Thesedays we read Headlines like "Revolution against Corruption" "Anna Hazare fasting" "Lokpal Bill" "Jan Lokpal Bill".... many of us know but many of us dont what exactly is the Lokpal Bill and what is Jan Lokpal Bill. Why is Anna Hazare fasting ? What is the whole objective of the so called Revolution or Movement against Corruption.
Who is Anna Hazare ?
Anna Hazare, is an Indian social activist who is especially recognized for his contribution to the development of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Government of India, in 1992.One can read more on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Hazare
In April 2011, Hazare started a 'fast unto death' to exert pressure on the Government of India to enact a strong anti-corruption act as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a law that will establish a Lokpal (ombudsman) that will have the power to deal with corruption in public offices.
CORRUPTION and CORRUPTION CONTROL
Ideally, RTI Act which came in 2005 became a strong tool to expose corruption in the Government, and thanks to the RTI Activists that we had Scams like 2G, CVC, CWG, Adarsh etc out. But still there is no mechanism in place to tackle the corruption and bring the corrupt to books and we still see jerks like Kalmadi roaming free.
Even, we the citizen of India, feel extremely cheated and betrayed that our hard earned monies paid as taxes to the government is being misused by politicians and the quantum are not lacs and crores but figures that can not be typed in a calculator ! And in our daily lives too we all become victims of corruptions big and small. The role played by Supreme Court and Media in the past one year is commendable, but the need is to take a concrete step to fight the deadly virus of corruption. That step is to implement the Jan Lokpal Bill
Quick Background on Lokpal & Jan Lokpal Bill :
The Lokpal Bill drafted by the government has languished in the Rajya Sabha for 42 years. The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969 but could not get through in Rajya Sabha. Subsequently, Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008. Yet none of these bills were ever passed. This is a big question which has no answer, if you may have, then please do share.
There are serious differences between the draft Lokpal Bill 2010 prepared by the government which still could protect the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats and the Jan Lokpal Bill prepared by the members of this movement representing the Citizen of India, which has received significant public support:
Draft Lokpal Bill 2010
1. Lokpal will have no power to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public. It can only probe complaints forwarded by LS Speaker or RS Chairman.
2. Lokpal will only be an Advisory Body. Its part is only limited to forwarding its report to the "Competent Authority"
3. Lokpal will not have any police powers. It can not register FIRs or proceed with criminal investigations.
4. CBI and Lokpal will have no connection with each other.
5. Punishment for corruption will be minimum 6 months and maximum up-to 7 years.
Jan Lokpal Bill
1. Lokpal will have powers to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public.
2. Lokpal will be much more than an Advisory Body. It should be granted powers to initiate Prosecution against anyone found guilty.
3. Lokpal will have police powers. To say that it will be able to register FIRs.
4. Lokpal and anti corruption wing of CBI will be one Independent body.
5. The punishment should be minimum 5 years and maximum up-to life imprisonment.
6. Lokpal will not be a monopoly for particular area
In a nutshell, the Jan Lokpal bill is more in the favour of the public and also is made by the involvement of the citizen, which the government is opposing. There will be vested interest of many corrupt politicians or babus who may get pulledup on implementation of this bill and the first victim is Sharad Pawar who had to resign from the Group of Ministers involved.
We, support the movement and revolution to implement the Jan Lokpal Bill in the larger interest of the society and would urge all Indian Citizen to do so. We almost talk about corruption in India and how and when will it become corruption free and the answer we have, in an optimistic mindset, is may be our next generation could see Corruption free India. It is difficult to clean the system overnight and these are the small steps towards the same. RTI has made a huge impact and Jan Lokpal Bill would be the next big stepping stone.
Let us participate in this movement of making India a corruption free nation. Atleast you would be able to tell your grand children that you participated in the Freedom Movement of India !!
For more details on LOK PAL BILL (Government proposed) and JAN LOK PAL BILL (Citizen proposed)- attaching the same.
JAN LOK PAL BILL (Citizen proposed)-
http://empowerfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/jan-lokpal-bill-by-expert-eng.pdf
LOK PAL BILL (Government proposed)
http://empowerfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/lokpal-bill-by-government-of-india.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One may also read on Jan Lokpal Bill on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Lokpal_Bill
If you dont have time to go through the Bill in details, here are Some Key Points on JAN LOKPAL BILL
Jan LokPal Bill – Summary and Guide to India’s Civil Society Anti-Corruption Bill Deserves Our Support
The Jan LokPal Bill is supposed to be the answer to India’s massive endemic corruption which strikes daily in the form of a new scam or scandal.The government has proven to be woefully inadequate in taking on the corrupt politicians,bureaucrats and businessmen.This corrupt nexus has been repeatedly exposed and its structure exposed through the Nira Radia Tapes.The Indian administration has shamefully failed to take action only promising to do something without doing anything worthwhile.The Indian Judiciary has also castigated the government numerous times for its abject failure in the 2G Telecom Scam,Black Money Scandal etc.However the government instead of strengthening anti-corruption measures has only put obstacles in the way.Its no wonder when the committee meant to look after the Bill comprises of ministers tainted with a number of scams themselves.Anna Hazare has held a fast unto death to put pressure on the government to pass the draft bill but the Minister appear unconcerned.Here is a short summary and guide to the main points of the Jan LokPal Bill which IMHO deserves the support of the whole Indian civil society.
What is the Jan Lok Pal Bill - The bill has been drafted by eminent members of the civil society like Prashant Bhusan,Kiran Bedi,Lyngdoh and other. The bill proposes institution of the office of Lokpal at the federal level and Lok Akyukta at sthe tate level. Jan Lokpal Bill is designed to create an effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal systems at centre and to assure that effective deterrent is created against corruption and to provide effective protection to whistleblowers.This has been done after the government of India has failed to pass the Lokpal Bill for 42 years reflecting the systemic corruption as the members of the legislature don’t want their powers to be curbed and their actions made accountable.
Main Points
1) There shall be an institution known as Lokpal which shall consist of one Chairperson and ten members along with its officers and employees. The Lokpal shall be headed by its Chairperson.The Government will appoint the members of the Lokpal though Chairperson and members of Lokpal shall not be serving or former member of either the Parliament or the Legislature of any State and shall not hold any office or trust of profit
2) Funding - There shall be a separate fund by the name of “Lokpal fund” in which penalties/fines imposed by the Lokpal shall be deposited and in which 10% of the loss of Public Money detected/prevented on account of investigations by Lokpal shall also be deposited by the Government.
The administrative expenses of the office of the Lokpal including all salaries, allowances and pensions payable to or in respect of persons serving in that office, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.
3) Appointment of the Lokpal A selection committee consisting of the following shall be set up which will have reprsentatives from the government,judiciary and civil socieity.The members shall have unimpeachable integrity with 4 members from the legal background.
4) Powers of Lokpal -
a) Initiate prosecution against public servants as well as those private entities
b) Order cancellation or modification of a license or lease or permission or contract
c) Blacklist the concerned firm or company or contractor
d)Take necessary action to provide protection to a whistleblower
e) Suo moto initiate appropriate action under this Act
f) Power to Issue Search Warrants
g) For the purpose of any such investigation (including the preliminary inquiry) the Lokpal shall have all the powers of a civil court
h) Lokpal to be a deemed police officer
i) , Lokpal may decide to impose a fine on the officials responsible for the non-compliance of its orders.
j) Assess Number of Special Judges for Corruption in an Area
k) Power to issue Letter of Rogatory
5) Functioning of Lokpal – Lokpal shall function in benches of three or more members.Chairperson shall be responsible for overall administration and supervision of the institution of Lokpal.
6) Punishments for offences: For offences mentioned in Chapter III of Prevention of Corruption Act, punishment shall not be less than five years which may extend upto life imprisonment.
Provided that if the accused is any officer of the rank of Joint Secretary in the state or above or a Minister, the punishment shall not be less than ten years
Summary
The Jan LokPal is a stringent law against corruption and will to strict and hard punishment for corruption doers while protecting whistle-blowers.This Law will be opposed tooth and nail by the executive and the legislature as it meant to punish wrong doers amongst them mainly.Note these 2 arms of the government are endangering Indian democracy with their flagrant violations of the law and massive corruption which has undermined the confidence of the Indian state amongst its citizens.I don’t see much hope that this Law will get passed but it deserves the support of every responsible citizen
What is Jan Lokpal Bill and How it Plugs the Giant Loopholes in Government Version LokPal Bill
5 Apr, 2011 by Abhisek Shah Courtesy - http://greenworldinvestor.com/2011/04/05/what-is-jan-lokpal-bill-and-how-it-plugs-the-giant-loopholes-in-government-version-lokpal-bill/ (The Views and summarization / interpretation are authors personal)
India’s Civil Society has brought out the Jan Lokpal Bill that has been drafted has been drafted by eminent members of the civil society like Prashant Bhusan,Kiran Bedi,Lyngdoh and other. The bill proposes institution of the office of Lokpal at the federal level and Lok Akyukta at the state level. Jan Lokpal Bill is designed to create an effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal systems at centre and to assure that effective deterrent is created against corruption and to provide effective protection to whistle blowers.You can understand what the Lokpal Bill is from Arvind Kejriwal an eminent social Right to Information (RTI) activist through this video.You can also read the summary of the Jan Lokpal Bill here
The existing Lokpal Bill proposed by the government is quite toothless and has glaring loopholes which make the whole anti-corruption exercise a sham exercise.The whole selection process,powers and member of Lokpal give rise to vested interests and would make it a fruitless bill.The deficiencies of the government version of the Lokpal are
a) Selection of 3 retired judges by the ruling government only to the Lokpal Panel.Gives rise to vested interests,Jan Lokpal advocates selection of any eminent citizen who has fought against corruption.Selection will be made by government,civil society members and judiciary.
b) Bureaucrats outside the purview of the Lokpal Bill,Speaker Power.This is a huge loophole as government bureaucrats have been found to be ringleaders in most corruption scams taking place in the country.The recent CVC case where PJ Thomas was implicated and Supreme Court had to force the government to remove him
c) No Sou Moto Recognition of Legal Cases – Complaints against the Legislature Members can only be made to the Speaker of Parliament who can decide.This makes no sense as Speakers in India have sullied their image with repeated partisanship to their party.Independent and impartial speakers in Indian parliaments are hard to find.Jan Lokpal can take Sou Moto cases
d) No Defence or Foreign Matter Jurisdiction – Again most of the large scams have taken place in Defence Deals.This has happened under the rule of both the main political parties.Bofors,HDW Submarine are some of the bigger Defence Scandals.Lokpal will have no authority to investigate these.The Jan Lokpal version allows investigations into such cases.Exceptions are only allowed in existing cases before judiciary or currently held legislation.It also imposes strict jail terms for corruption cases.
The Jan Lokpal Bill has the power to transform Indian state and system and have a major impact on transperency like the RTI Bill.However there are extremely powerful interests opposing this Bill..Hazare alleges the 9 member group of ministers who drafted the proposed draft bill are the most corrupt ministers.A lot of support and pressure is needed from the civil society and citizens to get this to move forward.
Who is Anna Hazare ?
Anna Hazare, is an Indian social activist who is especially recognized for his contribution to the development of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Government of India, in 1992.One can read more on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Hazare
In April 2011, Hazare started a 'fast unto death' to exert pressure on the Government of India to enact a strong anti-corruption act as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a law that will establish a Lokpal (ombudsman) that will have the power to deal with corruption in public offices.
CORRUPTION and CORRUPTION CONTROL
Ideally, RTI Act which came in 2005 became a strong tool to expose corruption in the Government, and thanks to the RTI Activists that we had Scams like 2G, CVC, CWG, Adarsh etc out. But still there is no mechanism in place to tackle the corruption and bring the corrupt to books and we still see jerks like Kalmadi roaming free.
Even, we the citizen of India, feel extremely cheated and betrayed that our hard earned monies paid as taxes to the government is being misused by politicians and the quantum are not lacs and crores but figures that can not be typed in a calculator ! And in our daily lives too we all become victims of corruptions big and small. The role played by Supreme Court and Media in the past one year is commendable, but the need is to take a concrete step to fight the deadly virus of corruption. That step is to implement the Jan Lokpal Bill
Quick Background on Lokpal & Jan Lokpal Bill :
The Lokpal Bill drafted by the government has languished in the Rajya Sabha for 42 years. The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969 but could not get through in Rajya Sabha. Subsequently, Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008. Yet none of these bills were ever passed. This is a big question which has no answer, if you may have, then please do share.
There are serious differences between the draft Lokpal Bill 2010 prepared by the government which still could protect the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats and the Jan Lokpal Bill prepared by the members of this movement representing the Citizen of India, which has received significant public support:
Draft Lokpal Bill 2010
1. Lokpal will have no power to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public. It can only probe complaints forwarded by LS Speaker or RS Chairman.
2. Lokpal will only be an Advisory Body. Its part is only limited to forwarding its report to the "Competent Authority"
3. Lokpal will not have any police powers. It can not register FIRs or proceed with criminal investigations.
4. CBI and Lokpal will have no connection with each other.
5. Punishment for corruption will be minimum 6 months and maximum up-to 7 years.
Jan Lokpal Bill
1. Lokpal will have powers to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public.
2. Lokpal will be much more than an Advisory Body. It should be granted powers to initiate Prosecution against anyone found guilty.
3. Lokpal will have police powers. To say that it will be able to register FIRs.
4. Lokpal and anti corruption wing of CBI will be one Independent body.
5. The punishment should be minimum 5 years and maximum up-to life imprisonment.
6. Lokpal will not be a monopoly for particular area
In a nutshell, the Jan Lokpal bill is more in the favour of the public and also is made by the involvement of the citizen, which the government is opposing. There will be vested interest of many corrupt politicians or babus who may get pulledup on implementation of this bill and the first victim is Sharad Pawar who had to resign from the Group of Ministers involved.
We, support the movement and revolution to implement the Jan Lokpal Bill in the larger interest of the society and would urge all Indian Citizen to do so. We almost talk about corruption in India and how and when will it become corruption free and the answer we have, in an optimistic mindset, is may be our next generation could see Corruption free India. It is difficult to clean the system overnight and these are the small steps towards the same. RTI has made a huge impact and Jan Lokpal Bill would be the next big stepping stone.
Let us participate in this movement of making India a corruption free nation. Atleast you would be able to tell your grand children that you participated in the Freedom Movement of India !!
For more details on LOK PAL BILL (Government proposed) and JAN LOK PAL BILL (Citizen proposed)- attaching the same.
JAN LOK PAL BILL (Citizen proposed)-
http://empowerfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/jan-lokpal-bill-by-expert-eng.pdf
LOK PAL BILL (Government proposed)
http://empowerfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/lokpal-bill-by-government-of-india.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One may also read on Jan Lokpal Bill on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Lokpal_Bill
If you dont have time to go through the Bill in details, here are Some Key Points on JAN LOKPAL BILL
Jan LokPal Bill – Summary and Guide to India’s Civil Society Anti-Corruption Bill Deserves Our Support
The Jan LokPal Bill is supposed to be the answer to India’s massive endemic corruption which strikes daily in the form of a new scam or scandal.The government has proven to be woefully inadequate in taking on the corrupt politicians,bureaucrats and businessmen.This corrupt nexus has been repeatedly exposed and its structure exposed through the Nira Radia Tapes.The Indian administration has shamefully failed to take action only promising to do something without doing anything worthwhile.The Indian Judiciary has also castigated the government numerous times for its abject failure in the 2G Telecom Scam,Black Money Scandal etc.However the government instead of strengthening anti-corruption measures has only put obstacles in the way.Its no wonder when the committee meant to look after the Bill comprises of ministers tainted with a number of scams themselves.Anna Hazare has held a fast unto death to put pressure on the government to pass the draft bill but the Minister appear unconcerned.Here is a short summary and guide to the main points of the Jan LokPal Bill which IMHO deserves the support of the whole Indian civil society.
What is the Jan Lok Pal Bill - The bill has been drafted by eminent members of the civil society like Prashant Bhusan,Kiran Bedi,Lyngdoh and other. The bill proposes institution of the office of Lokpal at the federal level and Lok Akyukta at sthe tate level. Jan Lokpal Bill is designed to create an effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal systems at centre and to assure that effective deterrent is created against corruption and to provide effective protection to whistleblowers.This has been done after the government of India has failed to pass the Lokpal Bill for 42 years reflecting the systemic corruption as the members of the legislature don’t want their powers to be curbed and their actions made accountable.
Main Points
1) There shall be an institution known as Lokpal which shall consist of one Chairperson and ten members along with its officers and employees. The Lokpal shall be headed by its Chairperson.The Government will appoint the members of the Lokpal though Chairperson and members of Lokpal shall not be serving or former member of either the Parliament or the Legislature of any State and shall not hold any office or trust of profit
2) Funding - There shall be a separate fund by the name of “Lokpal fund” in which penalties/fines imposed by the Lokpal shall be deposited and in which 10% of the loss of Public Money detected/prevented on account of investigations by Lokpal shall also be deposited by the Government.
The administrative expenses of the office of the Lokpal including all salaries, allowances and pensions payable to or in respect of persons serving in that office, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.
3) Appointment of the Lokpal A selection committee consisting of the following shall be set up which will have reprsentatives from the government,judiciary and civil socieity.The members shall have unimpeachable integrity with 4 members from the legal background.
4) Powers of Lokpal -
a) Initiate prosecution against public servants as well as those private entities
b) Order cancellation or modification of a license or lease or permission or contract
c) Blacklist the concerned firm or company or contractor
d)Take necessary action to provide protection to a whistleblower
e) Suo moto initiate appropriate action under this Act
f) Power to Issue Search Warrants
g) For the purpose of any such investigation (including the preliminary inquiry) the Lokpal shall have all the powers of a civil court
h) Lokpal to be a deemed police officer
i) , Lokpal may decide to impose a fine on the officials responsible for the non-compliance of its orders.
j) Assess Number of Special Judges for Corruption in an Area
k) Power to issue Letter of Rogatory
5) Functioning of Lokpal – Lokpal shall function in benches of three or more members.Chairperson shall be responsible for overall administration and supervision of the institution of Lokpal.
6) Punishments for offences: For offences mentioned in Chapter III of Prevention of Corruption Act, punishment shall not be less than five years which may extend upto life imprisonment.
Provided that if the accused is any officer of the rank of Joint Secretary in the state or above or a Minister, the punishment shall not be less than ten years
Summary
The Jan LokPal is a stringent law against corruption and will to strict and hard punishment for corruption doers while protecting whistle-blowers.This Law will be opposed tooth and nail by the executive and the legislature as it meant to punish wrong doers amongst them mainly.Note these 2 arms of the government are endangering Indian democracy with their flagrant violations of the law and massive corruption which has undermined the confidence of the Indian state amongst its citizens.I don’t see much hope that this Law will get passed but it deserves the support of every responsible citizen
What is Jan Lokpal Bill and How it Plugs the Giant Loopholes in Government Version LokPal Bill
5 Apr, 2011 by Abhisek Shah Courtesy - http://greenworldinvestor.com/2011/04/05/what-is-jan-lokpal-bill-and-how-it-plugs-the-giant-loopholes-in-government-version-lokpal-bill/ (The Views and summarization / interpretation are authors personal)
India’s Civil Society has brought out the Jan Lokpal Bill that has been drafted has been drafted by eminent members of the civil society like Prashant Bhusan,Kiran Bedi,Lyngdoh and other. The bill proposes institution of the office of Lokpal at the federal level and Lok Akyukta at the state level. Jan Lokpal Bill is designed to create an effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal systems at centre and to assure that effective deterrent is created against corruption and to provide effective protection to whistle blowers.You can understand what the Lokpal Bill is from Arvind Kejriwal an eminent social Right to Information (RTI) activist through this video.You can also read the summary of the Jan Lokpal Bill here
The existing Lokpal Bill proposed by the government is quite toothless and has glaring loopholes which make the whole anti-corruption exercise a sham exercise.The whole selection process,powers and member of Lokpal give rise to vested interests and would make it a fruitless bill.The deficiencies of the government version of the Lokpal are
a) Selection of 3 retired judges by the ruling government only to the Lokpal Panel.Gives rise to vested interests,Jan Lokpal advocates selection of any eminent citizen who has fought against corruption.Selection will be made by government,civil society members and judiciary.
b) Bureaucrats outside the purview of the Lokpal Bill,Speaker Power.This is a huge loophole as government bureaucrats have been found to be ringleaders in most corruption scams taking place in the country.The recent CVC case where PJ Thomas was implicated and Supreme Court had to force the government to remove him
c) No Sou Moto Recognition of Legal Cases – Complaints against the Legislature Members can only be made to the Speaker of Parliament who can decide.This makes no sense as Speakers in India have sullied their image with repeated partisanship to their party.Independent and impartial speakers in Indian parliaments are hard to find.Jan Lokpal can take Sou Moto cases
d) No Defence or Foreign Matter Jurisdiction – Again most of the large scams have taken place in Defence Deals.This has happened under the rule of both the main political parties.Bofors,HDW Submarine are some of the bigger Defence Scandals.Lokpal will have no authority to investigate these.The Jan Lokpal version allows investigations into such cases.Exceptions are only allowed in existing cases before judiciary or currently held legislation.It also imposes strict jail terms for corruption cases.
The Jan Lokpal Bill has the power to transform Indian state and system and have a major impact on transperency like the RTI Bill.However there are extremely powerful interests opposing this Bill..Hazare alleges the 9 member group of ministers who drafted the proposed draft bill are the most corrupt ministers.A lot of support and pressure is needed from the civil society and citizens to get this to move forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment