Apr 8, 2011

Come on India, Let's kill corruption

He could have a banana for b'fast, milk for dinner, baby-sit with grand children, live calm and die peacefully. 72 year old - Anna Hazare choose otherwise. The fact that our nation being plagued by corrupt politicians made him realize that this is not the kind of country left behind by his idol Mahatma Gandhiji.

We all know some lakhs of crores of money were looted by our politicians. How many digits does it have? What would it mean to a common man? Here goes something that widely opens our month. We can give 1 crore rupee to every Indian under the poverty line, if all this black money can be claimed back.  Here is more. "Indians are poor but INDIA is not a poor country", says one of the Swiss bank directors. He says that "280 lakh crores" of Indian money is deposited in Swiss banks which can be used for,

  • 'taxless' budget for 30 yrs. 
  • Create 60 Crore jobs to all Indians.
  • 4 lane roads from any village to Delhi
  • Forever free power supply to more than 500 social projects
  • monthly 2000/- for every citizen for 60 yrs
  • No need of World Bank & IMF loan. 
Think how our money is blocked by rich politicians. We have full right against corrupt politicians. Why is it that no one goes to jail in our country despite indulging in corruption?, asks Mr.Hazare and answers it himself. "This is because we have completely rotten anti-corruption laws and anti-corruption agencies that it is almost impossible for the corrupt to be penalized."

Anna's IAC organization
This sensational septuagenarian, by taking the Non-Violence weapon, which Gandhiji took 60 years ago to free India from British rule, Hazare has decided to free the same country from Corrupt politician's rule, once and for all, before his last day comes. He started a fast-to-death, Gandhian style Silent protest 3 days back, and now the entire nation is behind him. How can we play or watch IPL while Anna Hazare is fasting to death?, tweeted Chetan Bhagat. Actor Aamir Khan said, "Mr. Anna deserves more support than what our cricket team does. He even went a step ahead, and wrote directly to the Prime Minister to consider Anna's demands. Captain-Cool M.S.Dhoni concurred later, with a tweet that read, "I agree with Aamir Khan: Anna Hazare deserves greater support than cricket team. Please show your support for Hazare ji."

There is something called Lokpal bill currently in effect but is not doing what an Anti-Corruption unit is expected to do. It requires permission from certain senior officials to proceed but sadly, those officials are the corrputz in question. That is why he said, we have rotten anti-corruption laws and anti-corruption agencies that it is almost impossible for the corrupt to be penalized. He highlighted the deficiencies in our present anti-corruption systems  and suggested a new solution to counter such cases.

Problems with existing system:

The present system to fight corruption in India can be described in some points as below
  1. The Anti Corruption Branch and CBI comes under the government. Despite having evidence, it is very difficult to convict people as they have to take permission from the same bosses, against whom the case has to be investigated.
  2. No corrupt officer is dismissed from the job because Central Vigilance Commission, which is supposed to dismiss corrupt officers, is only an advisory body. Whenever it advises government to dismiss any senior corrupt officer, its advice is never implemented.
  3. No action is taken against corrupt judges because permission is required from the Chief Justice of India to even register an FIR against corrupt judges
  4. The functioning of CBI and vigilance departments is secret and hence it promotes corruption.
  5. Weak and corrupt people are appointed as heads of these institutions by the government.
  6. Citizens face harassment in government offices. Sometimes they are forced to pay bribes. One can only complaint to senior officers. No action is taken on complaints because senior officers also get their cut.
  7. Nothing in law to recover ill gotten wealth. A corrupt person can come out of jail and enjoy that money.
  8. Small punishment for corruption- Punishment for corruption is minimum 6 months and maximum 7 years.

What Mr.Hazare proposed:

As you can see, in the present system, there is no deterrent for any public official to engage in an act of corruption. Some of the salient features of the Jan Lokpal Bill are -
  1. An institution called LOKPAL in the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up. These institutions will completely independent of the governments, just like the Supreme Court and the Election Commission. No minister can influence their investigations.
  2. Investigation in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt officer, or politician goes to jail in two years max.
  3. The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.
  4. If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant. So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month’s time.
  5. Election of Lokpal officials – What if government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.
  6. What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
  7. What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.
  8. The punishment would be minimum 5 years and maximum of life imprisonment.
..You can also be a part of this movement by saying I fast with Anna Hazare against corruption.”  You can share and post about it on your mail, blog, status messages on facebook, twitter, etc. We need more and more people behind this to put pressure on the government to bring a strong anti-corruption law, and each one of us can do our bit for it. Let's support Mr.Hazare, for a better India.

“The dream of India as a strong nation will not be realised without self-reliant, self-sufficient villages, this can be achieved only through social commitment & involvement of the common man.” - Anna Hazare
Of all the 100+ blogs I wrote, only two of them were written strongly, for a change to happen in the country. One is on Agriculture, and another one on Education in India. For both of that to happen, this IAC movement should succeed. All the very best to Mr.Anna Hazare. My complete support to you sir.

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