Aana Hazare

As Indians from across the world start their march against corruption from today, one of the
major demands of this march (Dandi March 2) is to enact Jan Lokpal Bill. I thought it right to
write a post describing what Jan Lokpal Bill is and why is it needed. To give a brief history,
Lokpal Bill was first introduced in parliament in 1968. It has been brought in parliament on eight
times on later occasions, but has never been passed by the parliament. It is a bill that is supposed
to give powers to citizens to sue the people responsible for corruption.
The government is again thinking of introducing a Lokpal Bill in parliament this year, and the
National Advisory Council (NAC) chaired by Sonia Gandhi is considering it. But as it stands
today, the bill is riddled with loopholes, defeating its very purpose. Social activists have
remarked it to be a toothless bill and not at all acceptable. An alternative bill, the Jan Lokpal
Bill has been drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde (Lokayukta of Karnataka), Prashant
Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal after series of consultations with public and social activists.
This bill is supported by Kiran Bedi, Shanti Bhushan, Anna Hazare, etc.
The Dandi March 2 event and the subsequent ‘fast unto death’ by Anna Hazare from April 5
are in support of this ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’. The activists have already sent the bill to the PM and all
CMs but there has been no response. After the ‘fast unto death’ was announced by Anna Hazare,
he was invited for talks by the PM, but the response was bad as the PM said the government has
no time for corruption till May 13. This after the numerous corruption scams like the
Commonwealth Games, Adarsh Society, 2G scam being uncovered in the past months.
The Zero Rupee Note - Stop Corruption
The present system to fight corruption in India can be described in some points as below -
1. The Anti Corruption Branch and CBI comes under the government. Despite having
evidence, it is very difficult to convict people as they have to take permission from the
same bosses, against whom the case has to be investigated.
2. No corrupt officer is dismissed from the job because Central Vigilance Commission,
which is supposed to dismiss corrupt officers, is only an advisory body. Whenever it
advises government to dismiss any senior corrupt officer, its advice is never
implemented.
3. No action is taken against corrupt judges because permission is required from the Chief
Justice of India to even register an FIR against corrupt judges
4. The functioning of CBI and vigilance departments is secret and hence it promotes
corruption.
5. Weak and corrupt people are appointed as heads of these institutions by the government.
6. Citizens face harassment in government offices. Sometimes they are forced to pay bribes.
One can only complaint to senior officers. No action is taken on complaints because
senior officers also get their cut.
7. Nothing in law to recover ill gotten wealth. A corrupt person can come out of jail and
enjoy that money.
8. Small punishment for corruption- Punishment for corruption is minimum 6 months and
maximum 7 years.
As you can see, in the present system, there is no deterrent for any public official to engage in an
act of corruption. Some of the salient features of the Jan Lokpal Bill are -
1. An institution called LOKPAL in the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set
up. These institutions will completely independent of the governments, just like the
Supreme Court and the Election Commission. No minister can influence their
investigations.
2. Investigation in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be
completed in next one year so that the corrupt officer, or politician goes to jail in two
years max.
3. The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of
conviction.
4. If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office,
Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as
compensation to the complainant. So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or
passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any
other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a
month’s time.
5. Election of Lokpal officials – What if government appoint corrupt and weak people as
Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges,
citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely
transparent and participatory process.
6. What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/
Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal
shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
7. What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and
anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete
powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or
politician.
8. The punishment would be minimum 5 years and maximum of life imprisonment.
Please read my two poems “Fast with Anna” and “Messenger of Hope” and join in this fight
against corruption. We must remember Anna and others on fast are fighting for US and OUR
India

Aana Hazare

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Aana Hazare

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Aana Hazare

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

As Indians from across the world start their march against corruption from today, one of the

The Zero Rupee Note - Stop Corruption

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.