“A small body
of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter
the course of history.”
Our country’s maiden tryst after 1947 with an Armageddon for the
scourge of corruption started on the 5th April 2011 at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi
with veteran social activist Anna
Hazare starting his “fast
unto death”. The moot was surrogating the present draft of the “toothless”
Lokpal Bill with Hazare’s Jan Lokpal Bill. Plethora of Social Activist’s
including former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, RTI crusader Arvind Kejriwal, Swami
Agnivesh etc backed Hazare’s undertaking.
The present draft of the Bill has been touring the boulevards of
our legislatures for the last 42
years, failing an entry in the ambit of our constitution. Emissaries of
Anna Hazare claim the present draft to be dubious &“eyewash” in the
name of curbing corruption. Showcasing the present bill on public platform’s
Anna Hazare has marred the face of our Union Government with shame. The present
draft is no “rocket science” & can be critique even without someone
possessing high legal aptitude. Excerpts from the Bill are as under:
1.) Section 11 of the bill forbids enquiring into any memo of
complaint if it is made after the expiry of 5 years from the date when the
offence is alleged to have been committed. Thus, Cases such as the Bofors,
Adarsh Housing Society & the 2G fiasco won’t lie within the ambit of
its jurisdiction.
2.) When the Lokpal’s(ombudsman) prima facie observation smells a
stringent need of an enquiry all it can do is send a report of his finding to
the Speaker and Chairman, of the
Council of States, and they alone will determine what action to be
taken – obviously it may include rejecting the report of Lokpal.
3.) The composition of the Lokpal committee is a mere group of 3
retired judges. Social scientists & Activists are ipso facto
accomplices of curbing corruption & excluding them from such committees
is a grave mistake.
Such excerpts are enough indication to obliterate the Bill
& welcome Hazare’s panacea for corruption—The Jan Lokpal Bill.5
parliamentary members & the other 5 would be a mixed blend of judges
& social lobbyists. Amid the jingoism of its victory over the Union
Government, The Jan Lokpal Bill is not a magnum
opus judicial structure but a
mere tool which can be instrumental in quelling corruption. They say that even
the Anti-corruption law by itself was well armed on paper but lost its tussle
when the pervasive cronyism sabotaged its implementation. The RTI if used can
unilaterally bring a sea shift in our polity, but again if used! Tainted
members leisure the comfort of holding top political portfolios, the recent
appointment of the CVC serves as a paradigm. The
British looted away less than the money laundering of the 2G fiasco. Our
country’s laws have been too generous for the netaji,
making corruption an endemic virus of our system. It is ironic that “unelected”
coteries are shouldering the onus of legislating laws. They say that it was
transparency acts like the Jan Lokpal Bill which made Hong Kong the least
corrupt country in the world. The Lokpal is envisaged as the Super Cop who can banish the specter of
corruption, but what if the roadside thanedar continues the prevalent quid pro quo
of hafta’s from people to survive in his Raj.
Retrospection is a real Lokpal which can make people aware that giving the
extra 50 under the table makes them accomplices of corruption.
The Jan Lokpal Bill is a harbinger of sanguine augury which has
resurrected the era of a non violence facet of agitation. Public allegiance to
the movement & their passion to get attached with the entire catharsis
was commendable. The ire within every Indian was meticulously channelized by
Hazare’s regime. The truce between the government & emissaries of
Hazare is a minute step of a marathon which if completed within time can lift
India at the cusp of success. The fervor that ran across India for 5 days was
enough to exhort the government to bow before the “demo” of democracy. If Anna
Hazare’s determination is present even in a mere “ek hazar” Indian the
Lokpal will indeed be a Super
cop…....Jai Hind !!
