Jan Lok Pal, India Against Corruption, Fast Unto Death and Democracy

I am sure the government never had a look at the ranking of India on Corruption Perception Index, otherwise they would have done something about it before India Against Corruption movement caught public sentiment!

Why despite of investing in so many schemes on employment, education and poverty eradication, not much has changed in past 20-60 years! How come nobody ever questioned the Ex-Prime Minister of India Mr. Rajiv Gandhi when he openly stated that ' Out of 100 paise of aid, only 15 paise reached the needy' ! This statement was once again endorsed by his son recently. How can the people sitting on the helm of power and authority say this AND do nothing about it for decades !!

Unfortunately I was wasted my time by watching this useless debate on NDTV I think the debate was badly anchored, what people were supposed discuss was not known and as always this debate must have added to the confusion of the masses even more, who are perplexed about various issues facing the nation. Anyways, I was able to gather some of the general qualms, queries and concerns have about the India Against Corruption Movement. To summarize some of those -

1. Gandhi ji used to fast for self cleansing and for the welfare of the society at large and Anna Hazare's fast cant be compared with Gandhiji fast !

2. Parliament is the supreme authority to pass bills, so why protests, dharna, hunger strikes .

3. Government is already doing so much about Corruption. So many ministers have been sent to jail in recent past, so dont challenge the credibility of the UPA government.

4.The bill is already presented to the Supreme Authority, the Parliament, so why fast ? By fasting unto death, team IAC and Anna is actually blackmailing the government, which is wrong, and why a deadline?

5. Who's team Anna? Whatever team IAC and Anna are doing is a gimmick, a farce and media child and is getting undue attention!

6. Far many more issues, many more people are doing fasts and have done fast, why has media not covered them properly?

7. Jan Lok Pal will not solve the problem of corruption, its rampant in day to day life, so why blame only politicians when the common man is corrupt from head to toe.

Sorry, but its going to be lengthy, so weak hearted may jump to the last paragraph.

1. Gandhi ji used to fast for self cleansing and for the welfare of the society at large and Anna Hazare's fast cant be compared with Gandhiji fast !

Team IAC and Anna said that Gandhi ji used to fight for what for their right and for what is fair and correct and that's exactly what they are doing- fighting for their rights, fighting for what they believe is correct and fair. I think the NDTV debate wasted precious time of the viewers by going into the technicalities, by discussing the time, date and venues for fast done by Gandhi ji pre-independence. The times are different, the context are different, the people for and against Gandhi ji were different, so I think its completely irrelevant to present debate to waste any more time and energy in comparing Gandhi ji with Anna Hajare.

2. Parliament is the supreme authority to pass bills, so why protests, dharna, hunger strikes !The bill is already presented to the Supreme Authority, the Parliament, so why fast ?

Without being an authority on Parliamentary affairs and Constitution, one can find so many loop holes, so many lacunas in the way parliament functions, laws written and enacted. So let's not get into that. The summary is - Constitution has been amended 100s of time in the past and constitution and parliament is not sacrosanct.

3. Government is already doing so much about Corruption. So many ministers have been sent to jail in recent past, so dont challenge the credibility of the UPA government. The bill is already presented to the Supreme Authority, the Parliament, so why fast ?

Not even once in the history of UPA/ Congress government they have attempted to analyze the reasons behind corruption, tried to find out the faults in the legal framework, constitution, judiciary and execution agencies and taken any bold steps to curb corruption. So please don't tell us about your (UPAs) intentions. If Supreme Court and Media has not broiled those issues, perhaps you would have been sleeping ever over CWG, 2G issues (which you anyway did for so many years, otherwise these scams wouldn't have taken place, right?). Everybody knows the role of Dr.Swamy and Supreme Court in ensuring proper investigations are done in 2G scam, everybody read about and hear the Radio tapes, so unfortunately Mr.UPA government you were not left with any choice but to do something, however nobody has been convicted yet and we dont think that justice will be done, the lost money will be recovered in 2G or CWG scam from the politicians and bureaucrats who's Swiss accounts benefited from these and many more scams.

Remember few weeks back when Baba Ramdev sat in fast on the issue of Black Money, government assured action, what's happening on that front ? Please dont tell us that everybody in your government was busy with Janlokpal Bill or perhaps in preparing strategies to make sure that IAC team dont get time to work on the bill!

4.By fasting unto death, team IAC and Anna is actually blackmailing the government, which is wrong, and why a deadline !

Because we are normal human beings, our common sense tells us that if we sow seeds of Neem tree, we cant expect the Mangoes ! The bill which you (UPA) has presented in the parliament is completely bullshit, spineless, hopeless bill. So how can we expect a strong anti-corruption agency as an outcome. For comparison between Janlokpal Bill (proposed by team IAC and Anna) and Lokpal (rather Jokepal) Bill as proposed by government, please review these article of Outlook or Times of India. You will realize how lame and useless Lokpal, government is proposing in the parliament. By excluding 95% of Politicians and bureaucrats, any common will tell you that, such a Lokpal will not achieve anything.

Now specifically about Why Fast !

Team IAC and Anna wrote several letters to PM, MPs, Sonia Gandhi before April 2011 requesting for meeting to discuss about Lokpal bill. NOBODY responded or showed any concern about team IAC and Anna Hazare. They were confident that many people have fasted in the past and lot of them have unfortunately died, so nobody can achieve anything by protesting against government. Unfortunately, after putting so much of drama by UPA government, they agreed to listen. The bill is pending for more than 40 years, so many people have filed petitions, wrote letters, requested governments to pass the bill, but nothing has been done. So how can members of society convey their demands to the government. The political parties don't even keep the promises they make during election campaign. Under constitution of India, no grievance redress al mechanism is in place, the government is not obliged to respond to the letters from ordinary citizens of this country then what can people do, so that they can be heard ! Outside the context of this debate, but everybody agrees that the Election process we have in this country, the so called democracy are all flawed and no political party is doing anything about it. So, Mr.Government the people will protest, shout slogans, write, fast and will do whatever they can to register their protests and you will have to listen to them.

Mr.Government you are so used to being lazy that perhaps you are not even aware that we the middle class face deadlines everyday, everywhere, there's a deadline to pay taxes, deadline to apply for Gas connection, deadline in the office, deadline from the client, so please get used to what rest of the India is undergoing. You will have to work within a deadline, it was not the case till now, but we the people of India have changed the rules. So please obey deadlines, else you will be fired.

5. Who's team Anna? Whatever team IAC and Anna are doing is a gimmick, a farce and media child and is getting undue attention!

Its really sad to know that people start alleging team IAC without knowing their background. They have not emerged overnight from nowhere !!

Basic Google search about Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan will give you details about their background and credentials. So I really feel ashamed of the people coming of national television or writing blogs about these people without even doing a very basic research.

So those who know them and read about them will understand that these people have been working in the field for years, fighting against corruption relentlessly. They do not crave for media attention and no power can corrupt them. Many other people working behind the scenes in team IAC are similarly infected, so please beware!

The movement got media attention, because government was not doing anything about corruption. Scams in every possible department have taken place in past 20 years, so what more should people wait for ? Of the 100s of scams, involving 1000s of billions of $, not even 100 people have been convicted and punished and NOTHING has been done to recover the money lost due to corruption.

6. Far many more issues, many more people are doing fasts and have done fast, why has media not covered them properly?

So you (UPA government) wants media to tell you on daily basis what you are supposed to do ? Agree, there are many more issues, but you are not doing anything about anything. So we the people will have to take the matters in our hand and start addressing one issue at a time. It's sad the most of the other issues have not caught the eye of media and common man as this movement has. This goes onto prove that how much common man is frustrated and media is providing the suitable platform this time.

Dont worry, we are at it and will make sure to solve all the problems which your Congress led government has created in past 50 years.

7. Jan Lok Pal will not solve the problem of corruption, its rampant in day to day life, so why blame only politicians when the common man is corrupt from head to toe.

The pseudo intellectuals and psychologists and sociologists will cite corruption as a deep rooted problem, in our blood, the indifference of the Indian masses at large and the corrupt activities in which people involved on day to day basis. All such arguments blames the common man and so all the super duper corrupt people (mostly those who have not been convicted or are charged under any case) points finger on everybody.

How can one give same punishment to a pickpocket and a terrorist! How can one argue that because someone killed someone in an accident, he will go on to become a serial killer?

So, we urgently need a strong, educated, powerful and independent agency to tackle corruption at all levels ! So how the hell can they say that the Rs.50 corruption done by a common man to get his birth certificate is same as Rs.5000 cr scam by Kalmadi or Madhu Koda !

What options does common man have? How can the government expect the common man to give a Petition, file RTI for each and every activity right from the illegal hotel, liquor shop license, delayed gas connection by HP/BP distributor, polluted drinking water and petrol mixed with kerosene, for the birth, the marriage and the death certificate, the post-mortem report of the only son so as to claim insurance, in the fodder, in the local stadiums, street light, damaged road and bridges and almost everything imaginable under the sun ! A 10th pass technician working in Middle East learns to obey the laws of the land and a highly qualified Westerner learns to bribe when in India to get things done ! Which means Indians are capable of following laws as well and perhaps better than westerners or easterners Provided We Have the Laws in place, the enforcement agencies and the judiciary in place !

I think you (UPA government) has not even read the draft of Jan Lokpal bill as presented by team IAC, members of civil society. Please understand that the if government goes by the civil society version of Janlok Pal, the day to day corruption common man is facing pertaining to traffic police, ration card, gas connection, electricity etc will be tackled as well. The present state of affairs is because public servants, bureaucrats, government officials and politicians are not afraid of the existing law and order, police, CBI and judiciary. All these agencies have been made complicated and are ultimately made to report to politicians, most of the time ignorant and uneducated.

So, we urgently need a strong, educated, powerful and independent agency to tackle corruption at all levels !