What alternatives other than lokpal bill
A Magsaysay award winner, Anna Hazare brought to the movement against corruption his considerable reputation and the moral strength derived from his social work in a village in Maharashtra, Ralegan Siddhi. It appears that corruption is a great unifier. If he had chosen the moral path, he would have addressed the social conditions that made corruption possible.
The government functionaries who are sharing the table with Anna now may help create another fortress around the beleaguered state. Many people believe that the hunger strike he undertook and the ultimatum he served were coercive in nature and have no place in a democracy.
Benefits of lokpal bill
As a result, Anna Hazare and his committee may end up as apologists for the state-run machinery of corruption. If he had chosen the moral path, he would have addressed the social conditions that made corruption possible. Nevertheless, his Gandhian credentials have earned him recognition from the state and civil society. There is nothing in the draft to suggest that the Lokpal will bring to bear a greater sense of transparency and accountability of the system than what the existing institutions have so far achieved. The Delhi Police arrested Hazare on Tuesday along with many of his supporters, hours before he was due to begin an indefinite hunger strike to demand tough laws against corruption. In this respect, the draft does not provide an approach that is qualitatively different from that of the existing institutions of the state. However, it is the timing of the agitation rather than the moral content of the campaign that accounts for the popular response. So long as Anna Hazare, or for that matter anybody else, does not raise systemic and institutional issues, and only champions reformist measures, the state will have no problem in promoting them. The committee that was quickly constituted on the basis of mutual consent between Anna and the government has started its deliberations. Many people believe that the hunger strike he undertook and the ultimatum he served were coercive in nature and have no place in a democracy.Greed is good' is the new social mantra. A redirected movement must therefore ensue, exposing the ironical lack of transparency in the movement fighting for just that, and the majority of the Indian population must be accounted for.
It is the government, which will take a final decision in this regard, not an individual or a minister," Khurshid told mediapersons in Parliament House here. This 'materialism' and import from the West necessitates a strong anti-corruption regime and rules.
If one were to recognize the lack of governmental transparency as the cause of these ubiquitous practices, a logical remedy to treat this would be the implementation of an ombudsman.
It cannot be reduced to a question of morality alone, nor can a solution be found by punishing individuals as a deterrent. Moreover, by solely scrutinizing members of parliament, the Jan Lokpal Bill ignores the corrupt activities of large corporations and NGOs, who are equally guilty of the allegations.