O P I N I O N S

EDITORIALS

Need for course correction
Team Anna must stay clear of politics
Amidst all the drama in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday over the passing of the Lokpal Bill and the subsequent defeat of the Constitution Amendment Bill, one thing that stood out was how anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare had gone horribly wrong in the timing of the protest fast in Mumbai over the Lokpal Bill.

Safety of whistleblowers
Bill passes a major hurdle
The storm kicked up over the Lokpal Bill has relegated to the background the passing of the whistleblowers’ Bill on Tuesday. Along with the judicial accountability Bill the three together constitute a significant assault on corruption in the country. Given the pressure brought upon the government by social activist Anna Hazare and an unrelenting Opposition, the government did act in haste and there might have remained some loose ends which are yet not tied.

Battle for UP
The stakes are high for key players
It would be specious to suggest that the outcome of the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh in February would be a pointer to the General election due in 2014. The Congress, after all, had fared disastrously in the state in 2007 by managing to win just 22 of the 403 seats in the Assembly then. But it did not prevent the Congress from bagging as many as 21 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats from UP in the General Election held two years later in 2009.

• Thought for the Day

ARTICLE

Straying from Gandhian path
Anna Hazare must beware of political games
by Lt Gen (retd) Kamal Davar
In a vibrant democracy dissent — even a no-holds-barred one — needs to be taken by the powers-that-be in their stride, even welcomed for the reality checks it proffers, thereby, suggesting corrective mechanisms for societal growth and stability. Regrettably, many institutions of governance in the country have succumbed to the cancer of corruption eroding the people’s faith in the government, the legislatures, the judiciary, the civil services and the police, which is, to say the least, a most unfortunate development — a situation which needs deep introspection.

MIDDLE

Parting in style
by Rajbir Deswal
Now that 2011 should be saying goodbye to us all, let us ponder a bit over parting protocol to be followed without which what is left in sensitive minds is an ever-lurking unfulfilled feel of a desire, besides a pinch of nostalgia to be experienced with a kind of negative stimulation later in life. Hence wise people make the parting moment charitable, memorable and at the same time such that doesn’t leave a sense of “O’ it could’ve been this way!” It applies to situations when you call it quits but some exceptional people have exceptional ways of executing parting.

OPED LOKPAL DEBATE

Citizens are as responsible for corruption
Shashi Tharoor
“There is an old saying in English that one should be aware of the young doctor and the old barber; both, in haste, can cause a great deal of damage...”
The mood of the nation is clear. And I think everyone in this House will acknowledge that there is a reason why this is the first time after eight previous unsuccessful attempts, the first time since 1968, that we are actually discussing the passage of a realistic Lokpal Bill.

HEARD IN LOK SABHA
‘CBI should not be like Draupadi’
Yeh dekha hai tareekh ke auraq ne; lamhon ne khata kee, Sadiyon ne saza payee (History is witness to the fact that centuries have paid the price for momentary mistakes)

EDITORIALS

Need for course correction
Team Anna must stay clear of politics

Amidst all the drama in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday over the passing of the Lokpal Bill and the subsequent defeat of the Constitution Amendment Bill, one thing that stood out was how anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare had gone horribly wrong in the timing of the protest fast in Mumbai over the Lokpal Bill. After all the fine work and the right noises Team Anna made in the initial weeks of the movement for the Lokpal Bill, the recent stridency in opposing the draft bill even as Parliament was seized of it made the movement look less credible. The dividing line between anti-corruption and anti-Congressism was unnecessarily blurred, making the movement look increasingly political. To a substantial section of people, disillusioned with politics, the feeling that their messiah Anna himself may be playing partisan politics came as a shock. What lowered Team Anna’s credibility most of all was the decision to campaign against the Congress in the Hisar Lok Sabha byelection a couple of months ago. Questions began to be asked as to why Anna and his team were silent on the misdeeds of other parties in states under their rule.

The thin attendance at Anna Hazare’s Mumbai protest fast was a reminder that the Gandhian weapon of self-infliction must be used sparingly to be potent and effective. The last time that Anna Hazare fasted was in the backdrop of his unjustified arrest and his campaign for a strong Lokpal Bill which was then in the churning pot. The result was electrifying. This time around, Parliament was debating the Bill and it was inopportune to seek to share the focus with the parliamentary debate. That Anna has called off his fast due to deteriorating health and has deferred the ‘jail bharo’ plans is as it should have been.

Team Anna must leave politics to politicians and work as an effective agent of change. The country owes Anna a great deal for having energized the movement against corruption. He must keep up the vigil and also extend the scope to electoral reforms which he had talked about sometime ago. The Lokpal Bill, if it finally becomes an Act, will need to be watched with a hawk eye for proper implementation. If it gets bogged down, it will need to be pushed vigourously.

Safety of whistleblowers
Bill passes a major hurdle

The storm kicked up over the Lokpal Bill has relegated to the background the passing of the whistleblowers’ Bill on Tuesday. Along with the judicial accountability Bill the three together constitute a significant assault on corruption in the country. Given the pressure brought upon the government by social activist Anna Hazare and an unrelenting Opposition, the government did act in haste and there might have remained some loose ends which are yet not tied. The whistleblowers’ bill – oddly named the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, which abundantly explains what it is all about – aims to provide protection to those reporting any fraud or malpractice in their organisations, while proposing penalties for frivolous complaints.

Like the Lokpal Bill, the whistleblowers’ Bill has been dubbed weak by its opponents ever since it was first tabled in the Lok Sabha last year. It was referred to a standing committee, which submitted its report in August this year, recommending the inclusion of ministers, the judiciary, security and intelligence agencies and the armed forces in the ambit of the Bill. The Bill passed by the Lok Sabha does not apply to the Supreme Court and high court judges and the Special Protection Group, but extends to the other sections suggested by the standing committee. Some may question the wisdom of bringing the armed forces under the Bill. However, given the spate of scandals in recent times, the armed forces are no longer a holy cow.

Blowing the whistle to expose a serious wrongdoing has been a common practice across the world — remember Pentagon Papers, Enron, WorldCom scandals? In India it caught public imagination after Satyendra Dubey, a 31-year-old IIT Kanpur engineering graduate working as a project director with the National Highway Authority of India, was murdered in November 2003 after he exposed a scandal. Other whistleblowers too have faced serious consequences for their brave acts and the present Bill is an attempt to provide their tribe a sense of security.

Battle for UP
The stakes are high for key players

It would be specious to suggest that the outcome of the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh in February would be a pointer to the General election due in 2014. The Congress, after all, had fared disastrously in the state in 2007 by managing to win just 22 of the 403 seats in the Assembly then. But it did not prevent the Congress from bagging as many as 21 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats from UP in the General Election held two years later in 2009. Had there been any correlation between the Assembly election and the Parliamentary poll, one could have predicted that the Congress, judging by its performance in 2009, is all set to win over 120 seats in the Assembly, when elections are held in February next year. But by all available indications, the Congress is unlikely to do spectacularly well in the state, where the party has been out of power for over 20 years. It would be lucky indeed to displace the BJP as the third largest party in the Assembly.

But elections do tend to prove the pundits wrong and the Congress would be hoping to do sufficiently well in UP so as to gain the political momentum it has lost in New Delhi. A poor showing in UP will put a question mark on the political future of Rahul Gandhi, who has a personal stake in UP. The best case scenario for the Congress would be to win enough seats to enable it to align with the Samajwadi Party to form the next government in Lucknow. The alliance would then change political equations in New Delhi too and enable the UPA to breathe more easily. In Western UP, where over 100 Assembly seats are at stake, the party has already sealed a poll pact with Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal ( RLD). With neither Rajnath Singh nor Kalraj Mishra enjoying support across the state, the stakes are high for the BJP too, which is falling back on the image of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to bail itself out.

While there are indications of a serious erosion in support for the Bahujan Samaj Party, the BSF chief Mayawati is too astute a politician to be written off before the election. However, she would have to overcome strong, anti-incumbency sentiments, failures of her government and mounting infighting in her ranks to ensure that the BSP, which had bagged 206 seats last time, remains the single largest party in the Assembly.

Thought for the Day

We are exactly where we have chosen to be. — Vernon Howard

ARTICLE

Straying from Gandhian path
Anna Hazare must beware of political games
by Lt Gen (retd) Kamal Davar

In a vibrant democracy dissent — even a no-holds-barred one — needs to be taken by the powers-that-be in their stride, even welcomed for the reality checks it proffers, thereby, suggesting corrective mechanisms for societal growth and stability. Regrettably, many institutions of governance in the country have succumbed to the cancer of corruption eroding the people’s faith in the government, the legislatures, the judiciary, the civil services and the police, which is, to say the least, a most unfortunate development — a situation which needs deep introspection. The astronomical booty stashed abroad by the likes of Hasan Ali is perhaps beyond anyone’s imagination and one day, hopefully, will be brought back to the country.

The last many months in the country witnessed uncommon congregations of people coming from various regions and classes of society to protest against corruption. Led by a very determined social activist, former army man Anna Hazare, the people’s movement against corruption touched a common chord never witnessed in India before.

Overall, the current crusade against graft and financial improprieties has resulted in as a bag of mixed blessings for society, at large, and the institutions of governance in particular. The former found a voice which has been heard, as never before, and for the latter, its citadel shaken, also as never earlier. The major lesson which emerges is that no longer the Indian people will be indifferent to continuing acts of omission and commission or rampant corruption in governance at any level. However, Anna’s movement, initially Gandhian in content, appears to have lost its moorings with unmistakable signs of party politics having been injected by him perhaps on the ill advice of some team members, with their own political ambitions and who themselves have controversies, including financial probity, raised against them.

Veteran Anna Hazare, perhaps in his soldierly naivete, does not fully comprehend the nuances of his stand, especially that everything that he asks for, even for the national good, ultimately in a democracy has to be debated comprehensively and finally in Parliament before ratification. All well-wishers of the uncompromising Anna should convince him to blend the righteousness of his stand with the constitutional requirements of the land.

The government may wish to send some fresh emissaries who could have a one-to-one talk with him and convince him about simple constitutional imperatives in a democracy like ours. His insistence on including all his Ps and Qs in the Lokpal Bill to conform to their version of the Jan Lokpal Bill is nothing short of holding the UPA coalition to ransom. Frequently nailing the PM and accusing him of insincerity in the run-up to passing the Bill is grossly unfair and hardly Gandhian. National laws cannot be framed on the streets, no matter how pious they maybe.

An interesting debate in the country has ensued from Anna Hazare’s endeavours, which require further introspection by all and sundry in the country, namely, the limits of public protest to influence major changes to existing national policies and governance reforms vis-à-vis the responsibility assigned to popularly elected and constitutionally appointed functionaries who are solely accountable to Parliament or the government, and, thus by implication to the nation. How much can the government bend to accommodate the views of social workers like Anna Hazare without relinquishing its own responsibilities is the moot issue. Where is the ‘Laxman Rekha’ (limits) between impending anarchy provoked by violent dissent and the rule of law in a democracy?

Importantly, political parties have a major moral responsibility, that in a democracy like India, dissent must not degenerate to devastation of the state and its pillars of governance. Anarchy always waits, moments away, looking for a minor provocation to conflagrate uncontrollably. Certain political parties have made a virtue now of criticising all institutions of the government, including the office of Prime Minister, even when he was away espousing the nation’s cause abroad. Surely some political maturity and decency is called for.

As corruption must be fought at all levels, both within the government and outside, the structure of the state must not be threatened. On the other hand, the government, both at the Central and state levels, must take the strictest action against all wrong-doers who are looting the nation in some form of the other. This naturally amounts to strict legislation against corrupt practices, speedy and exemplary action against offenders and the passage of an effective Lok Pal Bill. Actions against the likes of the Rajas, Kalmadis and other 2G scamsters are an effective commencement in this long-drawn battle against the cancer of corruption. It will only succeed if, for once, political parties of all ideologies and hues, rise above their obsessive vote-bank politics and a childish ‘brownie-points’ propensity, for the overall national good.

The voting public in India can never be now taken for granted for the tide towards uncontaminated and people-responsive governance has inexorably turned. Hopefully, all our political parties will read the clear graffiti on the Indian walls. Even Anna and his team need lessons in Gandhism if they profess following the Mahatma, for it appears now they are traversing a path not even remotely Gandhian! Additionally, do not political parties realise that the world and even India faces an uncommon and acute economic crisis today and petty politicking can wait for the nation’s energies to address the myriad critical problems confronting the nation today.

We all have to synergise to re-energise the India story and neither Team Anna nor some political parties be allowed to block our rise. Neither this nor any future government must ever abrogate its constitutional responsibilities, notwithstanding any populist pressures. India does not require any ‘jasmine revolutions’ or ‘autumn springs’ in its march forward.

MIDDLE

Parting in style
by Rajbir Deswal

Now that 2011 should be saying goodbye to us all, let us ponder a bit over parting protocol to be followed without which what is left in sensitive minds is an ever-lurking unfulfilled feel of a desire, besides a pinch of nostalgia to be experienced with a kind of negative stimulation later in life. Hence wise people make the parting moment charitable, memorable and at the same time such that doesn’t leave a sense of “O’ it could’ve been this way!” It applies to situations when you call it quits but some exceptional people have exceptional ways of executing parting.

Former Italian Premier Berlusconi, while transferring power to his successor effected a smoother and musical transition. On the last day of his office, he sang “songs of love” for his fans and followers. He handed the reins of governance employing an enthralling performance and ensuring a kind of grand finale to his tenure; his checkered record of having been involved in a sex scandal, notwithstanding. Parting and departing verily are two different things

I am reminded of Dr. Faustus, who repenting being an actor with pure flesh and blood and enjoying un-tasted pleasures in the world, begs the Almighty, “My God! my God! look not so fierce on me!”

I am also reminded of Kaka Hathrasi, the famous humorist and poet, who in the town of Hathras in UP, told his near and dear ones, well- wishers and fans to let him depart from the world the way he lived here – jocularly. He had his mourners take him for his funeral reciting his poems with huge, uproarious guffaws, “which should rant the skies”. So they did, on his death.

A common refrain in the Army is “When you go home, tell them of us, for their tomorrow, we gave our today!” A movie made after the Chinese aggression of 1962 ‘Haqeeqat’ had a song Kar chale hum fida jano tan sathiyo / Ab tumhare hawale watan sathiyo which reverberates still, and more as a signature-song for all patriotic functions in our country.

Contrast the above scenario of departing with that of the Watergate protagonist, President Nixon, who remained glued to his chair with his upper limbs gone round and round with arms on the chair like a creeper coils around a branch or a trunk; and his lower extremities woven around the legs of the chair in a similar fashion. He at a later day had to untangle and go away unsung, and in the most unceremonious manner. The scene described here was the subject mater of a cartoon in those days.

Similarly General Musharraf extracted every tear and the last drop of sweat from his people while shedding his uniform first and then shedding his tenuous dictatorial stance. He could have sung a qawwalli —Teri mehfil men kismet azma ke hum bhi dekhenge, London!

Basheer Badr, the famous Urdu poet, has a couplet to his credit – Dushmani jam ke karo lekin ye gunjaish rahe, jab kabhi hum dost ho jayen to sharminda na hon.

Even the Bollywood movies have the hero fade away, crooning songs. And we all lap it up, singing along! When parting becomes inevitable, sing on, sing on and sing on! All hail Berlusconi!

OPED LOKPAL DEBATE

Citizens are as responsible for corruption
Shashi Tharoor

“There is an old saying in English that one should be aware of the young doctor and the old barber; both, in haste, can cause a great deal of damage...”

The mood of the nation is clear. And I think everyone in this House will acknowledge that there is a reason why this is the first time after eight previous unsuccessful attempts, the first time since 1968, that we are actually discussing the passage of a realistic Lokpal Bill.

As the Durban commitment to effective action against corruption declared in 1999, a commitment to which India is a signatory, corruption deepens poverty, debases human rights, degrades the environment, derails development, destroys confidence in democracy and the legitimacy of Governments. This is why the time to act is overdue. And this is why we must commend the Government for putting forward the Bill that it has.

Corruption is not just the big ticket corruption that everyone has alluded to; it is not just the big headline corruption; it is not just the amounts that have put prominent figures in jail, but it is the daily corruption that affects the ordinary Indians that we must be concerned about.

If you want people centric action, just yesterday, the Transparency International, the Berlin based anti-corruption organisation released the results of a survey of 7,500 people, conducted in South Asia over the last two years. Fifty-four per cent of Indians surveyed, said that they had paid a bribe. According to the survey, Indians pay bribes frequently when dealing with all sorts of essential public services - the police - 64 per cent; property and land - 63 per cent; registry and permit services - 62 per cent; tax revenue - 51 per cent, and so, the list goes on - even up to, educational services. This is a shame for us and we must tackle this firmly.

If Transparency International is seen as a foreign institution, let us look at the analysis released very recently - this week - by the Azim Premji University in Bangalore that studied the last ten year's performance of the Karnataka Lokayukta. What did it find? It found that 80 per cent of the cases handled by the Karnataka Lokayukta are related to the four essential functions of the Government - local Government cases - 24 per cent; administrative cases - 37.6 per cent; welfare cases - 17.6 per cent and regulations - 2.5 per cent. In other words, corruption infects our system and we must deal with it.

Five principles

In my view a good Bill had to meet the following five principles - I believe that the Government has done a very good job, as I would explain. First, the Bill must be conscious of its obligations to the society, and to other democratic institutions. This Bill takes into account the demands of civil society and at the same time, it is respectful of the democratic institution of Parliament, which is the only place where this law can indeed be passed.

Secondly, it must ensure that the cure that is being prescribed is not worse than the disease. We had a cure being prescribed from outside that would have created a supra-institution, an institution that frankly would have been undemocratic fundamentally, that would have combined the police powers of investigation and arrest with the judicial powers of prosecution and punishment, all in one institution.

It would have been extremely dangerous. This Bill builds in effective checks and balances. The third principle is that a good Bill must deal with the issues of monetary corruption and mal-administration, of the misuse of authority for personal gain and indeed the embezzlement of public funds. You will find that the Government's Bill covers all of these and more.

The fourth principle that is important is that the Bill should strengthen our constitutional and institutional mechanisms in this country against corruption. The fact is, by proposing it as a constitutional amendment, the Bill is anchored firmly in the need to strengthen our constitutional and institutional arrangements.

The fifth principle is that it should also be effective in avoiding the risk of decision making paralysis. Shri Sharad Yadav ji, for example, rightly said that most bureaucrats in this country are capable and honest. I do not think that we would demur with that but there is always a danger that honest bureaucrats would be terrified by the provisions of too draconian a Bill and would, therefore, not wish to act. The avoidance of risk would become the most important concern.

There are many bureaucrats, who believe that you cannot be punished for doing nothing and that is the worst thing for a country that is seeking to develop, to grow and to change. We must not create a situation in which bureaucrats are impelled to do nothing. We must make it possible for the honest to have fair and due process and where honest officials do not feel that they need to duck the responsibility to take initiatives and decisions. That I believe this Bill has tried to do with the protections built into it.

Uttarakhand Bill

The only substance that I have been able to hear so far has been the Leader of the Opposition and the previous speaker holding up the Uttarakhand Bill as a model of how such Bills should be created. Well, I have got hold of a copy of the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill and I find there are some very interesting provisions in it, which I believe the House would be happy to learn about.

For example, as you know our Bill proposes that one needs a three-fourth majority before the Prime Minister should be brought into the purview of a particular investigation. And the Leader of the Opposition has proposed an amendment, that has been circulated to all of us suggesting that it should be reduced to two-third as three-fourth somehow weakens the authority of the Lokpal. What does Uttarakhand do?

Chapter 6, Clause 18 of the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill says that no investigation or prosecution shall be initiated against the Chief Minister, against any Minister or against any Member of the Legislative Assembly without permission from a Bench of all the Members and the Chairman. So, they want a hundred per cent to indulge a Chief Minister and MLA in Uttarakhand and they think that our 75 per cent is too much. There is more.

The audit of the Lokayukta that is provided for in the Uttarakhand Bill is very interesting. According to Chapter 5 of the Uttarakhand Bill, Clause 14 (2 ) says that a Committee of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly can do an annual appraisal of the functioning of the Lokayukta. So, the Lokayukta there is under the Legislative Assembly and yet the Opposition that is holding this up as a model says that our Lokpal Bill, which is completely independent of Parliament and independent of the Government, is weaker than the Uttarakhand Bill.

Momentum of change

Let me say to those who have raised their concerns about the Bill, to those outside this House and have attended rallies, who have spoken out, who have appeared on television, I think it is time for this House to say `your voice has been heard, we have listened to you'. With the passage of this Bill, fight against corruption would now be on stronger and newer footing. Perhaps, the Bill is not everything that you hoped for; perhaps it does not contain every provision, dot every `I' and cross every `T' as you would have liked, but change has its own momentum.

Think of the Right to Information Act, the RTI. Think what people assumed when the Bill was being passed and think how strong and effective it has become. All of us, I am sure, had to test its sharp edge. So, let us see this Bill work in practice. Let us, if necessary, in the fullness of time, adjust this to the experience that we should have.

But, after all, our Constitution has been amended over a hundred times and we cannot afford to take the position, as some outside this House have done, of my way or the highway. We cannot afford to be in too much of a hurry.

There is an old saying in English that one should be aware of the young doctor and the old barber, both, in haste, can cause a great deal of damage and there is a fear that there are too many young doctors and too many old barbers behind the versions we are hearing outside this House.

Who is ultimately responsible for corruption, if not ourselves as citizens of India? For every bribe taker, there is a bribe giver. There is somebody who is trying to short circuit the process, get a short cut, avoid punishment by the Government, avoid a tax and avoid a law. The fact is that we cannot merely point fingers at the system, merely clamour for some sort of super powerful legal body and forget the moral responsibility of society to change for the better.

Excerpts from the speech delivered bythe MP in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday on the Lokpal Bill

HEARD IN LOK SABHA
‘CBI should not be like Draupadi’

Yeh dekha hai tareekh ke auraq ne; lamhon ne khata kee, Sadiyon ne saza payee (History is witness to the fact that centuries have paid the price for momentary mistakes)

— Sushma Swaraj (BJP)

Aisi waisi baat se to khamoshi behtar hai, ya phir aisi baat karo jo khamoshi se behtar ho. (Instead of talking of irrelevant things, it’s better to keep quiet; or else say something which is better than silence)

— Kapil Sibal (Congress)

You ask us what we did when in power. I can at least say that no minister of the Vajpayee government of that time is in jail.

— Yashwant Sinha (BJP)

There is an agitation at every drop of a hat; this is what we have reduced this country to.

— Lalu Prasad Yadav (RJD)

The BJP wants the Lokpal to cover the UPA government at the Centre but not have a Lokayukta to hold them accountable in states.

— Kapil Sibal (Congress)

Draupadi had five husbands, Lokpal will have nine

— Lalu Prasad Yadav (RJD)

Corruption is corruption, whether at the Centre or in states.

— Manmohan Singh, PM

You (Manmohan Singh) bring a strong Lokpal, we will make you the Lokpal

— Lalu Prasad Yadav (RJD)

The Lokpal may not be the solution to all our problems but it is a step in the right direction. It is a healthy baby but don’t make it obese by giving it more work than it can cope with.

— Supriya Sule (NCP)

Let the government answer why corporates and private sector have been left out ? They are the ones who bribe ministers, politicians and bureaucrats. They fund election campaigns, pay for helicopters. Corporate bodies evade tax and generate black money.

— Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI)

The CBI has always been misused and our CM has been targeted, not just by this government but by earlier ones too. The agency should be made independent.

— Dara Singh Chauhan (BSP)

How can anyone question the commitment of all politicians ? This nation is what it is today because of the dedication and commitment of a large number of political leaders, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. How can you question their commitment ?

— Sharad Yadav (JD-U)

Compiled by Faraz Ahmed