I thought it right to write a post describing what Jan Lokpal Bill is and why is it needed. To give a brief history, Lokpal Bill was first introduced in parliament in 1968. It has been brought in parliament on eight times on later occasions, but has never been passed by the parliament. It is a bill that is supposed to give powers to citizens to sue the people responsible for corruption. A similar kind of independent agency disappeared corruption from Hong Kong a few decades ago.
The government is again thinking of introducing a Lokpal Bill in parliament this year, and the National Advisory Council (NAC) chaired by Sonia Gandhi is considering it. But as it stands today, the bill is riddled with loopholes, defeating its very purpose. Social activists have remarked it to be a toothless bill and not at all acceptable. An alternative bill, the Jan Lokpal Bill has been drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde (Lokayukta of Karnataka), Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal after series of consultations with public and social activists. This bill is supported by Kiran Bedi, Shanti Bhushan, Anna Hazare, etc.
The Dandi March 2 event and the subsequent ‘fast unto death’ by Anna Hazare from April 5 and Aug 16 were in support of this ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’. The activists have already sent the bill to the PM and all CMs but there has been no response. After the ‘fast unto death’ was announced by Anna Hazare, he was invited for talks by the PM, but the response was bad as the PM said the government has no time for corruption till May 13. This after the numerous corruption scams like the Commonwealth Games, Adarsh Society, 2G scam being uncovered in the past months.
The Zero Rupee Note - Stop Corruption
The present system to fight corruption in India can be described in some points as below –
- The Anti Corruption Branch and CBI comes under the government. Despite having evidence, it is very difficult to convict people as they have to take permission from the same bosses, against whom the case has to be investigated.
- No corrupt officer is dismissed from the job because Central Vigilance Commission, which is supposed to dismiss corrupt officers, is only an advisory body. Whenever it advises government to dismiss any senior corrupt officer, its advice is never implemented.
- No action is taken against corrupt judges because permission is required from the Chief Justice of India to even register an FIR against corrupt judges
- The functioning of CBI and vigilance departments is secret and hence it promotes corruption.
- Weak and corrupt people are appointed as heads of these institutions by the government.
- Citizens face harassment in government offices. Sometimes they are forced to pay bribes. One can only complaint to senior officers. No action is taken on complaints because senior officers also get their cut.
- Nothing in law to recover ill gotten wealth. A corrupt person can come out of jail and enjoy that money.
- Small punishment for corruption- Punishment for corruption is minimum 6 months and maximum 7 years.
As you can see, in the present system, there is no deterrent for any public official to engage in an act of corruption. Some of the salient features of the Jan Lokpal Bill are –
- An institution called LOKPAL in the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up. These institutions will completely independent of the governments, just like the Supreme Court and the Election Commission. No minister can influence their investigations.
- Investigation in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt officer, or politician goes to jail in two years max.
- The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.
- If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant. So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month’s time.
- Election of Lokpal officials – What if government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.
- What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
- What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.
- The punishment would be minimum 5 years and maximum of life imprisonment.
Please read my two poems “Fast with Anna” and “Messenger of Hope” and join in this fight against corruption. We must remember Anna and others on fast are fighting for US and OUR India
People like Kiran Bedi to be avoided as she as IPS DGP did not put even one person behind the bars so what will she do when she has no power , she preferred not to use her power for her own benefit . Now she is just fighting to stay in lime light and doing all this …it is a request that people like her not to be off considered for as god gave them chance to stop corruption , but they did not do it.
Do u think she did not even find one corrupt man or a police officer in her 34 years of IPS life……lets think.
Ashok, it is not about the past. What happened in the past and who did what does not what? And it is not about Kiran Bedi or anybody else. It is about YOU.. and NOW… What we decide to do now, what we need is the only thing that matters.. Let us all forget our personal / political / societal opinions and stand for a common cause, a corruption free India..
@ashok…
Dude i know u have fed-up with the corruption..
But Make sure u go through the information on web before making any allegations..
Dont expect a single Person Make the Drastic change..
Even a Sachin alone can win match without the contributions from the remaining 10 Players..
@sumit Gupta..
Lets keep the fingers cross..
Hope is something which indians need..
Lets hope for it
It may be a good move,its the demand of time to have a change may be most of the people may not be interested as they have given up against the current situation…
The key to fighting corruption in any organization is transparency.
Every document and every case and every action in the proposed LokPal organization should be open to public examination and be easily accessible (preferably though internet).
People and NEWS agencies should be allowed to go through the activities whenever they want.
YADA YADA HI DHARMASYE, GLANIR BHAVATI BHARATA, ABHYUDHAMAM ADHARMASYA, TADHATAMAYE ADHARMASAYE. Whenever sinners starts thriving on Earth, God reborn as Rama, Krishna, Mahatma Gandhi, Jay Prakash Narayan, Vinoba Bhave, Anna Hazare etc…and protects Human Beings. It’s duty of all Indians to stand against Sinners and Corrupts and support Anna Hazare for Lokpal Bill. BHARAT MATA ki JAI.
The cause is noble.Why not to pressurise the government by mass UNTO DEATH HUNGER STRIKES IN EVERY STATE say at least 10 per state.I offer myself from Gujrat State.
@Sriram – rightly said – one person cannot change things.
Your support for Kiran Bedi and Anna Hazare are baseless unless you have spent your life (atleast after you started earning) without paying bribe ?
Yes, one person cannot change things, but can we all decide and not pay a single bribe to anyone ? If a traffice police stops us for any offence, lets pay the formal fine instead of paying 50-100 to get away ? If we go to any Govt office, like RTO, get our things done ourselves even though it needs bit more time.
We ourselves encourage corruption and then we only shout against it. Whats the point in strengthening the bill if none of us is going to lodge a complaint against the corrupt person. The updates in the bill to have stiffer punishment for guilty are useful only if people are going to lodge a complaint. If we ourselves are not determined to get corruption removed from society, why poor Anna Hazare has to fast ! And if ware determined to get it removed, lets stop giving bribe and then no Anna Hazare needs to fast. Remeber people are taking bribes because someone gives it to them. When there is no one to give, who will take 🙂
Jan lokpal Bill is a common man related bill since everywhere there is a corruption and no solution for corruption I wish Anna Hajareji,Kiran Bediji and all others associated with this movement to get succed over it.All citizens should come forword for this movement.
c corruption in our society is not only because of the corrupt persons we r equally responsible.
why we give bribe just refuse to pay them nd instead of complaining to higher authority in the same office we should complaint in cvc or other offices
in lokpal bill u r giving punishment of life time jail for taking bribe and only 7 yrs jail in case of rape
why to fight against corruption now fight first for the reservation seats in addmission our govt policies are allowing less efficient persons for higher job do u think a person withabove 80% marks in not eligible for job but a person with only 50% marks in eligible becoz he belongs to reserved category just think plzzzzzzzzzz
Hi, Please advice what can genral public can do to support this bill. If there any New channel or any one who is collecting votes or any other thingin support of this bill.
Alas! Somebody is doing it for us….the time has for us to raise our voice against these corrupt practices by the herditary politicians of the nation….infact the punishment level should no be based on extent of corruption but based on position held in society ie if a judge is corrupt he should be given major punishment compared to a clerk. Politicians, bureaucrats if found corrupt should be dealt severely…Jai Hind…..
Do not blame anybody for the past, feel good to see all your views, Think that it should be more highlighted so more and more people join in this revolution
Hi Sumit …
I would like to get the information on the upcoming protests or campaigning details in Bangalore.
Please keep us posted either through the mail or through the facebook.
Jai Hind
Arjun Prathap
dude , i am blind supporter of this bill . Mr . anna hajjare is doing good job . a am also participating against corruption…
I agree wit dis point dat ppl like us encourage in giving bribe… bcoz we ppl are being harassed, pressurized 2 give bribe… Our strength is our Unity, bt on other hand its our weakness too.. coz if 1 ppl breaks it.. Slowly da whole strength breaks down… So, I feel 2 make a corruption free country we have 2 first clean da dirt in our house… den we can work on not 2 make dirty again……. CLEAN THE CORRUPTED PEOPLE FIRST…..
– I SUPPORT JAN LOKPAL BILL.. It should be enacted…………………
It is not Sachin Tendulkar who needs to awarded Bharat Ratna, it is Mr Anna hazare. If he can get this bill enacted, he should be definitly given the Bharat Ratna, as he would’ve done the greatest service to the country after Mahatma Gandhi
lets protest against corruption..support mr. anna hazare..and help pass the jan lokpal bill..
for the sake of HINDUSTAN(our believed country) we HINDUSTANIS must support ANNA HAZARE so that his proposed JAN LOKPAL BILL for the welfare of us on ANTI-CORRUPTION MOVEMENT be pass in parliament ! JAI HIND..JAI BHARAT ! VANDE MATRAM!
Yahoo.com
I hope all the efforts of anna gets successfull ,lets keep our fingers crossed…..
in complete awe of mr.anna hazare!!!!!! corruption has to end…..
It is too essential bill,it must be implemented in India.
it good to see that people supporting anna ji. I also salute to Anna ji for their efforts for their fight. But one thing i want to ask to every one whether we are transparent in our work. We ourself are the creator of corruption body by using shortcuts in our work. What we are doing today if we went to any government organization or institutes we went there and first thing we do search of the known person or the person who will do my work from back door instead of waiting for my turn we move there with that person. We over self growing this corruption. Its human nature person in power definitely misuse its power for his own growth. Lokpal bill will work only when we change our mentality and when we do our work transparently. The things can changed with & without LOKPAL If we change over self.
Hi.
Thanks for your inputs.
As a corporate communications advisor, Im sending a note to all my corporate clients on the bill, its importance and advising them on their stance. I have taken a brief from your post, its very valuable.
Thanks,
Aman
hi
Thanks to all the people of india who provide the support to Jan Lokpal bill
I believe that this bill will really change the fate & mind of indan people. if it will pass as it proposed, I believe it will happen and our country will become greatest palce to live for good people
Thanks for Providing Information about Janlokpalbill. I am with Anna Hazareji Against corruption and in support of Passing the Janlokpabill.I request all to Support him.Revolution begins.Anna is the True Socialist.
i strongly support “jan”lokpal bill
Hi, My hero Anna Hazarre.
You will do the country what the indian capton Dhoni done. he performed by bat but you perfomes by tongue and heart. all india sulute my hero.
Hi All,
Its Not about passing a bill..its about get the black money back and distribute among poor …or for a national development ..If all our swiss money comes back ….Not even a Single person have to Pay tax for 80 year…! let me give a simple Example…how these corrupt people are transferring money.. from India to Swiss or anywhere ?
.Operation of Swiss and Italy Banks – Why are 8 Italy banks and 4 Swiss Banks like UBS being allowed to operating here ? When no common man has accounts in these banks why are these banks being permitted to operate in our country when its a known fact that these banks come from tax havens ? The answer is obvious. They are allowed here to facilitate easy transfer of black money to tax havens from our country.
this is only one of that….this is only one such..!
Here is other one : Guys tell me one thing do need 1000 Rs note in our country ? what for ? In India almost 60% of populations don’t even get 20 Rs to spend in a day…its not about one bill pass…what we need to do also matters….All big note 1000, 500 notes should be reclaimed by RBI. I am with Ramdev baba and Anna hazare…please dont like things on FB just share bring awareness. every action start in mind..let unite and bring our money back… JAI HIND
Anna is doing the good thing and i am with anna, But i have some concern regarrding the janlokpal bill point 6.
6) What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
who will do the invistigation against the corrupt officer of lokpal :
option 1:- member of lokpal :- If member of lokpal will do the invistigation then agian it will become the same current situation.Currently most of the politician are corrupt so its not a big thing that in future most of the member of lokpal will become corrupt. so for this case same situation will occur (corrupt politician never invistigate correctly same as corrupt officer never invistigate correctly).
option 2-other agencies.
Hazare sir you doing the best job against the corruption. I & my NGO C. Sambhaji Maharaj sanstha & all my friends stand with yoo. Jai Hind Jai Maharashtra.
now…its a chance for us to get a corrupted free India……anna hazare s revolution is running all over the country…wat i want from all of us is to be part of it….so let being out from our houses…u can join it anywhere…..its in all cities of country…throgh this u can support ANNA from any part of the country…………..INQLAAB JINDABAD………..its the time guys to be like superhero BHAGAT SINGH
All of us, do we know whether “jan lokpal” bill undermine the freedom of common people ? Will it make India more oppressive society ? There are so many cooked up revolution now in other parts of the world, is this India’s version ? Are the corporate oligarchs making sure of their free run in the future. India is already a country sold to the western corporate oligarchies represented by NATO.
Why is media so active ? Dal me kucch kala hai. NATO wants reform in the political structure of India, to ensure future profit for the corporations.
And if people without understanding what’s behind all these, come out to support this, then it’s so easy for the corporate oligarchies……..The true fighters are killed (read Bhagat Singh, Subhash Bose) or jailed (read Binayak Sen), satyagrahis are there to trick you. So fellow Indians be careful. Do not lose your freedom and make your country a police state. Read the proposed the bill, and question it, debate it, before supporting each and everything. Read it from a common person’s view, find how it can be used against any proper dissent, and against you. Without reading do not take part in the mob.
so dear observer……i thought upon your saying…would u please tell us wats dat type of thing is ther in the bill that you are warning people not to be a part of it..??????
i m with hajare chalo jantar mantar
to;pbserver
and if all will think like you………man….there will be infinite conspiracies……you better be ther in ur home……..BHAGAT SINGH JINDABAAD
We as Indians have enough tolerance in us to sustain corrupt political powers for decades. Did we really get freedom in 1947? Yes we were free from the British rule but are we any better off? Do we have Rabindranath Tagore’s India where the mind is without fear and the head is held high? Today I remember my dear father who lived a very simple life and worked as a clerk in Mahindra and Mahindra in the Purchase dept. He was an ordinary citizen but inspite of having to educate three children, pay high monthly bills, pay hefty lawyer’s bills for a pending lawsuit against my grandfather in Goa,managed to keep his head above water and came out clean. No we didn’t enjoy all the luxuries of life, but we were extremely happy. Never ever took a bribe and never gave one. That was the story of many young and old men those days. But somewhere the greed of some men and women disturbed the balance of the structure of our Indian society. Today its at its lowest of lows. From petty haftas to fat Swiss accounts we are only seeped in corruption. Pilots are arrested for fake marksheets, DGCA officials go scot free. Kalmadi, A Raja, Nira Radia,Sharad Pawar the names and scams just keep pouring out. But they walk freely. We should also treat these people as terrorists as they are harming our country. Anna Hazare is showing us a ray of hope. Hopefully it is what we have been waiting for. Lets join in and support him in his cause.
anna has done what most of us indians wished to do,but had no guts to do
hi all, Is this Jan Lok pal bill for american citizens or foreigners… All are in favour and yelling at top of their voice to implement this toothless bill which is pending since 1968, it has been presented eigth times in parliament….. We all are Culprits? We are thieves and corrupt, why we are blamming poor politicians, whom we choose with our vote after 5 years. There is no need of this bill, just implement Enforcement system which are already there in each and every department be is it judiciary, police or any other govt. department. Correct our systems and everything would be fine…. We all pays bribe to traffic police to avoid challans, ? We all pays donations to school or bribes so that our children can get admission in schools. We all pay bribes to babus to get our work done at faster pace…… We have to correct ourselves…..
Let Anna Hazara have long sleep and even then things will not change… I am sure…..
When Sonia Gandhi brought Manmohan Singh forward as India’s PM I was happy that finally an economist will now take over the reins of the country and we will have better civic facilities, higher growth, eradication of poverty and a better life style for all but he is a mere puppet in the hands of the Government. He has given us inflation, unemployment, hike in prices so much so that even the middle clas is unable to make both ends meet, and more poverty
Growth is not always measured in facts and figures but in what we see around I vote that the PM and the Congress Government should step down as there are more than enough charges against them the worst being the CWG where they had led the nation to shame
I support Anna Hazare. What he has done today should have been done ages ago
salute to anna hajare ji!!!
m also with u sir..want to kick out corruption from our India…
these corrupt politicians have destroyed a lot…but could not in the future!
they have to pay for this!
my brothers n sisters..lets come together n stand against corruption!!
so that we all can again sing..”mere desh ki dharti sona ugle,ugle heere moti..mere desh ki dharti”
MERA BHARAT MAHAN..
JAI HIND! JAI BHARAT!
Hats off to a 70+ old man for fighting for the rights of the people of this country . This was like who will put the bell in cats neck … which is the present govt. in this case… and Mr. Anna Hazare has done it. I think the entire nation like me is in complete support to what he is demanding.We have already had enough of it and can not really effort to have these buggers around anymore.
JAI HIND
Definitely we are all here to fight for the great cause. It will make a difference obviously. Indian laws gonna change for the better when the shift is a noble one.