in dungeons and the UT will be free from corruption with no exceptions. As far as the Revenue Department is concerned it used to be one among the most corrupt departments in the past but with stringent measures taken by the helmsmen things have been improved a lot as action against the habitual offenders are continuing without any break. Reportedly, at least 16 top Revenue department officials including Tehsildars, Naib Tehsildars and Patwaris have fallen under Anti Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) net so far in 2022 while most of them have been trapped while accepting bribes at different parts of Jammu and Kashmir. One can conclude with this fact that though anti-graft bodies are doing their job impeccably still there are traces of corruption in the UT which need some more time to get rid of completely. Till then the people will have to wait with patience and faith in the government.