My friends article on Jan Lokpal...If you are a true Indian - whether in favor or not in favor of Jan Lokpal - please read. Critics of lokpal are saying things like – it is a Frankenstein monster, threat to democracy, parallel government, unconstitutional etc. Some are saying that the manner in which Anna is fasting and holding the Govt to ransom is not right, if he were so sure about the cause, he should have done things the right way. When I heard these things first, I started having doubts. But I then wondered, if it were all so wrong, how come the educated & young thinking minds of this country – IITs, IIMs are supporting it? How come the 29 yr old VP of Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong takes an unpaid leave and flies to Delhi to support it? How come honest, educated, people of simple living standards, those who have dedicated their lives to serve the nation (like Kiran Bedi, Shanti Bhushan, Anna Hazare, Kejriwal) backing it , and the corrupt MPs & MLAs are against it? Even the methods that have been adopted - strengthening participatory democracy by spreading awareness, encouraging people to voice their opinion and forcing govt. to consider public opinion - these methods tell us that they are doing something that is right. Therefore I read and researched about it, and have put down my opinion on every point of debate. You must also read it because – 1. If you are a critique of Anna Hazare/his methods/Janlokpal bill you must read it, because more important than sticking to our original point of views, more important than winning an argument, more important than our egos, is the future of a nation, our future, future of the coming generations. Read it with an open mind. 2. If you are favouring Janlokpal, then also read it, because to achieve what this movement is set to achieve we have to be very clear about why we are supporting it. A lot of confusion & doubt is being created by our corrupt ministers about lokpal to break our unity – because they are scared. Only if we can fully understand what we are fighting for can we sustain it – or once the initial euphoria dies, television channels start showing other news – we will also forget it and move on. 1. Critics say Why do we need lokpal? Current System Despite so much evidence of corruption of so many people out in public domain, there is no chance of anyone being punished. Our entire anti corruption system is rotten – flawed – is serving no purpose. a. CBI – before filing any case has to take permission from minister of that department – same person accused in the case. CBI has the powers to penalize the corrupt – but is not independent. b. Then we have CVC – it is advisory in nature, it can only make a recommendation to the Government – cannot take an action. In last 5 yrs, whenever they recommended any officer has to go to jail, not a single officer was sent. When they said an officer needed to be dismissed – he/she was let off with a warning. Nobody in this country feels scared of being corrupt, because they think that in this country, corruption is a high profit, 0 risk business – they can never get caught. There is a multiplicity of agencies, but not even a single agency, empowered & independent of the Govt. Therefore we need Lokpal. 2. Critics say why was the ‘right’ method not adopted. The idea was always to do things the ‘right’ way. a. Copy of Janlokpal Bill was first sent to the PM & Mrs. Sonia Gandhi on 1st Dec’ 2010. It was signed by Shri Shri Ravi Shankar, Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Baba Ramdev amongst others – there was no response or acknowledgement to it. b. From 1st dec to 31st march – letters were written repeatedly to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to request a meeting – no response. c. Almost all big including ministers - Advani,Sushma Swaraj, Pranab Mukherjee, Arun Jaitley, Chidambram, Moily,D Raja,Chandrababu Naidu, Deve Gawda were approached with a plea– there is so much corruption – please do something – no response. For that matter, the matter of Lokpal has been pending since 40 yrs - no Governement has taken interest in it. That’s when Mr. Anna Hazare realized that there was no other option – on 5th April – he sat on a fast – and lakhs came – not because of his fast (there are several such fasts happening in the country) – but because people realized that the cause being fought for, the demands of these fighters were right. People realised Anna Hazare gets nothing out of this, he is a 74 yr old man, with no family. People realised he is staying hungry at his age, edengering his life, - selflessly, for them. 3. Critics say it is a 5-people bill. a. The 5 people who made the initial draft of the lokpal bill – they are highly educated, experienced, have worked inside the system, very honest, totally uncorrupt, very transparent, and have very modest living standards. They could have had plush jobs, made a lot of money, but gave it all up for social work, for upliftment of society. These vs. the Government of India – in which more than 150 MPs have serious corruption charges against them. b. Lokpal has been formed after months of research & study– rough drafts are available for anyone who wants to see. Best practices of India and many countries have been taken into account. c. Series of public consultations have been taken in forming it – 14 versions came out. All good suggestions have been incorporated –and are available on website. d. It is the Government that requested Mr. Anna Hazare to give 5 names to be put on joint committee and he gave names of the people who had made the initial draft of Jan Lokpal Bill. They never claimed to be civil society reps – they just claim to be ordinary citizens – they just feel they are being looted – they only ask that they dared to raise their voice, is it a crime? e. These ‘5 people’ always wanted to be very transparent – to spread public awareness – they requested the Joint Committee meeting to be shown live, Government refused. They wanted proceedings to be recorded and shown to the public, they were refused. They wrote a letter to Pranab Mukherjii (available of Internet)– that lets debate on a public platform – refused. Why? Because inside only one sided dialogue was going on. The pleaded ministers on every point – just denied – without explanations. It is not a 5-people bill, it is a 120 crore people bill (less all the corrupt netas) 4. Critics say Government has come out with a Lokpal Bill, what is wrong with that? The government made a lame, impotent bill of its own which covered only 0.5% of the governments officers, and disincentivised whistleblowers. The government hoped that with half of India illiterate, and most of the other half ignorant, nobody would know the difference. a. No Coverage : It practically does not cover any corruption. Panchayat, NREGA – out of purview of the lokpal. Public Distribution System – 80% of 30,000 crore subsidy is siphoned off in PDS – it is out of purview, medicines in public hospitals, roads in city & villages, municipal corruption, adarsh housing scam, common wealth games, reddy brothers scam, fodder scam, mining scam, taj corrider scam, cash for vote scam, Yamuna expressway scam – all out of govt’s lokpal bill’s purview, MPs, MLA, Surpunches, municipal councellors, all state govt employees across the country, all groups B & C & D employees – all out of purview of the lokpal bill (ONLY Group A Govt Employees Included). Government defends itself by saying there are 1.25 cr Govt employees – need a huge force to control their corruption – does not mean you let them free to loot everybody else. What logic is this, bcoz there are so many ppl, we cannot do anything about it. Systems should be put in place. b. Demotivating for Whistle Blowers: Government’s lokpal bill says, if any person makes a complaint to the lokpal and there isn’t sufficient evidence in the complaint, then there is 2 yrs of minimum imprisonment against complainant. That is within the purview of Government Lokpal. The officer against whom it has been made can immediately file a case of a false complaint. Corrupt officer provided free advocate by the Government. If the complainant is not able to prove the complaint – he gets 2 yrs imprisonment; if he proves – there is 6 months for the corrupt officer. It is targeting the people fighting against corruption – those who dare raise their voice against corruption. c. In last 1 yr – 13 RTI activists were murdered. In jan lokpal – there is protection of whistle blowers – not accepted by Government. d. There are many other points, for example, one of them is, if someone does a Rs. 1000 cr scam. As per the current system or Govt Lokpal, if convicted he is sent to jail. He comes out of jail after 2-3 yrs, and can enjoy his 1000 crore. Jan lokpal says, he has to return the 1000 Cr to the government, and go to jail as well. e. Selection of lokpal – 9 member committee of which 5 are going to be from the Government. f. Removal of lokpal. In Jan Lokpal Bill any citizen can file a case to the Supreme Court – if corruption is found in it, lokpal can be removed. Investigation against any complaint of a lokpal officer being corrupt has to be completed and justice has to be provided within a month. As per Government bill – only Govt. can do it. So they have control over selection of lokpal & removal & budget, & functioning – it is puppet in hands of govt. 5. Critics say Lokpal will be a Parallel Government, it is a monster, will have too much power. a. Anything not in the control of govt is not parallel govt. There are 3 types bodies in the country - judiciary, legislature, executive – executive have all the powers – to keep a check, there is a judiciary – which checks the arbitrariness, corruption, injustice. It is independent of Executive, and it is not a parallel Government. CAG, NHRC, CVC, CIC - so many other agencies – independent of govt – are they parallel govt? b. An ordinary IT officer – of group D has the power to examine the IT return of Manmohan Singh, Chief Justice of India, all ministers – and penalize them. Does he sit on everyone’s head? Jan Lokpal – will only investigate the allegation of corruption –does not even have the power of imposing penalties – it has less power than an IT officer – power to receive complaints, examine them and take the matter to the court. 6. Critics say it is unconstitutional, a threat to democracy. Yes, there is a system, a constitution, a way of doing things. But the purpose or the main goal of this system is to achieve & maintain democracy. 120 crore Indians (less the Netas) want this Lokpal bill to be passed – want corruption to be removed. If the system is becoming a deterrent in it being passed, then the system is defying Democracy. A change is required in the system/constitution - otherwise we r defeating the very purpose for which this system was established in the first place some 61 yrs back. They keep citing the constitution. Do they notice the cover page has an emblem, below which it says Truth shall prevail 7. How will rallying on roads help? If the Government passes an anti-corruption law, half of them may end up in jail – and corruption will no more be a ‘0 risk’ business. So the Government is bound to do anything it can to not let it pass. But if every Indian comes down on the roads, they will have to honour the right to democracy of the people. And every person counts. I will just give Hong Kong example here. In 1970 there was immense corruption in Hong Kong, so much so, that there was collusion between the police & the Mafia. Lakhs of students came out, and independent body was made – ICAC, HK – very similar to lokpal (jan lokpal) (please google for details). They were given complete powers, independence, and resources. The first step was that out of 180 middle level officers, 120 were sacked, and a message went out, corruption will not be tolerated. And today HK is one of the most honest places. But if we fail this time, who knows, we will probably not get a chance again before another 60 yrs. If you are looking to do something for your countrymen (that includes you and your family), please take notice – THIS IS THE MOMENT !! If you want to be a part of History, this is your moment. You go to work, watch TV, party, talk to your friends everyday. Do something for your country, do something for what you believe in, do something that you will be proud of, do something you will remember for the rest of your life. Go out on the streets, take Indian Flag and tell everyone that you have had enough, you will not tolerate any more corruption, you will not tolerate being looted anymore.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 13:43:37 +0000
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