I reviewed the Government’s Lokpal Bill in great detail. I amdeeply concerned and not to mention alarmed with what I learned fromit. Government has completely ignored the wishes of the common man andmade a mockery of our hard fought struggle for strong anti-corruptionlaws. I have summarised the most troubling aspects of the governmentversion here and suggested possible steps that everyone of you cantake to help in this movement.
We had been demanding that an institution called Lokpal should be setup for central government and a Lokayukta should be set up for eachstate government through the same Bill. Lokpal would receive andinvestigate corruption complaints against central government employeesand politicians. Lokayukta would do that job in respective states.However, the Cabinet has rejected our demand. Only a few senior-mostofficers in central government have been brought within thejurisdiction of Lokpal. All officials and politicians in stategovernments have been left out.
What does that mean?
It means that rampant corruption in Panchayat work would continue asit is. Through the use of RTI Act, many people across the country haverevealed how payments are routinely made for ghost works. Check damsexist only on paper. A list of beneficiaries of various governmentschemes contains bogus names. Wages of poorest people are denied andsiphoned off under NREGA. Social audits in several states have exposedcorruption running into thousands of crores in NREGA. Medicines areroutinely diverted to black market from government hospitals. Teachersdo not turn up in government schools. They pay a part of theirsalaries to Basic ShikshaAdhikari to mark their attendance. Eighty (80) per cent of Rs30,000 crores of ration subsidy is siphoned off. People living belowpoverty line are turned away by ration shopkeepers because theirrations are diverted to black market. Much of this money reaches theparty coffers or the senior-most politicians. All this will continueeven after the enactment of Government’s Lokpal Bill because all ofthis is outside its jurisdiction.
In cities, roads would continue to break after a few months of beingconstructed. Flyovers would continue to collapse. Streetlights willstill not light up. Parks would continue to remain dilapidated. Builders would continue to fleece ordinary consumers. You would stillneed to pay bribes to get your passport, ration card, driving licence,refundof sale tax or income tax. Building plan will not bepassed without a bribe. Government’s Lokpal Bill does not cover any ofthis.
Adarsh Housing scam is not covered under Government’s Lokpal. Reddybrothers will continue to loot our mines and minerals. CommonwealthGames, Fodder scam, Taj Corridor Scam, Yamuna Expressway scam,Jharkhand MuktiMorcha scam, Cash for vote scam: none of these scamsare covered under Government’s Lokpal Bill.
Members of Parliament and MLAs would continue to take bribes to askquestions or vote in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies becauseLokpal would not have the powers to investigate them.
Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, MPs, MLAs, municipal councillors,sarpanches, judges, all state government employees, all Group B, GroupC and Group D employees of the central government. All are out of thejurisdiction of Government’s Lokpal Bill.
Interestingly, if any citizen makes a complaint of corruption against any official to Lokpal and if it lacks adequate evidence, then as per Government’s bill, the citizen would face two years of minimum imprisonment. And the government would provide a free advocate to the
corrupt official to file a case against the citizen. But if thecitizen is able to prove that the official has indeed indulged incorruption, there is just six months of minimum imprisonment.Therefore, rather than the corrupt and corruption, the Government Bill is targeted against those who dare raise their voice againstcorruption. In short, it discourages people from reporting acts ofcorruption!
Thirteen people, who had dared to raise their voice against corruption, weremurdered in the last one year. We had demanded that Lokpal shouldhave the powers and duty to provide protection for such people.Government Bill does not have any such provision.
Government has retained its control over CBI. So, CBI would continueto avoid taking action against a future Raja until Supreme Courtadmonished them. Accounts of the Quattrochis would continue to be defrozenin secrecy against national interests. CBI would continue to be usedto armt-wistthe Mayawatis, LalooYadavs, Jayalalithas and MulayamSinghsinto submission. Corruption money would continue to be siphoned off toSwiss accounts.
Government’s Lokpal Bill is also unconstitutional. Prime Minister doesnot enjoy any immunity from investigations under the Constitution.Exclusion of Prime Minister from Lokpal Bill is unconstitutional.
Selection and removal of Lokpal members will be completely in thecontrol of the government. Out of 9-member selection committee, fivewill be from ruling establishment, thus effectively giving powers inthe hands of the government to appoint the most corrupt, pliable andpolitically loyal people as Lokpal members.
High Courts and Supreme Court would continue to take more than 20years to dispose appeals in corruption cases because our plea to setup special benches to hear such appeals has also been turned down.
Government says that there are 1.25 crore government employees in thecountry. Government refuses to bring them under Lokpal Bill because itwould need a large number of anti-corruption staff to keep a check onthem. Isn’t that an absurd excuse? India is a huge country.
Obviously, it has a large number of employees. Can the Government leavethem unchecked and allow them to loot the people and the country?Under law, corruption is a crime, as heinous as murder or rape. Iftomorrow, the incidence of murders or rapes increases as much as wehave corruption now, would the Government turn around and say thatthis country has 120 crore population and since they would need a largenumber of policemen to check crime, they would not do it ?
The country seems to be in the clutches of highly corrupt people. Ithas been reported that in the Cabinet Meeting, the Prime Minister,including some of his other Cabinet colleagues, kept pleading that PMbe included within the Lokpal Bill. However, the corrupt within theCabinet had the last say. The Prime Minister was rendered helplessthough one wonders the reasons for his helplessness.
What are our options? Some people feel that Anna is unreasonable.They say that an indefinite fast is a brahmastra and should be used asthe last resort. Haven’t we already reached the end of the road?
I must confess that the road ahead is extremely challenging.Government is on a path to try and crush the movement at any cost. Weneed the active participation of every single Indian in order to fightback. If the Government’s bill becomes law, we are literally giftingour country to the corrupt people to further plunder our resources.
[ARVIND KEJRIWAL, former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi, is a part of Team Anna.]