Muammar Gaddafi- Devil Dictators part-I

Muammar Gaddafi

            Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi was born in Sirte(Libya) in 1942. He belonged to a poor family of Libya. His childhood passed in poverty and struggle. Like most Libyans he too lived in a tent house in the desert of Libya. In 1951 H e joined The Libyan military service as it was the only opportunity for an average Libyan to live life luxuriously and see the world. This was the most important period of his life. The lessons which he learned during this time changed his future course of life. During this time Gamal Abdel Nasser lead a revolution in Egypt which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan. Nasser modernized Egypt, ended Suez crisis, built Dam Aswan and developed the sense and pride Nationalism in people of Egypt. Because of all this he was seen with respect in the Arab world, Gaddafi was no exception to this. He was inspired from Nasser’s revolution and also considered him as his ideal. Egypt’s defeat in six day war with Israel in 1965 saddened Gaddafi. Being a supporter of Arab nationalism Israel was natural enemy to him and now U.S was also added to his black list because Israel couldn’t have survived against collective forces of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Badin and Jordan if it wasn’t supported by U.S.

          After his completion of military training and his Graduation in History he went to U.K for further studies. There became an incident which planted the seeds of oil politics in his brain. Once he went to a casino in London with some of his Arab and British friends. There he saw King Idris’ personal adviser spending millions of $ on gambling. His blood boiled since an average Libyan was compelled to live a miserable life of poverty and King and his aides were spending millions and billions on there lavish life style. The main cause of this situation was vast Oil reserves in Libya. Geographically Libya was situated in the desert of Africa, having no other natural resources except plenty of oil underneath its land. In spite of blessed with significant oil reserves Libya remained poor because multi-national oil companies achieved contracts for extracting oil on throw away prices from King Idris. He got another reason to fight against U.S. Next few years Gaddafi spend in studying lives and times of great military commanders like Field Marshall Rommel, Field Marshall Montgomery etc. very carefully. During this period he also meticulously planned strategies regarding how to use oil as a weapon in his war against western world.

         In1969 Gaddafi became Colonel in the Libyan Army. During the same year Occidental Oil Company of U.S completed the construction of oil pipeline on the northern coast of Libya. For its inauguration ceremony Armand hamer the chairman of Occidental Oil Company himself came to Libya. He was given “Guard of Honor” on his arrival. Incidentally Colonel Gaddafi was the commanding officer of that marching contingent. He couldn’t tolerate this humiliation that Libyan Army was giving Guard of Honor to a chairman of U.S’ Oil Company. He decided to end this slavery by dethroning King Idris.

         When King Idris was out of Libya, Gaddafi with some of his trusted allies carried on coup and captured the power. Neither superior officers of Gaddafi nor people opposed this rebellion since everyone was tired of Idris. Initially the world thought that Gaddafi and his boys have indulged in blind dare. Since king Idris was puppet of U.S, by deposing him in this manner Gaddafi has thrown direct challenge to the supremacy of U.S. However Gaddafi proved to be smarter than all the political analysts who forecasted premature end of his rule.

       Immediately after acquiring power Gaddafi abolished the old constitution of 1951 and instead formed 12 members directorate called Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) which acted as government in the Libya. RCC declared Libya as “Libyan Arab Republic” and announced bringing freedom, unity, and social justice, guaranteeing the right of equality to its citizens, and opening before them the doors of honorable work as its main objective. Thus he won the hearts of Libyan people. He also affirmed that treaties and agreements signed by ousted monarch would be respected and property and lives of foreign nationals would be protected. This helped him to earn recognition of not only Libyan people but also of the other countries of the world. In this condition U.S was left with no excuse to topple Gaddafi, hence soon U.S recognized Gaddafi as a genuine leader of Libya.

         After consolidating his power he began the game for which he had arranged this coup. He sent notice to U.S and U.K to shut down their military bases operating on the land of Libya. Now U.S was trapped since being a leader of Libya he had every right to tell foreign powers to wind up their military bases from his land. After driving off foreign military Gaddafi increased the oil prices. This technique was called as ‘participation’ in which neither oil companies are nationalized nor are private companies given complete free hand. In participation oil companies are allowed to work in oil producing nations however greater control remains in the hands of government of host nation and they can increase the price of oil at their will. 

          Because of greater control over oil assets and growing oil prices Libya prospered economically. Libya became the nation with highest nominal per capita GDP in Africa. Literacy rate in Libya rose from 10% to 90%. As there was no river in Libya Gaddafi also completed the development of artificial river Great Manmade River, without any foreign financial assistance.

 

                 Later on rulers like Saddam Hussein of Iraq and ruling Saud family of Saudi Arabia too utilized the weapon of price rise to achieve their political ends. King Fahad of Saudi Arabia used oil embargo to prevent U.S from rendering military assistance to Israel during Yom Kippur war fought between Egypt and Syria on one side and Israel on the other. King Fahad also convinced OPEC countries about the effectiveness of this weapon. Because of which members of OPEC countries revived this dormant organization once again to exploit the benefits of collective bargaining in oil prices. Use of oil as a weapon not only harmed U.S but also dazzled other developing economies of the world. India itself is spending 1/3 of its For-ex reserves to import oil.

 

Saddam Hussein

          Even after repetitive efforts when he failed to hurl any serious blow to U.S or Israel, he started sponsoring terrorist activities in Europe, Australia, U.S and middle -East. Later on countries like Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia also started walking on his path. Ruling Saud family used money earned through oil to spread radical Islam in the world. They also sponsored Sunni Iraq against Shea Iran in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980 in which more than 10,00,000 people on both the sides lost their lives. Trails of direct involvement of Saud family in the 9/11 attack on World Trade Center were also found later wards.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi

             Although Gaddafi was involved in many terrorist activities but serious evidence about his involvement in terrorist activities came out during investigation of Lockerbie bombing case. Pan Am Flight 103 of Pan American World Airways was blown off b y bomb on 21 December 1988 in the sky of Lockerbie town of southern Scotland. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who was the secret agent of Gaddafi was main culprit in this case. He was convicted and sentenced for life imprisonment.

            He also wanted to make nuclear bomb to destroy U.S and Israel. Over the years his obsession with nuclear bomb grew so much that a legend says once he went to China at 2 P.M in the night, without informing Chinese authorities in advance about his arrival. When asked about such sudden visit he showed them two big suitcase full of $ and told them “take all this money but give me one atom bomb I want to hurl it on U.S.”. He also openly supported and sponsored Pakistan’s nuclear weapon program. In recognition of his help Pakistan renamed cricket stadium in Lahore as Gaddafi stadium in 1974. 

               Absolute power and unquestionable authority turned him into a narcissistic jerk. He had acquired personal wealth worth of approximately 70 billion U.S $. He started spending money earned through oil for his personal luxuries. He had undergone several plastic and cosmetic surgeries to remain young forever. He liked to be surrounded by beautiful women bodyguards and nurses. There are many legends about his and his son’s relationships with his lady bodyguards and nurses.

               Gaddafi abducted power in Libya on the name of fighting tyranny of King Idris but he himself proved to be a greater evil then Idris. In his rule Libyan people were devoid of their fundamental rights like Right to speech and freedom of expression. Price rise of petroleum only initially helped Libya later on all this money was spent on Gaddafi’s luxuries and in executing his utopian ideas. People wanted change however unlike democracy in autocratic states change of rule is possible only by either death or retirement of dictator(read -Revolution in India? No way!!!!!!).  

Dead body of Gaddafi

     Since 2010 uprising took place in many Arab countries like Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia etc. this revolts also sparked off rebellion in Libya. In the initial stage people’s movement was non violent however Gaddafi’s soldiers opened fire on protesters and rape d women to crush the anti Gaddafi movement ruthlessly. This ignited the anger of people and they took arms against Gaddafi. Such inhuman response to protesters also cost him the loss of international recognition. In the month of August 2011 Arab league declared NTC as legitimate representative of Libya. His overseas accounts were freezed by western countries. NATO forces led by U.S and France supported rebellion National Transitional Council (NTC) in the war. Finally Gaddafi was captured alive on 20 October 2011 and was given brutal death.

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Government V/S Anna- Caution: danger is ahead

             

          When Anna seat on fast in the month of April to bring strong lokpal bill, people of this country supported him whole heartedly not only because people were tired of rampant corruption but also because people were disheartened to see that government doesn’t want to curb corruption rather they are trying to make fool out of us by enacting a toothless Lokpal bill ( I have discussed about this and all other technical aspects of Lokpal in my previous article Lokpal to Jan Lokpal, those who haven’t read it please read it first). Looking at the mood of people government declared that they are ready to form joint committee to prepare the draft of Lokpal bill comprising of the members of civil society. Government was no saint in accepting Anna’s demands. Their announcement was intended to buy some time sabotage this movement. 

            Accordingly government on the one hand employed Amar, Kapil and Digvijay to vilify Anna and his team and on the other hand started creating obstacles in the meeting of drafting committee. Looking at the success and popularity of Anna’s movement Baba Ramdev also jumped in the running train. He started his circus on the name of bringing black money from Swiss banks. However unlike Anna Baba Ramdev was not doing it with any noble motive. His intention was to gain cheap publicity so that he can corner some votes in upcoming Loksabha election by forming a new political party. However Ramdev proved to be immature in dealing with shrewd government. Government pulled air from Baba’s movement by playing the master move of showing the letter signed by Baba’s aide Balkrishna which promised to end the fast.

           This fiasco of Baba’s movement injected false confidence in government that they can also tackle Anna with similar strategy. However Anna was grand old player of this game and his associates like Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejarival have worked with government so they knew all the strategies of government and their remedies. As was expected government declared that they will prepare the draft of Lokpal bill without members of civil society and will introduce it in upcoming monsoon session in parliament. The bill prepared by government was not meant to curb the corruption rather the provision of this bill were made to punish the complainants.

             Naturally Anna declared that if government did not introduce the Jan Lokpal bill prepared by his team in parliament than he will seat on fast from 16^th of August. Government initially argued

Source:By Kritish Bhatt(www.bamulahija.com/

that there is no need for Anna to seat on fast since the bill is in front of standing committee and Anna and his team should maintain sanctity of Parliament. Congress have always put forward the argument of sanctity and dignity of constitutional institutions when they don’t want to work, whether it is matter of taking decision on Afzal’s capital punishment or taking action against corrupt ministers. When this argument did not work they arrested Anna under preventive detention. This turned the anger of whole country and government was compelled to leave Anna within 12 hours. Anna got unimaginable support of people and now government was on back foot. 

          As I said in this whole issue government behaved shrewd, rude and betrayed people but is Anna and company right in all their demands? Today when Anna and his movement is getting so much support it is necessary for us to discuss about the validity of his stand, because with great powers comes great responsibility.

              First of all I am not in the support of burning the copies of bill which was produced in the Parliament. Even if the bill was weak and we wanted to protest against it there were other ways of protest like oral protest but burning the copies of bill which was introduced in parliament is not acceptable.

              Two days ago when Standing committee of parliament gave advertisements in news papers to ask for peoples suggestion on governments Lokpal bill, Arvind Kejariwal said it’s a waste of time, there is no meaning in asking people’s suggestion on this bill since it is a weak bill. Later on in the evening in an interview on news channel when Kejariwal was asked that it is a procedure according to democratic system that cabinet approves the bill drafted by government and it is introduced in parliament and then it is forwarded to standing committee who ask for peoples suggestions and then with its recommendations standing committee sends the bill in parliament which enacts it so don’t you believe in this system? He said “time has ripe to challenge this system because in this system only few bureaucrats in the ministry form the bill which is approved by cabinet and standing committee takes opinion of few people and that too are rejected in most cases by parliament and the bill is framed as it is. This is not democracy, our constitution makers wanted to create representative democracy where M.P’s will work according to people’s wish who elected them but here once they are elected by people they work according to the wish of party high command. Actually government should take referendum on Lokpal bill to know what people want”.

 

                  Strange it may sound that on the one hand Kejariwal talks about taking referendum and on the other hand he is not even letting the government to ask people for their suggestion. So what if the government’s bill is flawed while giving their suggestion people can say that so and so provision of Lokpal are encouraging corruption hence they should be excluded from the bill and so and so provision should be included to strengthen the bill. This way even government’s bill can be improved by democratic way. Secondly, on the one hand he talks about taking nationwide referendum and other hand Anna says that bill should be passed in parliament before 30^th of August. Do this people have slightest of idea that how much time it takes to conduct nationwide referendum? It’s not similar to that of doing a survey in Kapil sibbal’s constituency. It may take at least 3 to 4 months to conduct such referendum but with Anna’s ultimatum of August 30^th how is it possible?

              Four days ago when Kejariwal was answering the question of people in Ramlila ground someone asked him that what will he do if government introduced his Jan Lokpal bill in parliament and then parliament rejects some of its provision? He said government is in majority in parliament hence it should not be difficult for government to pass the whip to all its M.Ps to vote in favor of Jan Lokpal and get the bill pass. Another irony this is because on the one side he says that it is not representative democracy it is autocracy that M.Ps listen to their party high command and on the other side he says that government should get his bill passed by issuing the whip.

                His whole argument lies on the only logic that his version of Lokpal bill is people’s bill since so many people are supporting him but he is forgetting that people are not supporting him because they think that his bill is perfect rather people are supporting Anna because they are fed up of corruption and government’s attitude. Most of those who support Anna’s campaign still don’t know the technical details of Lokpal because they are not constitutional experts but they have faith in Anna and similar amount of mistrust in government hence they have joined this campaign but using their trust to push the undue demands is not right.

             Even Anna’s bill is not completely flawless it has some serious problems like they want judiciary to be included in per view of Lokpal but inclusion of judiciary was not there in the original principles of Lokpal. Of course corruption in judiciary should be nailed out but for that separate “Judicial accountability bill” should be brought. I know present version of government’s “Judicial accountability bill is complete crap it will complicate matters further but it can be redrafted however that doesn’t mean we should include everything under the sky in Lokpal. Nor can we put CBI and CVC under the ambit of Lokpal since CBI not only solves the cases of corruption it also handles cases of high profile murders, interstate crime and various other things which has nothing to do with either Lokpal or Corruption.

               Kejariwal is against multiplicity of agencies in fight against corruption as I have said in my previous article too that if we put everything under Lokpal then vastness of Lokpal’s work will grow to an extent that it will be unable to work efficiently. The more serious concern is about too much concentration of power. If we put all constitutional agencies under Lokpal and then if Lokpal turns corrupt or autocrat what will we do? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. In a country like India where P.M, M.P’s and Judges of Supreme court and High court have faced and are facing the charges of corruption what is the guaranty of Lokpal proving to be a 24 carat gold? we are giving so much power in the hands of Lokpal but Just imagine if Lokpal himself goes out of control than who will control him?

            I supported Anna’s movement earlier and I am still supporting him because he is sincere, he is fighting for our cause and the most important I am in the favor of strong Lokpal. However strong Lokpal doesn’t mean autocratic Lokpal. Some of the people near him are misleading him but he should be aware of the fact that arrogance and stubbornness in attitude may culminate this movement in popular autocracy and will lead him to similar fate where earlier J.P movement had gone. People thrown away Congress in 1977 and coronated Janta government only to bring congress back in 1980.

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A secret Letter to party high command

       

        Recently because of courtesy of our great Indian Postal Service I have got a letter which was written by a volunteer of a political party to his party high command. This letter consists of some valuable advises on the issue of corruption, hence for the benefit of readers of this blog I am publishing it here. Now don’t ask me stupid questions like who wrote this letter and to which political party letter writer belongs to. As Shakespeare has (rightly)said that what is there in name, because except name everything is common in all the political parties of India, so you can pretend, this letter is written by volunteer of any political party which you (dis)like.

   

Respected Madam/Sir,

                         

               I am your party’s trivial volunteer serving you and your family from many generations. My grandfather was Sarpanch during your grandfather’s time, My father was Corporater during your father’s time and I am serving this party under your realm. I know you are very busy and everyday you get thousands of such letters which you throw directly in the dustbin without even taking care of reading it, but still it is my utmost duty to draw your attention on matter of grave national interest. Hence after forgiving me for using your precious time please take note of following points.

                  Madam/Sir I have observed that corruption has lot of potential for growth in this country but it requires systematic planning and fullest contribution by all. Hence we should grab the opportunity to become no.1 corrupt country of the world, for this meticulous plan needs to be drawn so that by 2025 we can leave the world behind in the field of corruption. This will be great achievement for our country since in first decade of this millennium we became no.1 in 20-20 and test cricket, in second decade we became no.1 in One day cricket and in third decade we will achieve another landmark by getting first place in corruption and you don’t need to worry about fourth decade since the way in which population of our country is growing we will definitely leave China behind as the most populous country of world.

              Sir/Madam to encourage corruption you should declare new national award like Bhrashtachar Ratna, Bhrashtachar Bhushan, Bhrashtachar Vibhushan and Bhrashtashree. Every year people who have given great contribution for spreading corruption in this country should be honored by these awards. Not only this, you should also declare corruption as a national trade of country. This would prove to be of immense help for the growth of corruption since because of this corrupt people can get tax rebates on money earned through corrupt practices. We can also think about establishing Special Corruption Zones where only black money can be invested for setting up of industries. This way all the black money would literally get converted into white money and people and Supreme Court both will become happy.

               Alike Indian Premier League we should also start Indian Corruption League in order to bring unrecognized talents in limelight. Till now M.P’s and ministers used to be unofficially sold and purchased by political parties but now we should hold official auction of M.P’s. later on we can also start trading politicians in stock exchange so that common man can also buy and sell politicians. This will also increase the prices of politicians many fold as we have increased the price of food products by starting commodity exchange.

        In order to increase education facilities in the field of Corruption Government should start 50 new “Indian Institute of Corruption” in next 5 years. In these IIC’s Degrees like Bachelor of Corruption, Masters of Corruption and Doctorate of Corruption will be provided. Students of these universities will be given direct placement in Panchayats, Municipal and Metropolitan Corporations, State legislative assemblies and State Legislative Councils, Loksabha and Rajya sabha. We should also seek tie up of IIC’s with foreign nations so that our corrupt degree holders will be posted on the important places foreign nation also. This way India will become an international hub of corruption (as Pakistan has become international hub of Terrorism).

              Although I don’t need to tell you about the importance of banking system in the growth of corruption, since you thou self maintain one dozen bank accounts in Swiss banks. Hence you should initiate some changes in banking system by which our banks should also keep the information of account holders confidential like Swiss banks so that we don’t need to go to Switzerland to deposit out money. You can justify this step by projecting it as your commitment to protect environment, since this will save lot of fuel which is presently wasted in the air journey of India to Switzerland.

        For the welfare corrupt politicians every corrupt leader should be given 8 months time to destroy all the evidences and settle all the accounts as was given to (dis)honorable Suresh Kalmadi and every leader resigning because of Charges should be given decent farewell by some internationally renowned personality like Barak Obama. you should also make a rule that every scammer will have to compulsorily involve army, police, revenue, underworld, diplomats, bureaucrats etc. in the scam, so that we can follow the principle of reduction of inequalities in income and equal distribution of resources as per the guidelines laid down in the "Directive Principle of State Policy in the Indian Constitution”.

             Finally Madam/ Sir as our Father of nation dear Bapu used Pledge, patriotic songs and crispy slogans to encourage people to work and sacrifice for the sake of nation, we should also use these means for the growth of corruption. Hence I request you to change the Pledge printed in the text books of School curriculum like this “ India is my country, all corrupts are my brothers and sisters, corruption is my occupation, Swiss bank is my destination…………... You should also declare Na izzat ki chinta, na fikar karo iman ki jay bolo baiman ki, jay bolo" as our new them song and also give slogan of “Nirlajja sada sukhi” to this country as your Grandfather gave slogan of ****** ***** to this country, so that people can indulge in corrupt practices without any shame (if it is left). 

              Madam/ Sir I am obliged that you read my letter with patient and I hope you will do whatever is needful to increase corruption in this country.      

                                                                      

                                          Yours shamefully        

                                   A Corrupt party worker

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Lokpal to Jan Lokpal

              I have taken extempore decision to write this article in order to support the cause of Anna Hazare’s hunger strike. It is not unknown fact that Corruption in India is growing day by day like a princess of fairy tell, everyday new scams are coming out. The number of scams and sum of money involved in it has grown so large that if we can recover the amount lost in scams of past 10 years and use it for national development than India can become a developed country in next 10 year, but unfortunately this responsibility lies on the shoulders of those people who themselves are responsible for such rampant corruption. Naturally politicians neither from ruling parties nor from opposition are willing to take concrete action to curb corruption because if they do so than their own skeleton of corruption might come out. Because of this they have adopted their old policy of killing the time by appointing commissions and committees and by offering show peace resignations. Latest in the series of political drama is government’s urgency to enact Lokpal Bill to end corruption. Naturally laymen’s mind is filled up with lot of questions like what is Lokpal bill? What is its history? Why government is showing so urgency to enact this bill and why Anna Hazare is opposing it? 

               Although I have given some glimpses of the features of Lokpal bill in my first article “Corruption: The cancer of India” but today let’s discuss the history, revolutionary features and the roots of recent controversy over Lokpal bill in detail. In 1966 the 1^st Administrative reform commission was set up to conduct inquiry in the working of India’s administrative system and suggests some measures by which efficiency, transparency and effectiveness of Indian Administration can be increased. The commission submitted 20 reports in which 581 recommendations were incorporated out of which the most important and revolutionary recommendation was to setting up of Lokpal and Lokayukta institutions to permanently end the corruption. The idea was conceived from the inspiration of Ombudsman system in Scandinavian countries and Parliamentary commissioner in New Zealand. In these countries cases of corruption by ministers and higher officials is investigated by an independent authority called Ombudsman.

Principles suggested by 1^st ARC in the establishment of Lokpal - 

1) It should be an independent and impartial body. 

2) Appointment of Lokpal should be as far as possible, non political.

3) Lokpal should investigate cases of not only corruption but also injustice and favoritism.

4) Investigation and proceedings of Lokpal should be conducted in private and should be of informal character.

5) Lokpal should get whatever information including official documents relevant to investigation.

6) Status of Lokpal should be equivalent to that of highest judicial authority in the country.

7) Proceedings of Lokpal should not be subject to judicial interference.

          These principles were revolutionary in nature which if implemented properly could struck a major blow to the regime of corruption, if not end the corruption permanently. Because of this no government was interested in setting up of Lokpal and hence till now nine attempts have been made to enact a statute for setting up of Lokpal, however no bill could ever became a law. Last time this bill was introduced in 2006 which lapsed with the dissolution of 14^th Loksabha. The salient features of this bill were as mentioned below.

Structure- Lokpal is to be a three member body with a chairperson who is or has been a chief justice or judge of the Supreme Court; and it’s two other members who are or have been judges or chief justices of high courts around the country. 

Appointment-The chairperson and members shall be appointed on the recommendation of a committee consisting of. (a) The Vice-President (Chairman) (b) The PM (c) The Speaker of LS (d) Home Minister (e) Leader of the House, other than the house in which PM is a member. (f) Leaders of Opposition of both the houses. 

Independence-  The Lokpal is ineligible to hold any office of profit under Government of India or of any state, or similar such posts after retirement. Fixed tenure of three years and can be removed only on the ground of proven misbehavior or incapacity after an inquiry made by CJI and two senior most judges of SC. Lokpal will have its own administrative machinery for conducting investigations. He shall present annual reports of investigation to the President and the latter has to put it before the both houses of parliament accompanying the action taken report.

Powers- Lokpal can investigate the cases of corruption in administration of the country, either on somebody’s complaint or on a sou-motto (on his own discretion) basis. The Lokpal will inquire into complaints alleging that a public functionary has committed an offence punishable under the prevention of corruption act, 1988. The expression ‘public functionary’ covers all the three categories of union ministers including the Prime minister and the members of parliament. Judges of Supreme Court and high courts were kept out of the purview of Lokpal. It has been vested with the powers of a civil court in respect of summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath. The bill provides for an open court or if the Lokpal wishes in camera proceedings. The proceedings have to be completed within six months, with a provision of extension of six more months. 

              Above mentioned bill also meet same fate which its predecessor meet. Like a masala Hindi movie story takes a twist from here, after so many years government suddenly wakes up and announces to introduce Lokpal bill in the next session of Loksabha and to speed up the process, also forms a Group of minister to prepare the draft of Lokpal bill. However this draft of Lokpal bill is not similar to the bill presented last time in the parliament. This new law is like a paper tiger, its sting have been removed by breaking its teeth and claws. Let’s glance through the draft prepared by Group of ministers.

1) Lokpal can take action against politicians only, bureaucrats are kept out of the purview of Lokpal.

2) Lokpal will not have sou-motto power to initiate investigation against erring politicians. He can act only after the case is referred by speaker of Loksabha and chairman of Rajya sabha.

3) Lokpal’s role is only of advisory nature according to the draft bill that means like CVC he can only give recommendations and can’t initiate criminal charges by launching FIR.

4) No provision for the recovery of money from the responsible people.

5) It is mandatory for Lokpal to finish the investigation within a period of a year, but no such time limit is fixed for judicial probe to conclude.

6) Selection committee to appoint Lokpal will comprise Vice President, PM, Leaders of house other than which in PM seats, Leader of opposition in both the houses, home minister and law minister.

7) Complainants making frivolous complaints can be sentenced. 

8) Lokpal will not include public grievances mechanism.

        Naturally this is nothing but an impotent anti corruption law of which there is no dearth in India’s legal system. Anna Hazare and other eminent personalities like Dr. Kiran Bedi, Justice Santosh Hegde the Lokayukta of Karnataka, Swami Agnivesh the Arya samajist social reformer, J.M. Lingdoh the former CEC , Arvind Kejariwal, Prashant Bhushan senior advocate of SC and many others are fighting against such vasectomy of Lokpal institution. They have prepared the draft of strong Jan Lokpal bill and have demanded the formation of committee to prepare the draft of new Lokpal bill which is to be presented in next Loksabha session. Let’s glance through the draft of Jan Lokpal bill.

1) Lokpal can take action against politicians, bureaucrats and judges of higher judiciary.

2) Lokpal will have suo-motto power to initiate investigation against erring persons and can also act on complaints received from citizens. 

3) Lokpal can launch FIR and can prosecute criminal charges against corrupt person.

4) Lokpal can order recovery of money lost because of corruption from responsible people.

5) Lokpal can award punishment of minimum 5 years and maximum life imprisonment to people who will be found guilty.

6) Financial penalty for frivolous complaints.

7) Time limit will be of two year, one year for the investigation and one for the judicial probe.

8) CEC, C&AG and other eminent personalities should also be included in the selection committee.

           Now you can see the difference between real and pseudo anti corruption law. Although I disagree with some of the points of the draft prepared by India Against Corruption like giving prosecution powers to Lokpal. Since this may result in diversification of judicial powers from SC and HC’s and it may lead to clashes between SC and Lokpal in long term. It might also create huge backlog of corruption cases pending in front of Lokpal since there is no scarcity of corruption cases in India and it is doubtful that body of 10 person can clear all the cases within a prescribed span of time, provision of life imprisonment is also doubtful. It is my personal view that provision of setting up of fast track anti corruption courts should be included in Lokpal bill and prosecution powers should be transferred to these courts and like TADA there should be a provision that appeal against orders of these courts can be done in SC only.

 

         In spite of some differences I support the Anna Hazare’s movement because it is not about Lokpal it is about appeal to people’s conscience against corruption. For the first time after JP movement people have come up together irrespective their cast, class, region, religion etc. and the most important thing is that this movement is about constructive reform of system rather than destructive revolution against system. Hence I am with this movement are you?

Read more: Government V/S Anna- Caution: danger is ahead

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