- What is Lokpal and what is the controversy surrounding it?
Lokpal is an independent body to enquire into the lapses and complaints against legislators, including members of Parliament.
The global Corruption Perception Index has put India at the 87th place out of 178 countries, showing the country slipping from the 84th position in 2009. The result is that India has 100,000 billionaires and 8.7 crore families (a minimum of 40 crore people) living below the poverty line.
The Central Government has at last proposed the Lokpal Bill 2010, but unfortunately it fails even to be a cosmetic exercise to fight corruption.
The Lokpal is a three-member body consisting of the chairperson, who is a former Chief Justice or a judge of the Supreme Court and two members who are have been judges of the Supreme Court or High Court Chief Justices.
The jurisdiction of the Lokpal under Section 10 apparently covers the Prime Minister, ministers and members of Parliament. But hypocrisy is exposed when at the same time it nullifies the same by providing that the Lokpal shall not enquire into any allegations of corruption against any member of either House of Parliamentunless the recommendation of Speaker or the Chairman of the Council of States, as the case may be, is received by it.
Not only that, but insultingly after the enquiry and even when the Lokpal finds that any of the charges have been proved against members of Parliament, all he can do is to send a report of his finding to the Speaker and Chairman of the Council of States, and they alone will determine what action is to be taken — obviously it may include rejecting the report of the Lokpal.
The government is treating the members of Parliament like sacred idols in a temple who cannot be touched by the Lokpal, but only by the Brahmanical priesthood of co-legislators, who will decide finally. This reduces the authority of the Lokpal to worse than a lower-level magistrate whose order has to be complied with by even the highest in the land, including the President.
The Lokpal under Section 11 is forbidden to enquire into any memo of complaint if it is made after the expiry of five years from the date when the offence is alleged to have been committed.
Also, has the UPA government considered that if a five-year period were to be provided, then by the same logic, would they not be barred from holding an enquiry into the 2G spectrum scam of 2001-02 during the BJP-led government (which, by all standards, should be held along with the enquiry into the 2G scam against former minister A. Raja) ?
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- Who is Anna Hazare and what is he demanding?
Anna Hazare , is an Indian social activist who is especially recognized for his contribution to the development of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1992.
On 5 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. The fast led to nation wide protests in support of Hazare. The fast ended on 9 April 2011. All of his demands of the movement are agreed by the Government of India and Government issued a gazette notification on formation of a joint committee headed by senior minister Pranab Mukherjee to draft an effective Lokpal Bill
Source : Wikipedia
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