The crowd becomes larger each time. The lathi charge/warnings of the police does not deter it, the appeals by the govt does not move it. It is mersmerised by a single sight –an old man sitting cross- legged on the floor,who has been fasting since dawn. Reminds us of the pre-independence times, when Gandhiji challenged the British authorities in much the same way. This time the fight is even bigger- the fight against corruption.
But before taking up this fight/before taking up banners and marching to the Ramlila Maidan, lets make sense of what we are actually demanding. Lets at at least think about how the Jan Lokpal Bill plans to fight the evil of corruption.
The Jan Lokpal Bill aims to counter corruption at every level of governance, excluding not even the Prime Minister. The Lokpal, once established will be supervised by the EC,making it free from all ministerial and governmental influence. And perhaps the most admirable feature of the Jan Lokpal Bill is the time limit it has set to tackle all cases of corruption (it’s a max of two years).
But apart from all these remarkable features, there are a few others which need to be highlighted-
1) The Lokpal will have all police powers including the authority to register FIRs.
2) The Lokpal will be the only institution to tackle all corruption charges. All existing anti-
corruption govt agencies will be merged with the Lokpal itself.
3) There is no provision in the Bill by which any decision taken by the Lokpal can be challenged or questioned by any court.
All these put together, make the Lokpal a completely autonomous and independent institution,
making it free from being accountable to any higher authority. But what if the Lokpal itself
gets consumed by the very evil it is fighting? What if the Lokpal itself gets corrupt? As it is, any
corruption charges against the judges of the Lokpal will be investigated by the Lokpal itself.
The lokpal has given itself absolute power regarding any matter related to corruption. But
power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I am not of the opinion that corruption does not need to be tackled. Especially after the recent
scams that have been uncovered, it is essential that every Indin takes up the fight against
corruption. Its time to take drastic steps to fight graft. And the Jan Lokpal Bill is an admirable
step in that direction. Only, it needs to be revised, it needs to be improved. But lets not dampen
our enthusiasm and lets continue the fight against corruption.
Jai Hind
- Nikita Mirchandani
I liked the way you transformed from one viewpoint to another... :)
ReplyDeleteBut, can you elaborate more, what kind of changes do you want in the Lokpal Bill? If it needs to be revised, then how should it be like ?
very well written .... :):). Especially the other way of lookin at it. Really liked that part.
ReplyDelete