A dissection of Lokpal Bill (Government version)

In this post, my attempt is to show you, why and how weak the Government version of the Lokpal Bill is. This list is not exhaustive, however I hope to cover at least the very important clauses (THIRTEEN of them in no particular order), which would expose the double standards and lack of sincerity of our Government in tabling this bill. This post is also meant for those who would want to see the facts, before they believe it (have taken excerpts from the Bill, quoting the Section numbers); I hope I will save you the time, you would require otherwise.

At the end of the post, I hope you realize that, in its present shape, the Bill will serve no purpose. I hope all of you will scorn the fact that it just wont be able to stand the rotten scoundrels out there (which we are blessed with so many); and if you agree to this, do extend your support to this fight against corruption. This is perhaps our last and only chance!

Points to note:

1. I speak for no political party.
2. I am not a lawyer; and I cant say that I can understand any legal document perfectly. Nope! However, I have put in a genuine attempt, in the last two days, to go through all the relevant documents (links to which are available at the end of the post), and I can now say that I have a good understanding of these Bills.
3. It is my first time that I am going through such a piece of document; however, I found this particular Bill very interesting. Lots of loopholes and manholes and potholes and what not; the plot is so good; it is much more than what we see in movies! You wont believe that someone can go this low...

Point ONE:
Government Lokpal Bill (21st June, 2011 04:00 PM)
Chapter II: ESTABLISHMENT OF LOKPAL
Topic: Not specified
Section 3.(2)
The Lokpal shall consist of -
(a) a Chairperson; and
(b) ten Members, out of whom at least four shall be Judicial Members

Section 3.(3)
A person shall be eligible to be appointed, -
(a) as the Chairperson or a Member if he is a person of impeccable integrity, outstanding ability and standing having special knowledge of, and professional experience of not less than twenty-five years in, public affairs, administrative law and policy, academics, commerce and industry, law, finance or management;

In a totally unrelated development; the Government is planning to have the following ad in all leading dailies: "WANTED: Alive but dead; six rubber stamps for the vacancies of Lokpal members. Job Description below:" And as you guessed it right, that was the end of the ad as well - without any job description!!!

Point TWO:
Government Lokpal Bill (21st June, 2011 04:00 PM)
Chapter II: ESTABLISHMENT OF LOKPAL
Topic: Appointment of Chairperson and other Members and Selection Committee
Section 4.(1)
The Chairperson and Members shall be appointed by the President after obtaining the recommendations of a Selection Committee consisting of -
(a) the Prime Minister - Chairperson;
(b) the Speaker of the House of the People - member;
(c) the Leader of the House other than the House in which the Prime Minister is a Member of Parliament - member;
(d) the Minister in-charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Government of Inida - member;
(e) the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People - member;
(f) the Leader of the Opposition in the Council of States - member;

The list has four more members; anyway of the ten members, six are politicians! What an idea sirji! The politicans realize "United we stand; divided we fall!" Six of ten would ensure the majority for them during the selection process

Point THREE:
Government Lokpal Bill (21st June, 2011 04:00 PM)
Chapter VII: PROCEDURE IN RESPECT OF INQUIRY AND INVESTIGATION

Topic: Action on inquiry in relation to public servants not being ministers or Members of Parliament

Section 27.(1)
Where after the conclusion of the inquiry or investigation, the findings of Lokpal disclose the commission of an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 by a public servant referred to in clause (c) or (d) of sub-section (1) of section 17, the Lokpal may -
(b) recommend to the competent authority the initiation of disciplinary proceedings under the rules of disciplinary proceedings applicable to such public servant;

So who is the "competent authority" in this case?

Government Lokpal Bill (21st June, 2011 04:00 PM)
Chapter I: PRELIMINARY

Topic: Not Specified

Section 2.(1).(c)
"competent authority", in relation to -
(iii) an officer in the Ministry or Department of the Central Government means the Minister in charge of the Ministry or Department under which such officer is serving

The "competent authority" in this case is the concerned Minister. Continuing Point THREE; let us see what the Bill proposes for the recommendation from Lokpal.

Government Lokpal Bill (21st June, 2011 04:00 PM)
Chapter VII: PROCEDURE IN RESPECT OF INQUIRY AND INVESTIGATION

Topic: Action on inquiry in relation to public servants not being ministers or Members of Parliament

Section 27.(2)
The competent authority shall, within a period of thirty days of the receipt of recommendation under clause (b) of sub-section (1), initiate disciplinary proceedings against the delinquent public servant accused of committing offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and forward its comments on the report, including the action taken or proposed to be taken thereon, to the Lokpal ordinarily within six months of initiation of such disciplinary proceedings.

So what Point THREE says is that Lokpal can just send its recommendations; but it is up to the concerned Minister to decide the final action. The day is not long when we would see the Minister give the officer a pat on his back, for his impeccable track record of not having missed any opportunity to get bribe from the ordinary citizen!

Point FOUR:
Government Lokpal Bill (21st June, 2011 04:00 PM)
Chapter VII: PROCEDURE IN RESPECT OF INQUIRY AND INVESTIGATION
Topic: Action on inquiry in relation to public servants being ministers or Members of Parliament
Section 28.(1).(1)
Where after the conclusion of the inquiry or investigation, the findings of Lokpal disclose the commission of an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 by a public servant referred to in clause (a) or (b) of sub-section (1) of section 17, the Lokpal may -
(b) recommend to the competent authority the initiation of disciplinary proceedings under the rules of disciplinary proceedings applicable to such public servant;

So who is the "competent authority" in this case? 

Government Lokpal Bill (21st June, 2011 04:00 PM)
Chapter I: PRELIMINARY

Topic: Not Specified

Section 2.(1).(c)
"competent authority", in relation to -
(i) a member of the Council of Ministers, means the Prime Minister;
(ii) a member of the Parliament other than a Minister means the Council of States in the case of a member of that Council and the House of the People in the case of a member of that House;

The "competent authority" in this context is either the PM or the Council of States or the House of the People. Coming back to Point FOUR; let us see what the Bill proposes for the recommendation from Lokpal.

Government Lokpal Bill (21st June, 2011 04:00 PM)
Chapter VII: PROCEDURE IN RESPECT OF INQUIRY AND INVESTIGATION

Topic: Action on inquiry in relation to public servants being ministers or Members of Parliament

Section 28.(3)
The competent authority shall examine the report forwarded to it under sub-section (1) and communicate to the Lokpal, within a period of ninety days from the date of receipt of the report, the action taken or proposed to be taken on the basis of the report.

So what Point FOUR says is that Lokpal can just send its recommendations; but it is up to PM or the Council of States or the House of the People (as the case might be) shall decide the final action. I guess that would be some sort of performance appraisal, where they would be given feedback for their case history and also new targets for the next reporting period!

The Coal Scam?

Not many of us even heard of this - The Coal Scam!

No idea how they (whoever it is) managed not to bring it to the limelight; not even the media picked it up, after the first few days... :( Cant help but think who all would be behind this!

Anyway, here are a few links for those who have not get a chance to come across this... A word of caution: Not for the lighthearted (we are talking about 26 lakh crores!!!)

http://www.patriots.co.in/articles/some-more-coal-scam.php
http://post.jagran.com/bjp-lashes-out-at-prime-minister-over-coal-allocation-irregularities-1306242293
http://www.mudraa.com/trading/87097/0/mega-scam-in-coal-worth-26-lakh-crores-hemant-.html
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=402&page=25

God save us...

Today, I saw a nine year old praying to God: "Dear God, can you spare us a backbone; for I hear our you-know-whom hasn't got one!"

Black Money Challenge!
Still cant digest how any government can go this far to protect its corrupt politicians, dishonest officials or scandalous industrialists!

• The Government should immediately make public the list of black money holders, which was shared by Germany way back in 2010; and also take stern & exemplary action against all of them, irrespective of their background (party/ religion/ position).
• Black money should be declared as national wealth!

Jan Lokpal Bill!
We don't want the Draft Lokpal Bill, for the namesake! My heartfelt support to team Anna Hazaare.

• Jan Lokpal Bill is the way to go...
• PM should be within the ambit of the bill!

Ram-Leela Maidan Mess!
Whatever be the real motives of Baba Ramdev (which the Government says that it is going to bring to light); it was inhumane and anti-democratic to end a peaceful strike by brutal force. Our PM calls it unfortunate but unavoidable.

• The PM (I mean the one with the turban) should take moral responsibility for the attack & apologize for bringing shame to the nation for not being able to uphold our constitutional values!

A scam a day!
The last couple of months, its been raining scams. We are very grateful to the government, for these eye-openers; we never dreamt it could be this worse. The government will definitely stand by those who have stood for them, so we don't expect any actions from the Government!

• Can the judiciary intervene by itself and help ensure justice to us, the stupid tax payers?

With all due respect to my nation, Jai Hind! God save us!

A suggestion to the Indian Railways

Happened to see the 'Nammal Thammil' program in Asianet yesterday. The discussion was about the recent train rape incident in Kerala (links below).

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kerala-woman-in-train-rape-case-dies/747036/index.html
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article1161997.ece
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/134437/man-held-attack-woman-inside.html
http://karavalitimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3305&Itemid=1

The show ended saying that eventually Soumya's death would just be a personal loss to her family, which is sad but very true! We, along with our media, will soon forget this like any other tragedy, once we have a better topic to speculate about - we are so used to all these: a tragedy followed by lots of revelations ending up with no actions of any sort from any one!

Anyway, the show said that the railway employs two security forces for securing the trains and its passengers - The Railway Protection Force & the Government Railway Police Force. The truth is that both these groups are severly undermanned. You cannot blame these groups for not having security personnel in each & every train or platform in India. The Government (Centre & State) should ensure that they have sufficient personnel to secure the railways, there is no point in we accusing them of not securing the trains!

Now leaving that apart, a small suggestion nevertheless. Not sure whether this will help, but still: Till we have sufficient security personnel, can railways empower passengers to take care of themselves and one another. The railways should ask for volunteers interested in such a task, screen the interested parties' profiles, select the right people among them, and empower the selected few with the tasks of ensuring safety and helping passengers at times of need. They should be provided with badges which will also help other passengers know whom to approach in case they need some help. The selected volunteers should be clearly briefed on how and what they need to do in case of any emergency or a likely mishap. The whole idea is empowering a few people in every passenger train would ensure that there is always someone who knows what is the best thing to do in case of any such event, and this can also  ensure that the authorities are notified of such events as quickly as it can ever get, in turn ensuring timely & quick response from the railway security forces. The last point: the selected volunteers should be rewarded by the railways for their service to the community - maybe a fully paid vacation to anywhere in India by train for them and their family, say once every year would do!

Don't know why, but I just sent this as an email to the Railways as well; shall update the post if I ever get to hear from them regarding this.

Update (15-Feb-2010): Was surprised/ shocked to see such a prompt response from Railways (though not in the affirmative). Really glad that the email did get a reply! Response from Railways pasted below; will reply to this mail as well.

Top THREE "Did you know?"

3) That crows have only one eyeball :)
See: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_a_crow_see_only_with_one_eye

2) That male seahorses have babies :)
See: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/seahorse-facts.html

1) That we have a Prez. :(
See: http://desicartoonist.blogspot.com/2007/07/pratibha-patil-as-rubber-stamp.html (Came across this link today; how very true! We miss you Dr. Kalam.)

Happy Republic Day!

Ayodhya - Can we draw a lesson from Kerala?

Maybe this is it... The pic says it all!

Source: Vavar mosque at Erumeli (Kerala), en route to Sabarimala

• It is believed that without visiting the Vavar mosque, the Sabarimala pilgrimage would be incomplete.
• The famous Sabarimala temple is open to people from all religions & caste.
• And by the way, when the temple closes at night, it still plays Harivarasanam rendition by Shri K. J. Yesudas
  

So we have a Hindu temple, pilgrimage to which is considered incomplete without a visit to a Mosque, and where the deity listens to a rendition of his favorite song sung by a Christian. What more can you ask for? This is India!

DemocraZy

Disclaimer
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real animals, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Backdrop
This story happens in a forest; a beautiful forest, with lots of streams and trees and birds and butterflies, and with just one species of animal - donkeys. Just one species, but there are millions of them; and one could find "all sorts" of donkeys. You could see 'blue donkeys with red tails' fighting with 'green donkeys with pink ears' over winning a kiss from 'white donkeys with orange a$$e$'.

The past
It was understood, long back, that to have a peaceful and happy life, a set of rules was inevitable. And, somebody had to look after the forest and serve the donkeys! So, it was decided that, every five years, they would select a few donkeys, who would serve the forest and help rest of the donkeys. They started calling the selected ones monkeys. Every five years, all monkeys would return as donkeys, and a few donkeys would again become monkeys for the next five years. This ensured fairness and equal opportunity for all; someone started cheering "Democrazy - Service of the donkeys, by the donkeys, for the donkeys!". And ever since then, every five years, a few donkeys (the selected ones) would chant special prayers, swear by name of God and then turn to monkeys to serve the forest!

There was peace and prosperity in the forest; monkeys used to take care of the donkeys and the forest. The donkeys were happy with the monkeys and so were the monkeys, in getting an opportunity to serve the donkeys. But every good has to come to an end!

The present
It all started when the monkeys forgot the sole purpose of why they were selected in the first place. They no longer found any interest in serving the forest or helping the donkeys. They loved the idea of controlling and ruling the donkeys as opposed to serving them; and seemed to be keen in living as a monkey forever. There has been a radical shift the way "democrazy" was being practised; it now meant: "Control of the donkeys, by the monkeys, for the monkeys!".

Things are getting worse; the monkeys are making an a$$ of donkeys.  The forest, still is beautiful; but seems no longer an exciting place, because of the monkeys. A large number of donkeys are yet to understand the deceit by the monkeys. A few donkeys, however, are realizing how they are being taken for a ride by the monkeys; they seem to want a change, but are not sure what to do!

The future
Need to wait and see...
Wish all donkeys a bright future and wishing for a beautiful and prosperous forest!

Be the change you want to see in the world

The stretch from Pattoor to Pattom has had a half foot deep gutter in the right side of the road, very near to Pattoor junction (opposite the old Post Office building). Not sure how long its been there or how new it is; however, I think I had noticed it right from the day I was back (it was definitely more than a month old). The gutter was not this worse then; but of late, it had become a real pain in the neck.

Today evening, at around 8:30 PM, I was driving by that stretch; and I saw these three gentlemen, in our traditional "lungi" and with our indingenous "nammattis". Am sure, they were not any "patchworkers" of any contractors employed by our Government/ PWD; am pretty confident that they were just three men who were staying close by. By the time I had reached there, they were winding up what what they were doing; I noticed that there was no longer any gutter there. They had themselves fixed the gutter.

Hats off to you three gentlemen! A good lesson taught to all of us; do our bit.

"Be the change you want to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi

Loaded garbage trucks parked in city during the day! One possible solution...

Today, I had to stop at Jagathi junction to get some groceries. The moment I got out of the car, I could smell it! Though I had read about this in the newspaper, never imagined it could be this worse! It stinks and it is so bad that you feel like running for your life gasping for a drop of fresh air...

The corporation is waiting for more airtight garbage trucks, which might bring relief to some extent. These trucks were earlier parked in our Putherikandam Maidan at East Fort; fortunately, we had not faced much of this earlier. Now, because of the ongoing beautification work at the maidanom, the trucks had to be moved out. You can read this here.

Anyway, even having more airtight trucks will not solve the problem. As long as we have loaded garbage trucks parked in the city, we are going to face more of this.

Was wondering if having airtight (underground) parking lots for these trucks could help! If at all, we have to park these loaded trucks somewhere in the city during the day, it should be in such airtight parking lots. This might alleviate the issue to a certain extent; and, of course, during the nights, when these trucks move on to the garbage treatment plant at Vilappilsala, we could use odor neutralizing chemicals and other such techniques to treat the odor that remains in the airtight parking lots...

Not at all sure whether this would work or whether this is economically feasible (but personally I don't think having an underground air tight parking lot is that big an investment). Can someone take this up with the concerned?