Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Govt drafts Lokpal legislation which is meaningless

When Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi said that corruption has to be removed and she will support the movement started by Anna Hazare I suddenly thought may be she will be instrumental in making this legislation a reality. But Congress party doesn't seem to show any interest. It is shocking that Manmohan Singh whose honesty has never been questioned is now being called honest king of a corrupt government. He doesn't even express how his own government's anti-corruption legislation is toothless. Ask a common literate man to read the draft given by the Government and he/she will just say it is -"NONSENSE".


As per govt, Lokpal will

a) Not have police powers, cannot file a FIR and will be an advisory body
Then why establish it? The Central Vigilance Commission is already there doing this job and advises government to act on it, but the Govt never acts.

b) Only if Lok Sabha speaker/Rajya Sabha Chairman gave permission action would be taken against the corrupt MP's or MLA's:
This is the funniest part. How can the speaker decide on if action has to be taken against a MP or not? Will the speaker's judgement be so trustworthy? Never. This is the most nonsensical part of the legislation.

c) People cannot file complaints to the Lok Pal.
For whom is this Lokpal? For people or the government's corrupt officers to protect themselves? The government's logic is people might misuse the lok pal. How can the government conclude this?

d) CBI and Lokpall will not be inter connected.
Then CBI which is already corrupt will continue to promote corruption and Lokpal would not be able to do anything.

e) Punishment is 6 months to 7 years and not necessarily all the money/assets will be seized/recovered:
Which means a politician will be ready to go to jail, but his assets will be with him even after he comes back from jail. This is more crap than Ekta Kapoor's crappy serials. How can a honest PM accept for a legislation like this, especially someone who opened up this country for reforms.

f) Lokpal won't be applicable for cases against judges:
This is a tricky part and I agree with the Govt's view that if judges are brought under Lokpal who will investigate against Lok pal itself if it turns corrupt? Not involving judiciary is not as much a big concern than not taking effective action against MLA, MP and bureaucrats.

g) The PM cannot be investigated in the matters related to foreign affairs, defense and security until the PM demits office.
This is understandable and is not a big issue. Really for the public - the "aam aadmi" for which this Govt works as per the claim, the PM is not a problem. The local bureaucrats, MLA, MP's are the problem. Hence, Anna Hazare would do a big mistake if he breaks talks with the Govt over this reason. This can be handled even at a later point after the legislation is brought in. Think of it - How many Indians feel any difference even with a honest PM like Singh? Does a honest PM make any difference? 
The PM is not a reason to worry, but the local MLA definitely is. 

Anna Hazare's version of Lokpal contains provisions that will create a super body that will consume all major investigative agencies and will apply to everyone. This is good, however a super body means that powers must be carefully defined.

I seriously fail to understand how can the Congress party even propose such a legislation which would not do anything. And I can't believe even if this legislation gets passed, it will enthuse people if any.

The tragedy of the nation is that the principal opposition party neither indulges nor inspires this nation as to how they would like the Lokpal.

It looks like India need of a strong leader who can act and deliver.

1 comment:

Pratik Shah said...

very true. A weak opposition has given Congress a free hand in everything... Troubled times indeed!