Of Zombies and Unicorns..

“Honest Differences are often a healthy sign of progress.” – M K Gandhi

In the past 2 weeks we saw a few resolute people standing against the Indian government to bring about a system in place which is expected to provide a fix for corruption in India. This small group of people who call themselves the Civil Society regarded the LokPal bill proposed by the parliament incapable of solving the corruption problem in India. They suggested a Jan-LokPal bill of their own which was proposed to be much more effective. The difference in opinions did not boil down to an open discussion and rather took form of a protest movement which attracted eyes from across the globe as well as the support of millions of Indians. The desperate need of this country to lighten itself from prevailing corruption requires no explanation. This post comments on the effectiveness of the bill and the response of the people associated with it.

The LokPal bill proposes a body of ombudsmen who would have the power to question and investigate the work of any government official from the Prime minister to the lowest of the strata. They would not require permissions to carry on any investigations and will have powers to punish. They will also have to address public grievances about corruption. Let’s see where the Jan LokPal bill fits in the prevailing system.

1. At present hardly any politician ever gets punishment in a corruption case because the ACB and CBI have to take permission from the same bosses to carry on an investigation. In the new scenario, the ACB and CBI will be merged with the LokPal body. The LokPal at the centre and Lokayukt at state level will have powers to investigate any official or politician without requiring any permission with anybody.

2. Since the Central Vigilance Commission is only an advisory body, their recommendations to dismiss a corrupt official are never put in action. The LokPal will have powers to dismiss any official if found guilty of corruption.

3. Currently you need a permission from the Chief Justice of India to even register an FIR against a judge. The LokPal will have powers to investigate and prosecute any judge without seeking any permission.

4. Even the CBI, ACB and CVC are plagued with corruption which never gets exposed because of their secretive way of functioning. The LokPal will have to keep their functioning transparent and the investigation records will be open to public. Any complaint against a LokPal official will have to be investigated within 2 months. The selection of LokPal body will be through a transparent public participatory process and will not have any influence of the politicians.

5. All public grievances will have to be mandatorily resolved within a stipulated time.

6. Right now the losses caused due to corruption are not recovered. The accused can complete their sentence in jail and enjoy the ill-gotten money. In the new system, the losses caused will be recovered from the accused.

7. Right now the accused are given a small punishment of 6 months to 7 years of jail for corruption. The LokPal will punish the accused for a minimum of 5 years to the maximum of life imprisonment.

I think the proposed system is quite transparent and is much more resilient to corruption within itself. However there is always a scope for improvement and a need for retrospection time to time. Also the above points represent the proposed system at a very macro level. The success of LokPal will depend if the same is effectively put in place at micro level in form of Laws and work processes for the LokPal body.

The challenges which the LokPal faces are tremendous. It would be working to clean up a system which is more corrupt than any statistic can describe. It will find itself up against one of the most powerful people in the country. The newbies and the old players, the corrupt are pros at getting things done by hook or crook and have to be dealt with a lot of tact. The LokPal will also have to work closely with enforcement agencies like the police which are themselves one of the most ineffective and corrupt of the lot. They would also find fingers pointed at them every day and therefore will have to be extremely transparent to keep themselves clean. Never the less, this gives out a ray of hope, as atleast now we have a mechanism to cope with corruption.

The Hoo-blah caused during the movement deserves a mention. Mr Anna Hazare fasted for almost 288 hours to make the government consider their bill. We saw people from all over India standing in support of the Jan LokPal bill. With peaceful protests being held in cities across India and lots of people travelling to Delhi to support it, the movement got huge public appeal. We saw political parties, public figures, movie stars, educationists, students, tribals, government officials, the Mumbai DabbaWalas, the Bangalore IT professionals, the Nawabs of Lucknow, Rajanikanth and people from all walks of life coming together to strengthen the voice. We saw the parliament to first ignore, then try to crush the movement, then try to talk their way out, then try to postpone and finally giving in to the demands of the civil society to bring up an effective LokPal bill. Some people saw the movement as an awakening, at the same time some people condemned the passionate following of Anna. Some did not consent with the way it was enforced on the government in a short timeframe; some thought it was the need of the hour. People had issues with the slogan ‘India is Anna and Anna is India’, and there were people who were madly shouting it out. There were people who wanted amends in the Jan LokPal bill, and there were people who supported the movement without a proper understanding of the whole issue as well.

I would not say if the way Anna forced the parliament was right or wrong, except that no one was hurt and no violence took place in the process. It was mostly the Gandhian way of protest. I don’t know how much effective will the LokPal really be in cleaning up corruption. Even that it cannot be said at the moment how exactly will the LokPal system be. I don’t know if India is Anna or Anna is India. I’m not sure if India will see a clean political system or continue to be ruled by a bunch of ill-educated personnel who win the elections only because a huge section of the voters are un educated and there is no worthy opponent in the game. But what I sincerely feel is that this is going to change the way we live in time to come. I just hope the governed rise to make sure they are governed in the right way.