In a short while, Parliament will begin debate on Lokpal bill or rather bills. It hopes that this will persuade Anna to end his fast and soften movement against corruption.
But to expect a decisive vote or debate on the vexed bill would be in vain. There are multiple groups, besides Team Anna led India Against Corruption, such as Anna Roy’s NCPRI and dalit groups. In a vast multi-caste developing country like India, there will be multiple groups holding divergent views. The Parliament is the right forum to reach a consensus through an informed, wise debate.
Therefore Anna’s insistence on his version being passed or at least a resolution in Parliament today on his 3 key points is being unfair to other groups who have valid vew points.
Times of India is conducting an online and phone poll on which you can register your vote. TOI claims 3.2 million votes being polled. While this is an impressive figure, it really conveys little meaning, against the backdrop of multiple versions of the bill.
It is obvious that 90% of India supports a strong Lokpal, the remaining being those who have a vested interest in corruption. So the outcome of such a binary poll in a given.
It is true that it is impossible to conduct a referendum on the debating points of Lokpal bill. But it is easy to conduct such a referendum online. It is also possible to conduct it on a IVR based phone system.
Even as the debate rages on in Parliament, the results of this multiple choice poll can be flashed on TV and TOI website.
- Should PM be brought under Lokpal, with certain safeguards such as granting him an exception in matters of national security and public order and permission of supreme court
- Include in Bill provision for creation of Lokayuktas in the states?
- bring all levels of government servants under Lokpal ambit?
- Should higher judiciary be included under Lokpal bill?
On Corruption
The level of “I, me, myself “ has reached stupendous proportions in India…. Probably the world over, too. Wonder why people don’t realize they are building up their bad karma, and will pay for their deeds , sooner or later.
Mayavati has spent Rs.51 crore of the public money, on renovating her personal bungalow; the money is ‘sanctioned’, so there is no corruption there….. but, it is her own house, and she stays in that bungalow, so that it is her official bungalow now, and she can keep it ready for her non-CM days.
Yeddyurappa has many cases of corruption against him [eg., land denotification, illegal gratification], but instead of answering the queries against him directly, he goes off at a tangent, effectively defusing the attention from the main allegations against him.
When asked why he denotified land, and allotted the same to his sons at ridiculously low prices, he says, “ Other CMs before me have done the same”. Good that he follows the footsteps of his predecessors. Why does he not pick up their good traits, and not the negative ones?
When the Lokayukta report mentioned that he is guilty of permitting or participating in illegal mining, Yeddyurappa defends himself stating that there are many CMs who are party to this, as this has been going on for a long while.
There are allegations that Yeddyurappa had received kickbacks of Rs 13 crore for awarding contract of Upper Bhadra project to the highest bidder. But this money went to the Trust run by his sons. I am sure Yeddyurappa will deny that this can be attributed to him, and that this is ‘donation’ for ‘various activities’ being done by the trust.
This happens with audit reports in many organizations. When there is bad news, instead of tackling ‘ why and who’, accused people start pointing back fingers at the audit team, asking ‘are they capable’, ‘maybe the sample is not reflective of the total happenings’, and ‘this is a stray case, we have lots of good things, too’, like Yeddyurappa claiming he has worked for the party for 40 years.