Lokpal

The word Lokpal means an ombudsman in India. The word has been derived from the Sanskrit words "loka" (people) and "pala" (protector/caretaker). So the word Lokpal means 'protector of people'. The concept of Lokpal has been drawn up to root out corruption at high places in the prevailing Indian polity.

Lokpal Bill

After 42 years, the Jan Lokpal Bill is still pending in India. The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969 but could not get through in Rajya Sabha, subsequently, Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008, yet they were never passed and it is pending.

The Lokpal Bill provides for filing complaints of corruption against the prime minister, other ministers, and MPs with the ombudsman. The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) while recommending the constitution of Lokpal was convinced that such an institution was justified not only for removing the sense of injustice from the minds of adversely affected citizens but also necessary to instill public confidence in the efficiency of administrative machinery. Following this, the Lokpal Bill was for the first time presented during the fourth Lok Sabha in 1968, and was passed there in 1969.

However, while it was pending in the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha was dissolved so the bill was not passed at that time. The bill was revived in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and most recently in 2008. Each time, after the bill was introduced to the house, it was referred to some committee for improvements - a joint committee of parliament, or a departmental standing committee of the Home Ministry - and before the government could take a final stand on the issue the house was dissolved. Several flaws have been cited in the recent draft of the Lokpal Bill. Meanwhile the activists of India Against Corruption (IAC) have prepared a draft for the bill called Jan Lokpal Bill.

History

The basic idea of the Lok Pal is borrowed from the office of ombudsman, which has played an effective role in checking corruption and wrong-doing in Scandinavian and other nations. In early 1960s, mounting corruption in public administration set the winds blowing in favour of an Ombudsman in India too. The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) set up in 1966 recommended the constitution of a two-tier machinery - of a Lokpal at the Centre, and Lokayukta(s) in the states.

Duties

Prime Minister or a House of Parliament — to whom a Lokpal sends its report holds that the allegations of corruption made in a complaint against the Prime Minister, or a Minister or MP (present or past) have not been proved, "notwithstanding anything contained in any other law", "no prosecution shall lie on any complaint, report, information or otherwise and no court shall take cognisance of any offence on the basis of the same or substantially the same allegations." The Lokpal is empowered to give directions for deferring or suspending any ongoing police investigations in matters covered by the complaints made to it.

Criticism

The Lokpal bill is intended to provide the common man with direct powers to censure his/her elected representative. However, every complainant has to pay fees and take full responsibility for leveling charges. In case the complaint is found to be baseless, punitive action extending to two years in jail and monetary fine of up to Rs.50,000 may be imposed on the complainant.

Charges of corruption in the Indian legal system are not necessarily covered only under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 but also under many other Acts, but the Lokpal restricts its ambit to the cases under this Act.

Regarding the constitution of the Lokpal, the Chairman of the Lokpal shall be from among past or present chief justices of Supreme Court. But the other two members of the Lokpal may also be from those qualified to be judges of the Supreme Court. The loose end left here makes countless many from India’s entire judiciary eligible for the post including those who are also senior party politicians with legal background.

Latest Development

Anna Hazare, a Gandhian rights activist, had started a fast until death at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi demanding the passing of the bill. Hazare called off his hunger strike on 9 April 2011 bringing to an end his 98-hour protest after government issued a gazette notification constituting a 10-member Joint Committee of government ministers and civil society activists, including him, to draft a bill for the creation of an effective Lokpal. Thousands of people from all over India, especially younger generation supported Anna Hazare's cause by Candle light marches and online campaign through social media.

Recently Yoga guru Swami Ramdev, also started fast unto death demanding Government of India to accept various demands which also includes demands related to Lokpall bill.

Anna Hazare on 8th June declared that he will again start the fast unto death on 16th August 2011 if the Lokpal bill is not passed by the Parliament of India by 15th August, which is the Independence Day of India.

Differences between Draft Lokpal Bill 2010 and Jan Lokpal Bill

Draft Lokpal Bill (2010)	Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's Ombudsman Bill)
Lokpal will have no power to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public. It can only probe complaints forwarded by LS Speaker or RS Chairman.	Lokpal will have powers to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public.
Lokpal will only be an Advisory Body. Its part is only limited to forwarding its report to the "Competent Authority".	Lokpal will be much more than an Advisory Body. It should be granted powers to initiate prosecution against anyone found guilty.
Lokpal will not have any police powers. It can not register FIRs or proceed with criminal investigations.	Lokpal will have police powers. To say that it will be able to register FIRs.
CBI and Lokpal will have no connection with each other.	Lokpal and anti corruption wing of CBI will be one Independent body.
Punishment for corruption will be minimum 6 months and maximum up to 7 years.	The punishment should be minimum 5 years and maximum up to life imprisonment.
	Lokpal will not be a monopoly for particular area.23

The 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement consists of a series of protests for the Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen Ombudsman Bill) that sprang up across India especially after April 5, 2011. The protesters want the Government of India to draft a strong anti-graft Lokpal bill which follows the originally drafted bill and not the changes the government plans to bring in, which will make the Lokayukta just another advisory body with no actual power in the vast Indian bureaucracy. Following continuous calls in vain to the government to work effectively towards passing the bill, a civil society activist and Gandhian, Anna Hazare, went on an indefinite hunger strike until death until his demands in support of the bill were met. Anna demanded for a joint committee of civil society members and government representatives to draft a strong anti-graft bill.[1] The protests led to the creation of an unprecedented movement that saw protests being organised in various cities and towns of India. Protests included fasts, candlelight vigils and rallies. The protests are especially one of their kind in India as they have no political affiliation and the protesters have been very hostile to any political party trying to grab the initiative to meet its own political goals from the activists. The protests to some extent have similarities in methodologies to Jayaprakash Narayan's Bihar Movement (commonly called the JP Movement) of 1974.[2] There were also similarities to the methods and philosophies used in the 2011 Egyptian revolution and the Tunisian revolution, that have rocked the very foundations of governments in the Arab world. Protest Timeline

13 March 2011 A group of Delhi residents dressed in white shirts and t-shirts took a four-hour drive around the city to drum up campaign against corruption and rally support for the Jan Lokpal Bill.[8] 28 March 2011 According to the organisers of the protests held globally on that day - "As many as 45 cities in USA, 40 cities in India and 8 other countries globally joined in an anti-corruption movement. Indians across the globe, as far as from Nagpur to New Jersey and Sydney to Seattle shouted in one voice to enact 'Jan Lokpal Bill' and ratify the UN Convention against Corruption." Many of the marchers were planning to continue the movement by joining Anna Hazare's fast in Delhi on 5 April for the same cause.[9] 4 April 2011 Anna Hazare, the anti corruption activist leader announced his fast unto death till Jan Lokpal Bill is enacted[10] 5 April 2011

Protesters have come out in support of Anna Hazare Anna Hazare, initiated his fast unto death at Jantar Mantar in Delhi Around 6,000 Mumbai residents joined Anna Hazare for a one-day fast to support the demand for implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill.[11] In Pune over 6,000 residents joined the campaign.[12] The Freedom Park in Banglore was the cynosure of all eyes on Thursday as Bangaloreans from all walks of life thronged the place to support Anna Hazare.[13] 7 April 2011

Protests have continued as the Government fails to offer better terms to the activists 2 rounds of talks with the government failed. Anna Hazare continued on with his fast.[14] Narendra Modi, the chief Minister of Gujarat lashes out at Manmohan Singh for resisting the passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill [15] Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Indian National Congress party and the head of the National Advisory Council appealed to Anna Hazare to end his indefinite fast.[16] 8 April 2011

Protesters in Delhi

Protesters in Pune Protests spreaded to Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Patna, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Ranchi, Pune, Nashik and Kochi.[17][18] Protests were organised at Jammu University in Jammu, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and Jaipur too.[17] The government continued to squabble with the activists stating that the bill drafting committee will be headed by a government appointed minister and not a civil society member as the protesters demanded to avoid allowing the government to make the bill less powerful.[19] The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh met with the President of India to outline to her how the government was going ahead with the demands of the population.[19] 15 supporters of Anna Hazare on fast were hospitalized.[20] Bollywood came out completely in support of the protests - with famed actors, musicians and directors speaking in support of the movement and Anna Hazare. Director Farah Khan, actor Anupam Kher, music director Vishal Dadlani, poet-filmmaker Pritish Nandy and actor Tom Alter all visited Jantar Mantar. Meanwhile famed Indian actors Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan all stated their support for the movement via social networking websites or the media. Oscar winning Indian composer A. R. Rahman also declared his support for the anti-graft movement. Kareena Kapoor, Shabana Azmi,Shekhar Kapur, Sushmita Sen, Bipasha Basu, Shahid Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi, Neha Dhupia,Jackky Bhagnani, Shirish Kunder, Kailash Kher, Punit Malhotra all tweeted their support for Anna Hazare further feulling the masses to join the movement. Famed Qatari artist M. F. Hussain showed his support by drawing a cartoon of Anna Hazare.[21] Indian students at Cambridge University, the former alma-mater of the Indian prime minister also addressed their support for the movement.[22] Many prominent people from the government agencies as well as from various corporate houses came out in support of the movement. Some of them were - Delhi Metro chief E. Sreedharan[23] (also called the Metro Man of India), Punj Lloyd chairman Atul Punj, Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava, Hero group's Sunil Munjal, Tata Steel vice-chairman B Muthuraman, Bajaj Auto Chairman Rahul Bajaj, Godrej Group head Adi Godrej, Biocon Chairman and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Kotak Mahindra Bank vice-chairman & managing director Uday Kotak. never say that lokpal bill support indian that is wrong They all declared their support for Anna Hazare and the movement.[24][25] ASSOCHAM President Dilip Modi and FICCI Director General Rajiv Kumar, both came out in support of the movement too.[24] The Government of India accepted the compromise formula that there be a politician chairman and an activist, non-politician Co-Chairman. It was reported that Pranab Mukherjee will be the Chairman of the draft committee while Shanti Bhushan will be the co-chairman.[26] Shanti Bhushan was one of the original drafters of the Lokpal Bill along with Anna Hazare, Justice N. Santosh Hegde, advocate Prashant Bhushan, and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal.[27] 9 April 2011 After accepting all the demands of Anna Hazare, the Government of India issued a Official Gazette saying that the draft of lokpal would be made and presented in the coming monsoon session of Lok Sabha. Victory celebrations were held all over India from Jantar Mantar - the center of the protests to Hyderabad, Jammu, Mumbai, Nagpur, Chennai, Kolkatta, Allahabad[28] and even Anna Hazare's village.[29][30][31] Bollywood lauded the victory of Anna Hazare, once again echoing their support for the movement and the support of the Indian citizenry.[32] Anti-Corruption protestors at India Gate booed and drove away controversial journalist Barkha Dutt.[33] Protesters and leaders of the movement alike stated that the path to attaining complete passing of the bill is still a difficult one, and the movement has to see more harsher days ahead.[34] The movement has become a symbol of civil society's power in India. After being widely televised by the Indian media, and widely supported by almost every Indian citizen (as the issue of corruption has been an issue every Indian holds very negative views about), the movement has attained a certain level of credibility in the eyes of the Indian masses. Its uniqueness in the fact that it was completely apolitical; was a movement solely of the people; did not wish to put in disarray the country as in the case of total shutdowns organised by politcal parties (Commonly called a Bandh) ; and was able to bend the government - is something new for India.[35] Many commentators have called the movement the 'wake-up' call for India.[36][37] Meanwhile social networking chatter has been filled with fears that Indians will once again go back to 'sleep' with time.[38]

See also

• Protests for Jan Lokpal Bill
• Jan Lokpal Bill
• India Against Corruption
• Indian political scandals
• Corruption Perceptions Index
• Lok Ayukta

External links

• "Lokpal Bill hanging fire for 42 years". DNA (newspaper). Monday, January 3, 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• Difference between Lokpal and Jan Lokpal bill
• Yellow Sunday in Support of Jan Lokpal Bill
• http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200804051550.htm
• India Together - the Lokpal cycle
• http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2001/roct2001/09102001/r091020019.html
• time of India article
• Lokpal bill analysis