The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sushma raps Rahul, targets Speaker
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 27
On a day which most leaders described as historic in the wake of discussions on the contentious anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, BJP firebrand Sushma Swaraj bared the disconnect between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party on the issue.

She went ballistic in the Lok Sabha today while referring to the unexpected intervention party general secretary Rahul Gandhi made in Zero Hour yesterday wherein he took a hard stand towards the ongoing anti-corruption movement of Anna and said the issue called for much more than mere resolution of the crisis caused by the activist’s fast.

Questioning Speaker Meira Kumar’s support to Rahul, who took 10 minutes to deliver his speech in Zero Hour, where urgent matters of immediate concern are allowed to be raised, Sushma asked her: “In cases where no notice has been received, you grant permission to raise urgent matters, but not to lecture. Also, you give permission for three minutes, which we laboriously stretch to five. But yesterday we were bound by your ruling. I would however wish to ask you if Rahul Gandhi’s speech was an address to the nation or a Zero Hour intervention?” The Treasury side hooted as Sushma spoke.

But she registered her protest and then went on to slam the Gandhi scion for “pouring cold water on the statesmanship the Prime Minister had shown a day earlier by delivering a warm, passionate message to Anna.”

“We were not expecting Rahul to speak but we got feelers when the PM came rushing to the House. Sadly, Rahul poured cold water on the PM’s statesmanship of yesterday. It was then that we realised that Rahul had come to clarify the Congress party line and it was then that we understood why the government did not hold the debate yesterday by making a statement on its own as had been agreed upon,” she told the Lok Sabha. For this, she was attacked later by Congress leader Anand Sharma, who pointing to the “forever-different” positions taken by BJP President Nitin Gadkari and the party leaders in general.

Sushma cornered the government for delaying the debate on the Lokpal issue. Yesterday, the government, instead of bringing a statement which the House would then have discussed, said it was bringing a discussion on the matter under a Rule 193 notice, which its MP Sandeep Dikshit had given.

Father coined term Lokpal, son to prepare draft Bill

New Delhi, August 27
Father coined the word ‘Lokpal’ way back in 1963 and his son now heads the Standing Committee of Parliament which is entrusted with the job of looking into the Lokpal Bill against corruption.

It was LM Singhvi, an independent member of the Lok Sabha, who for the first time on April 3, 1963, while participating in a debate suggested the word Lokpal, which was the Indian version of “ombudsman”, a Scandinavian word for a “grievance man”. The interesting piece of information was given in the Rajya Sabha by Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley today.

“It is a coincidence that his very distinguished son, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, now has to prepare the final draft of this Bill. I am sure, he will keep in mind the great heritage, not only his personal, but also of this concept, and strengthen the Bill in order to maintain this very strong heritage as far as this Bill is concerned," Jaitley said.

The Lokpal Bill was first introduced in 1968 by then Home Minister YB Chavan. Jaitley said it was even passed by the Lok Sabha in 1969.

The concept of Lokpal was first brought out in 1966 by Administrative Reforms Commission which recommended the establishment of a Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill. — PTI

Party positions on Hazare demands

Inclusion of PM

Congress: Ready to consider though earlier thought as impractical

NDA: Must be covered except in matters of public order, national security and foreign policy

CPM: Must be covered

CPI: The PM must be made accountable

SP: Should be covered expect in defence, internal security and lawmaking

BSP: Will follow consensus on the issue

Selection panel for Lokpal

All parties agreed to change the panel to make it more inclusive and balanced

Inclusion of judiciary

Congress: independence of judiciary must; should not be under Lokpal; a separate Judicial Accountability Bill coming

BJP-led opposition: An independent National Judicial Commission needed to maintain the judiciary’s independence

Lower bureaucracy under Lokpal

All parties agreed to this suggestion

Congress’ Sandeep Dikshit: This mechanism should be evolved over a period of time in a way that makes it legally sound

Inclusion of MPs’ conduct inside the House under the Lokpal

All parties voted against this suggestion and said the constitutional immunity granted to MPs is a must to maintain their independence and fearlessness

Citizens’ charter

All parties agreed

Congress said it should be evolved as a model mechanism that takes into account the fact that all delay in delivery of public services does not stem from corruption

NDA said many of states already had grievance redressal laws which Team Anna was also agreeable to

CBI under Lokpal

Congress: CBI’s anti corruption wing can be brought under the Lokpal through proper mechanisms

NDA-led Opposition: The CBI can be brought under the Lokpal to make it independent of the Government

One law for Lokpal and lokayuktas

Congress: Can evolve a model bills which enables states to set up a Lokayukta

NDA-led opposition: Enabling laws can be brought but one law can be struck down as it would be anti federal

43 years, 8 Lokpal Bills, zero consensus

JOURNEY Till now

n The Bill was first introduced in the fourth Lok Sabha in 1968
n From 1968 to 2011, the Bill has come before Parliament eight times and under seven PMs, beginning with Indira Gandhi
n Only VP Singh, HD Deve Gowda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee agreed to have PMs under the law’s purview

New Delhi, August 27
India's effort to have an anti-graft ombudsman in the form of a Lokpal institution may have caught national attention only now. But Parliament has made eight attempts since 1968 to pass a Lokpal Bill, a different version each time, all in vain.

The Bill was first brought before the fourth Lok Sabha in 1968 and passed in 1969. However, the House was dissolved, resulting in the first death of the Bill. The legislation was revived in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, and 2001, but never survived.

In September 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government would lose no time in enacting the Bill.

It finally took a mass mobilisation by Anna Hazare and his associates in April this year to get the government to work on the Lokpal Bill and bring it to Parliament.

The issue has gathered momentum with his current fast, which on Saturday entered its 12th day. The latest Lokpal Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 4 is the ninth version of the legislation before Parliament. It is has been referred to a parliamentary standing committee and Parliament will decide its fate. From 1968 to 2011, the Bill has come before Parliament under seven Prime Ministers beginning with Indira Gandhi.

Of them, only VP Singh, HD Deve Gowda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee agreed to have Prime Ministers under the law’s purview. However, none of these eight Bills had the judiciary within its purview.

"The idea of an ombudsman first came up in Parliament during a discussion on budget allocation for the Law Ministry in 1963. The first administrative reforms committee in 1966 recommended the setting up of two independent authorities at the central and state level to look into complaints against public functionaries, including MPs,” according to PRS Legislative Research.

The first time Parliament heard about Lokpal was in May 1968 when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 1968, did not have either the Prime Minister or MPs within its purview. The Bill, passed in 1969, never became law, as it lapsed after the fourth Lok Sabha was dissolved.

Indira Gandhi was still the PM in August 1971 when the Bill was again introduced in Parliament. The 1971 legislation was never referred to any committee and it lapsed after the fifth Lok Sabha was dissolved. The third attempt was made by the Janata Party under Morarji Desai. The Bill presented to parliament in July 1977 did not include the Prime Minister but allowed for MPs to be brought under it.

A joint select committee considered the Bill and made recommendations, but the sixth Lok Sabha was dissolved soon after.

Under Rajiv Gandhi, the Lok Sabha took up the Bill once again in 1985 and it was referred to a joint select committee. Later, the Bill was withdrawn by the government.

The government under VP Singh was the next to bring a Lokpal Bill in the ninth Lok Sabha and it was sent to a parliamentary standing committee in 1989. But the Bill lapsed due to dissolution of the Lok Sabha. Again, the Third Front government under Deve Gowda introduced the Bill in 1996 and the parliamentary standing committee submitted its recommendations in 1997 suggesting amendments to it. The Bill again lapsed after the Lok Sabha was dissolved. Vajpayee's National Democratic Alliance government introduced the Bill twice, once during the 12th Lok Sabha and again in the 13th Lok Sabha.

While the 12th Lok Sabha was dissolved before the government could take a view on the parliamentary standing committee recommendations, the 12th Lok Sabha too met the same fate before the Bill could be passed. — IANS

Anna’s managers effectively used 24X7 TV coverage
Vibha Sharma/TNS

New Delhi, August 27
As Anna Hazare is going to end his fast tomorrow, it’s the time to rewind to how the “live” situation was strategically manipulated to best suit the 24X7 TV channels by a core group, comprising professionals, interestingly also from the media.

But whether it was Anna’s pre-recorded message on the You Tube just before his arrest on August 16 or his visit to Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi a day before or when he decided to walk out of Tihar Jail, his every move was planned to harness the potential of 24X7 TV channels by the group, which understood the need of what to present when and keep alive the mass movement on an hourly basis.

Those coordinating the “Peepli live” surrounding the Gandhian included Shazia Ilmi, who has been appearing in channel debates as a representative of Team Anna. While Ilmi used to be an anchor with Star News, another colleague Manish Sisodia, regularly seen accompanying the Gandhian, was a producer with the channel.

The decision that Anna should break his fast tomorrow to give everyone an opportunity to say something on an otherwise “lean” Sunday, Kiran Bedi swinging the Tricolour in the mornings and evenings to build up the mood, press conferences at the Press Club of India to ensure best coverage in the initial days and later in the Ramlila Maidan to also bring thumping crowds on TV screens, critical announcements at primetime and religiously avoiding the cricket hours, the core team met regularly to decide how to build the show.

Hardliners Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi gave a ringside view of the government dealings and told the lapping public how the “cruel” and “heartless” government was indifferent to the fate of starving Anna while their colleagues Prashant Bhushan and Medha Patkar engaged in backroom talks to build the consensus in political parties.

Of course, the team had it easy as a high on emotional quotient Anna appeared day after day to talk to people in a simple language, every time leading the Congress-led UPA in a tizzy wondering what next. Speakers kept the crowds engaged and when they were away or when Anna was resting theatre director Arvind Gaur’s actors performed street plays and keep the crowds engaged.

Even the decision by the core group to replace the Bharat Mata image, which had formed the background at the Jantar Mantar stage, with an image of Gandhi was done to build the image of Anna as the next Mahatma.

A day before the designated day of his fast, Hazare was driven by his team members to Rajghat, where he sat silently for a couple of hours. The move took the government by surprise but gave enough time for photojournalists and TV channels to reach the spot.

As Anna’s image grew larger than life and his opponent, the government, faced the worst PR disaster with no one listening to them, journalists forgot to ask Team Anna why no one amongst them had joined Anna in his fast.

Now, Hazare may back Pune farmers
Shiv Kumar/TNS

Mumbai, August 27
After his success in bringing the Jan Lokpal Bill to the national consciousness, social activist Anna Hazare may turn his attention to problems at home. Farmers living in the outskirts of Pune who are fighting to protect their water resources from being diverted to the emerging township of Pimpri-Chinchwad have received assurance from Hazare's aides that their problems will receive the attention of the activist.

Earlier this month, the police opened fire on farmers protesting the diversion of water from the Pawna dam to the urban centres, killing three of them.

“Anna's aides have promised that our problems will receive his attention shortly. We will meet him after he returns to Ralegan Siddhi from Delhi,” said Shankarrao Shelar, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh.

BJP backs Anna’s 3 key demands
Girja Shankar Kaura/TNS

New Delhi, August 27
Pointing to the "loud and clear" message that people were sending out over the demands raised by Anna Hazare, the BJP today lent support to the three contentious issues raised by the Gandhian and his team members.

As the Rajya Sabha took up the debate on the Lokpal Bill, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said: “The message is loud and clear, people are not ready to accept the present status quo. Corruption in many areas has become a way of life."

He said there was considerable merit in three contentious issues raised by Team Anna, including covering the entire bureaucracy and Citizens' Charter for public grievances under Lok Pal and favoured Lokayuktas in the states.

Pointing out that “Our democracy was under trial,” the BJP leader was of the view that inclusion of Prime Minister under Lokpal should be with the exception of certain areas like national security and even foreign policy.

He said the upper sections of the society bend the rules and indulge in corruption, while the common man suffers.

"There are low areas of society where the average man has to confront corruption as a way of life," he said.

He said some "not so complementary statements" were being made about parliament and MPs. He urged fellow members not to pay attention to them.

"Time has now come to raise the bar of accountability in India. Existing structures have not succeeded. They have not responded to the enormity of the situation," he said while adding that his party was against the phone-tapping powers to be given to any institution, except in matters of national security.

This, he said, was conveyed to Team Anna when they met his party leaders.

Jaitley found "greater merit" in having a Citizens' Charter for redress of grievances of the common man. He said several state governments have already started work in this area.

On the demand for having the entire bureaucracy under the Lokpal, he said there is considerable merit in it. "All public servants must be made accountable... When we are including the Prime Minister (in the Lokpal)..."

To a specific enquiry by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee whether there can be central law for Lokayuktas in the states, Jaitley said, there can be enabling laws. While there is merit in this, Lokayuktas should not be appointed by the Centre.

“We are not legislating in haste in this case... but we must be guided predominantly by need for probity and the need to co-exist with constitution,” Jaitley said.

“We need higher standard of probity but there is a conflict in compromising federal structure (if Centre enacts law for Lokayuktas in state). No point in creating a law which is struck down because it violates federalism principles, he added. He also raised the need for having a National Judicial Commission.

Scepticism among Muslims, Dalits over Anna protests
Suresh Dharur
Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, August 27
The anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare may have created waves across the country but his brand of social movement has evoked a sense of scepticism among a section of Muslims and Dalits.

The objections are being raised over the Anna phenomenon mainly on two counts: It may lead to mobocracy taking over Parliamentary democracy and the Sangh Parivar elements may use it to whip up religious sentiments.

"Anna Hazare is creating chaos in the name of reformation. We support the cause he has taken up but not the method he has chosen,” said the President of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.

Owaisi, whose party has considerable influence in the old city areas, said that Muslims were wary of the present trend that could lead to subverting the supremacy of Parliament and forcing the government to accept something without being debated by the elected representatives.

“Muslims and other marginalised sections of the society are also worried about the forces that are behind the movement against corruption. With the BJP asking the government to adopt Jan Lokpal Bill, the cat is out of the bag. Until now, the saffron party and its affiliates were working behind the scenes. With the government not able to handle this movement intelligently, they have mustered the courage to come out in the open," the MP said.

Tight security for Rajiv killers

Vellore/Chennai, August 27
With September 9 fixed for hanging of the three death row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the high-security prison at Vellore, where they are lodged, has come under a security blanket amidst a growing demand for their clemency.

A three-tier security has been put in place in and around the prison. While the police has cordoned off the area restricting public movement, access control measures have been put in place for visitors to the prison.

Scores of pro-Tamil groups and leaders, including MDMK founder Vaiko, had staged a fast and organised human chains among other forms of protest across the state even as the Vellore prison authorities are gearing up for execution of Murugan, Perarivalan and Santhan, who are likely to move the court on Monday against the Presidential rejection of the clemency petitions.

Political leaders, including PMK founder S Ramadoss and Vaiko, have already demanded the intervention of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, to whom the convicts had also sent a petition.

DMK president and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhin had demanded intervention of Sonia Gandhi in this matter. It was at her behest that the death sentence of another convict, Nalini, was commuted to lifer a few years ago in the same case.

Meanwhile, TNCC president KV Thankgabalu slammed the protests demanding clemency, saying rules cannot be bent for individuals. — PTI

Cops warn of gang war during Ganesh festival
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, August 27
The Mumbai police has warned of an outbreak of violence between rival gangs during the Ganesh festival celebrations.

A number of prominent gangs in Mumbai actively fund the Ganesh festival celebrations in their respective localities.

Among the biggest pandals are erected at Chembur in suburban Mumbai which is considered the stronghold of gangster Chotta Rajan.

Another gangster who allegedly funded the Ganesh celebrations in a big way happens to be Santosh Shetty who was recently extradited from

Thailand. Shetty had allegedly fallen out with Rajan and the resulting rivalry resulted in his identity being exposed, say sources.

In addition segments of the Dawood Ibrahim gang are also said to be funding the Ganpati festival in their respective areas.

Turmoil in Telangana takes a toll on IT hub
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Gloom sets in
n The frequent shutdowns and disruptions due to the Telangana statehood agitation have dented the investors’ confidence, turning the investment climate gloomy
n While Karnataka is likely to post 20% IT growth this year, Maharashtra is expected to register 10.77 % followed by TN 11%, AP is stuck at 4.5 %
n Several companies are folding up operations in the state while newcomers are opting for alternative locations such as Pune and Chennai

Hyderabad, August 27
Once hailed as the favoured Information Technology investment destination in the country, the Andhra Pradesh capital is fast losing its sheen in the wake of prolonged political uncertainty and the Telangana turmoil.

The frequent shutdowns and disruptions due to the Telangana statehood agitation have dented the investors’ confidence, turning the investment climate gloomy. For instance, the state software industry

recorded a poor growth rate of 4.5 per cent in 2010-11, much below the national average of 18.7 per cent estimated by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).

For several years, AP remained the country’s fourth largest software exporter. However, the export growth rate slipped to 3 per cent in 2009-10, much lower than its internal estimate of 12.5 per cent, the Director of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Hyderabad, P Venugopal said.

Though the macro-economic factors, including global recession and the grim financial scenario in the United States affected the overall performance of the software industry, the political uncertainty due to

Telangana agitation came as an additional blow to AP.

While Karnataka is likely to post 20 per cent growth this year, Maharashtra is expected to register 10.77 per cent followed by Tamil Nadu 11 per cent. On the other hand, AP is stuck at 4.5 per cent.

“There are multiple reasons for this sluggish growth. More important among them is the uncertainty over Telanagana. We are losing out on growth opportunities. We could have fared better in 2010-11 but for this ambiguity,” said L Suresh, President of the IT & ITES Industry Association of AP.

As a result of the uncertain investment climate, several companies are folding up operations in the state while newcomers are opting for alternative locations such as Pune and Chennai. For instance, the IT company Convergys has shifted its 600-seater call centre to Bangalore. Some companies have deferred their expansion plans.

“The real impact of frequent agitations and an unfriendly business climate will be reflected in 2011-12 and growth may be adversely affected in 2012-13 if the situation continues,” Suresh said.

Meanwhile, the city may have lost 20,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector and another 40,000 jobs in the services sector due to the ongoing agitation, according to Devendra Surana, senior Vice-President

of Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI).

The frequent shutdowns in the past two years have resulted in a huge production loss and choking of investments in the state capital.

A single day’s bandh in the city costs the industry about Rs 400 crore and there were 17 days of shutdown in the last one year, the FAPCCI president VS Raju said. The industrialists fear that if a similar situation continued for a long time, then the cyber-savvy Hyderabad might go Kolkata way and witness a sharp decline in industrial production.

Balkrishna fails to submit all documents to CBI
Sandeep Rana/TNS

Dehradun, August 27
Acharya Balkrishna, who is accused of using fake educational degrees for procuring an Indian passport, today could not submit all documents pertaining to the investigation to the CBI. The CBI had asked him on Thursday to produce the documents on Saturday.

The CBI sources said only the ration card was produced by the counsel of the close aide of yoga guru Ramdev, but educational certificates were not submitted. The sources added Balkrishna has said that he had misplaced those documents.However, the CBI today again asked his counsel to produce all documents. The agency is likely to summon him for questioning, if his counsel fails to present the documents.

Balkrishna’s counsel Praveen Seth said, “The agency had asked us to produce documents and we have produced some of them. Now we have been asked to get the remaining documents, but no date has been fixed yet.”

The sources said the CBI asked Balkrishna to produce those documents, which the agency would submit to the Nainital High Court at the hearing of the case on August 29.

The general secretary of Patanjali Yogpeeth (Trust) has got a stay on his arrest till August 29.

Malegaon Blasts
Polygraph, brain mapping tests on accused begin

Mumbai, August 27
The polygraph and brain mapping tests of the nine accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts have begun at a forensic laboratory in Gujarat.

The tests, which started at the Directorate of Forensic Sciences laboratory in Gandhinagar, are likely to be completed in a month. The accused were taken to Gujarat on August 23 in different batches after the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court approved the schedule submitted by the National Investigation Agency.

"Lie detector tests on Mohammed Ali and Asif Khan are over, while it has begun on Shabir Ahmed," defence counsel Khalid Azmi said today, adding the doctors had begun brain mapping of Mohammed Ali. — PTI