Reports in both dailies and television channels highlighting corruption and cases of functionaries in the administration found, read discovered, with wealth in cash and kind disproportionate to their known sources of earnings having emerged on tsunami-like scale seem to have driven the people at large to the point of accepting the features as mere fait accompli. Human ingenuity is currently scaling heights recorded in the history of the country like never before, given the steadily rising number of scams being committed by you-know-who in society along with criminal acts that the law-keeping machinery in the land finds them beyond their means and ability to rein in. The country’s jails are overflowing with lakhs of Indians accused in various uncivil episodes and undertrials while the law courts have reportedly kept more than three crore litigations awaiting disposal. Even as the top brass in the governments both at the Centre and in the States are paranoid about security (to themselves and confidential matters), the phenomenon of leaks has come into public glare.

People at large may have forgotten the episode of the night of December 2-3, 1984, called the Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, was actually a gas leak incident at the pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Ltd., exposing more than 5,00,000 people to toxic gases. Further, incidents of leaking domestic cooking gas and also those happening regularly in industrial establishments are routinely reported in the media with people taking them in their strides.

While lay readers of dailies are known to learn through media about the governments presenting their annual budgets, the figures of astronomical proportions portraying estimated revenue, expenditure, fiscal deficit, current account deficit and, most importantly, new levies to augment the coffers may not interest them to the extent they excite the business fraternity. There lies the story of leakage of the State budget snowballing into days and weeks of debates among the analysts of public matters. But the game of leaks and its fallouts goes on year after year, the gullible public being unaware of the invisible hands of lobbyists cock-eyed on their easy-to-come monetary benefits in crores of rupees.

The past one week has witnessed two leaks of a different kind namely (a) Poll schedule of Karnataka Legislative Assembly beginning on May 12 and (b) Question papers of class 10 and 12 conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education. The administration’s routine reaction to leaks, starting with announcement of probing the leaky cases may not amuse anybody in this land of leaks.