The fast unto death undertaken by the noted social activist Anna Hazare ,to persuade the Indian government to introduce Jan Lokpal Bill instead of powerless Lokpal Bill drafted by group of Ministers (GoM),has entered 4th day.He has received a tremendous support of the common people from all walks of life ,with people staging protests and taking out rallies in support of his demand for introduction of Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by a panel of judicial experts , social activists,like Lokayukta of Karnataka Mr. Santosh Hegde and well known legal expert Mr. Prashant Bhushan and india’s first woman IPS Mrs. Kiran Bedi. Anna Hazare and his supporters notably the RTI activist Arun Kejrival and Swami Agnivesh have been insisting to set up a committee consisting of fifty percent of members from civil society consisting of experts from various fields and NGO’s, so that common man can have an active role in drafting of the Lokpal Bill.
The Lokpal Bill in its present form drafted by Group of Ministers (GoM) on corruption is a toothless tiger with no real powers to either control corruption nor curb corruption. Some of the main proposals of the Lokpal bill as drafted by the GoM are:
1). Lokpal is not independent to take action against people /person accused of corruption. He can only investigate the cases that have been accepted and forwarded to him by the Speaker of Lok Sabha or by the chairman of Rajya Sabha. This means that common people have to first approach the Speaker of Lok Sabha or the Chairman of Rajya Sabha with their complaints/grievance against a public representative accused of corruption and only after these two forward the case to Lokpal can the Lokpal proceed to take action.
What the Janlokpal Bill proposes is that the Lokpal should have powers to investigate and take action against accused without the need for permission from either Loksabha Speaker or Rajya Sabha Chairman. It gives opportunity to common man to approach the Lokpal directly with his complaint for further action.
2). Lokpal has been reduced to advisory role only. It has to send its inquiry report to the authorized instituition for further action.The decision of the instituition is final even if it is contradictory to the report submitted by Lokpal. In respect of corruption charges against Ministers, the Prime Minister is the decisive authority,and in respect of Member of Parliament’s (M.P’s) it is the respective heads of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Prime Minster has been provided immunity against corruption charges and no action can be taken against him if he is accused of corruption.
On the Contrary the Janlokpal Bill proposes that Lokpal should not be reduced to an advisory role only, he should have powers to initiate inquiry after the investigation, against accused, however big he might be or even against Prime Minister.
3). Lokpal has no legal Protection. No powers have been given to Lokpal to file F.I.R and start prosecution process against corrupt on its own. There is also no clarity in Lokpal Bill about who should file charge sheet in courts and who will start prosecution against people accused of corruption once investigation has been completed.
4). The Lokpal can investigate cases only against M.P’s, Ministers and Prime Minister, he has no control over cases involving government servants. It is a well known fact that both babu and neta (bureaucrat and politician) are involved hand in hand in corruption. The Janlokpal Bill proposes that investigative powers of Lokpal should not be limited to cases against politicians only, it should have power to investigate cases involving government servants and even judiciary and other independent organizations like CVC should be merged into Lokpal.
5). There is no mention of action to be taken against corrupt government servants. A government servant accused of corruption can continue to be in his service and can even get promoted and appointed to higher positions.
The Janlokpal bill proposes that the Lokpal should have powers to sack corrupt officials and take action against those found guilty.
6). There is no mention of any protection to be provided to whistle-blowers, who raise their voice against corruption in public, and are getting killed in the process. The Janlokpal Bill proposes to protect these people from physical attacks and professional harassment.
7). The Lokpal Bill proposes a minimum of 6 months and a mere maximum of 7 years imprisonment for people accused of corruption . But the janlokpal bill has provisions for a minimum of 5 years and maximum life-term for corrupt. Also it proposes to recover loss to exchequer from the assets of the corrupt.
For more information on the Lokpal and Janlokpal Bills visit https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Lokpal#Lokpal_Bil.
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| Lokpal Bill Proposed by Government |
Now its upto us to decide what kind of a Lokpal we want to curb corruption: whether we want a dog that is on leash and just barks at thieves , dacoits and rascals who come to plunder and loot our homes and know that the dog can do nothing but bark at them or a roaring, thunderous and powerful lion that roams freely , and will tear to pieces any person who dares to cross into our homes, with intention to loot and plunder.
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| Janlokpal Bill |
SUPPORT ANNA HAZARE FOR CORRUPTION FREE INDIA
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