By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Meghalaya’s first Bengali Daily, Sangbad Lahari was launched on Friday by Governor, RS Mooshahary at a function at Pinewood Hotel.
The launch was preceded by a panel discussion on the theme, “Is Lokpal Bill the panacea for corruption?” and ramifications of the Bill in North East India.
Five panellists ranging from a politician, an administrator, a college lecturer a clergyman, and a legal practitioner made their points on the theme. The panel was moderated by Sanat Chakraborty, senior journalist from the region.
While Ardent Basaiawmoit pointed out that corruption is abuse of power and authority and also argued forcefully about the need to educate voters not to be swayed by money power, Ms Anuradha Paul, the lawyer had a different take on the matter.
She felt that another Bill be it the Lokpal or any other instrument would not be able to tackle corruption as it is embedded in the system.
“The problem is about how the Lokpal is going to be implemented and who will police the Lokpal,” she said, since there are three stages in implementation, firstly the complaining part, then the investigation part and finally the prosecution.
“At each step those involved have to do their duties faithfully or the Lokpal will not work,” Paul averred. She urged the audience to look within themselves first before pointing fingers at others.
Giving the administrative viewpoint, KN Kumar, Commissioner Secretary, Community and Rural Development, said there is no universal solution for corruption. He also placed corruption at two levels — petty corruption and grand corruption. He said it is grand corruption (meaning corruption on a larger scale) that harms and hurts the citizen as it affects the economy of the country and also threatens its integrity.
Rev K Pyrtuh, known as a religious activist said that corruption must be battled because it affects the aam aadmi and exacerbates poverty since most schemes do not reach the poorest of the poor. On whether the Lokpal is seen as a messiah or liberator, Rev Pyrtuh said the Bill has to be intelligible, practicable and workable for the commoners.
“No matter how strong it is but it can only tackle corruption that has happened. He said it was more important to address the source of corruption.
Farida Warjri, Lecturer, St. Edmund’s College said corruption has many facets. Drawing from her social work background and quoting noted psychologist Sigmund Freud, Farida pointed out that corruption is actually a character flaw that gets ingrained in a person when his or her acts of deviance are not corrected at the right time. She said the bribe giver is as liable to punishment as the bribe taker but people usually do not focus on the former and punish the latter.
There was active participation from the floor even while the moderator summed up the proceedings stating that the Lokpal is not really a panacea for corruption but is only one of the many tools to address and prevent corruption.
No unanimity of opinion emerged from the panellists leaving the discussion inconclusive.