Lokpal Imbroglio

Lokpal Bill is in final stages before it will be forwarded to standing committee for consideration. There are 2 drafts of the proposed Bill- One favored by the Govt. and other Bill which is more stringent,broader,extensive is proposed by Team Hazare. This bill brings PM,Supreme Court, and almost all the Bureaucrats, M.P.s. under Lokpals jurisdiction. Obviously Govt. and Political parties do not want very strong Lokpal Bill for obvious reasons. They are also advised to reject the team Hazare Bill by IAS lobby, which as Administrators and heads of the various organizations and Govt. corporation is conduit for the enormous corruption that takes place in India. There is no branch in Govt. which is not completely corrupt. PM is wrong, there are only few Civil servants who are honest. Majority are completely corrupt. More so when they have just few years of Service left. opposition parties can play footsies with team Hazare as going against it would mean -atleast in Public eye- being with corrupt. They can relax at Center but they are vulnerable at state level. Govt. and Congress is in fix because it has still 2 1/2 yrs to complete and Lokpal Bill, if passed in this session of Parliament can result in Lokpal investigating various scams and corruption cases during run up to next Loksabha elections in 2012. This will result in complete decimation of Congress, without single case being filed in court! 24x7 News channel will get atleast one case per week for their " Breaking News".

Govt. and Political parties are in stronger position as they have to table the Bill in Parliament,discuss and pass the Bill. All the Political parties are together in this whatever may be their public posturing. They can not afford to have strong Independent Lokpal overseeing affairs of the state and M.P.s.This is the attack on the most crucial aspect of Political System. The essence of being in Politics is to have Power and Money. No political Post offers good money officially. Money comes from the patronage and favors that a Politician can provide and this has to be compensated in kind- that is the Bribe and source of Corruption. If this is investigated by a body which is not under the control of Politicians then there will be havoc. How can a Politician get money for self and party? World over the corruption is at this level. In India we have to pay Bribe for day to day events. like getting a Ration Card , driving License, a water Tap, 24 hrs supply of Electricity or even parking spots near our shops or establishments for customers. So parliament would like to have Lokpal who is like CAG,CVC etc. Janta should feel that something is being done, but in effect nothing is done and Lokpal report will be out for public, Then arrest few people and our Snail paced Judiciary will take care of the rest. Politicians popularity will end before the judgement would come.

But this corruption has to end. Many Politicians have suggested, that what we need is not Lokpal Bill but Social awareness so that Society ( not themselves) would become more honest and would shun bribe!!. Even after strong Lokpal and punishment to few, corruption will not end completely but will reduce drastically. It would be deterrent and cost of taking Bribe should outweigh benifits. Atleast serial( ! ) bribing, like in Motor Vehical dept., taxing authorities, low level administrators would end. Today corruption at this level is eating away vital parts of our life. As 1993 Mumbai Bomb Blast case has shown, it was very easy to land ammunition in Konkan because Custom Officers-almost all of them- were taking money to allow smuggled goods to land without checking.

So what will be the Lokpal Bill like? The attitude of Congress is openly hostile to strong Lokpal. They are also sure that other parties will willy nilly support them in Parliament. There will be amendments, but they will be defeated in the voting. it will be difficult to know which parties voted which way. As most of the Political parties will be together in Parliament there will not be advantage to any party. There may not be any 'whip' issued for this voting to make it more opaque for party affiliation. A lokpal on the line of CVC will be installed and Congress and UPA 2 and all Political Parties will crow about fighting corruption. For people's reaction for being made sulphate, we will have to wait till 2012.

It is this realisation which has prompted Anna to start Hunger Strike from 16th August. Digvijay Singh and Sibal would try and malign Anna and will do everything to prevent inclusion of strong measures in Lokpal Bill which will be Tabled in Parliament. If in Bofors case PM Rajiv Gandhi was not named but was held Guilty of Corruption then P.M.'s office should be under the ambit of Lokpal Bill. Mr Sing is fooling people when he says that he as PM is in Favour of including PM in lokpals ambit but party is not in favour. That means he is not in Control of Govt., party is. Argument that Anna should fight election is stupid as he neither has temperament nor necessity to do so. we need people who are outside the Govt/ parliament and can exert Moral pressure on Political class. Mahatma -had he lived- would not have fought election to become M.P.!! If India has to progress and become nation which can provide its people honest administration then Lokpal is just 1st step. It may not achieve all that Team Hazare promises that it would. But here is 1st battle against corruption and we have to win it to win the war. We can do it. Just 90 yrs ago, people gave up their jobs,comforts, education and almost everything to join Freedom Struggle. Today same people are grabbing illegally everything in sight. We have to reverse this slide in our Cultural Values,Ethics, Morals and Honesty. We owe it to our ancient Civilization.