Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Anna gives voice to common anger

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By Harihar Swarup

Years back one could see a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at gate of district courts with the caption “Ghus leena ya dena pap hai” (giving or accepting bribe amounts to sin). Below the portrait crisp notes were passed on to the court staff like peshkar or persons who handover copy of the court order to litigants or fix dates for next hearing. If one wants an early date for his case, he has to grease the palm of Peshkar. With the passage of time Gandhiji’s portrait disappeared and acceptance and giving of bribe became a routine matter. The court babus say it is their haq (right).

The whole system in India has become corrupt. If you want to get your son or daughter admitted in a public school, you have to shell out a hefty amount, running into lakhs of rupees as capitation fee. Recruitment for the post of a constable costs one lakh rupees onward, depending on the number of vacancies. The lesser the number of vacancies, the higher the cost of bribe. This correspondent has heard that IPS officers, recruiting constables, take out wades of currency notes from their socks and give the money to their wives.

Recruitment in any department of the government, central or state level, costs hefty amount as bribe. The applicants would invariably ask the middle man “leene, deene say kamm ban jaya ga” (can the work be done by giving some money?). If the middleman says this much of money is required, he will promptly take out the amount.

There are petty cases of bribes like getting a driving licence or a reservation in the railway bogie. Get into a train without reservation, ask the ticket checker for a berth and hand over a hundred rupee note; you will get the best berth. Instances of traffic constables extracting money from traffic rules violators is very common. The traffic police makes good money from commercial vehicles plying on the highways. There are numerous examples of how corruption has seeped deep in the system.

Social activist’s Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption has gathered momentum because the common man is so adversely affected by bribery in his day to day life that whosoever raises his finger against graft, people blindly follow him. Few understand the intricacies of the Lok Pal Bill or Anna Hazare’s Jan Lok Pal Bill but the moment slogan is raised against corruption, they fall in line.

Eradication of corruption lock, stock and barrel needs stringent reformation of the system. This task can be done by a dedicated man like Hazare. Instead of fasting for inclusion of the Prime Minister’s office or higher judiciary in the Lok Pal Bill, if Hazare launches a campaign for cleansing the system, he will go down in history as a great reformer. If he launches a crusade against corruption that affect the common man, he will get overwhelming mass support, almost an uprising, never seen before. Alas, the man from Ralegan Siddhi is targeting higher quarters but not the type of corruption that affects the common man.

Now there are two Lok Pal bills—one of the government which has been introduced in Parliament and referred to a standing committee and another Anna Hazare’s bill—the Jan Lok Pal bill. Evidently, Anna cannot impose his bill on Parliament. Only Parliament, comprising elected members, have right to make laws. Anna cannot usurp this right. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rightly told Parliament “I acknowledge that Anna Hazare may be inspired by high ideals in his campaign to set up a strong and effective Lok Pal. However, the path that he has chosen to impose his draft of a Bill upon Parliament is misconceived and fraught with grave consequences for our Parliamentary democracy”.

At the time of writing this column, Anna Hazare has softened his stance. He has agreed to bring duration of his fast and protest from 30 to 16 days; hinted that he might not insist on inclusion of higher judiciary in the Lokpal Bill if the government brought a “good” Judicial Accountancy Bill, and requested that the Jan Lokpal Bill should at least be brought to Parliament for consideration.

After the government and team Hazare worked out a negotiated settlement on the terms of the Gandhian’s fast, the two sides appear to be exploring ways of arriving at a compromise on the provisions of the Lokpal Bill. Back channel efforts have been set in motion to end the stalemate.

Efforts are underway to pave the way for bringing Anna’s bill to Parliament for discussion. This can be brought before two houses in the shape of a private member’s bill whose provisions can be discussed and, subsequently, referred to the Standing Committee already considering the Government’s Lokpal bill. A section in the government and the Congress has been looking as to how it can use the private member’s bill to be introduced in the Lok Sabha by the BJP’s Varun Gandhi, to extricate itself. Varun has to introduce Hazare’s version, the Jan Lokpal Bill.

The Lokpal Bill in whichever shape it is passed is not enough to end the wide ranging corruption. Other measures like sweeping police reforms and stronger judicial accountability; enactment of liberal and contemporary laws that people can understand and respect; rolling back of discretionary powers of ministers and bureaucrats; blacklisting corrupt businessmen howsoever powerful they may be; formulation of a reasonable and transparent structure, backed by clean and clear enforcement and; paying government and PSU officers, judges and policemen market-indexed salaries commensurate with their responsibilities, should follow without delay. These measure may alleviate corruption though this may not altogether eradicate the menace.

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