THE Lokpal Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha after four decades of struggle. It is welcome though there is no cause for being over-optimistic. People had given up hope but then the agitation gathered momentum with the Congress, the BJP and Anna Hazare speeding it up. It is expected to put a brake on corruption in public life. But of course, to be effective, it needs other pieces of legislation to back it up. It has to be admitted that the Lokpal Bill can have a significant impact if only implementation is on course. Laws in India have been great in potential but have failed to achieve the desired effect owing to ineffective enforcement. India has recently put through a slew of legislative measures to protect individual rights. The right to information, rural employment, forests and education- all this marked considerable progress. Now parliament has passed the right to food. All these laws offer guarantees based on pious intentions. But what has been the result? India is beset with double digit food inflation which cannot be contained by constitutional means. Yet idealists chase the rainbow. Amartya Sen is a champion of another set of rights beginning with health care.
Since 2007, almost Rs.7 trillion has been spent on welfare schemes. Doubtless the objective is to improve the quality ofpeople’slives but such measures have hardly been fruitful. About health care, between the rosy statistics dished out by the planning commission and the reality on the ground falls a long shadow. Primary health care centres have no doctors to attend to patients especially in poor areas. Similarly the Lokpal Bill is great but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
