Shekhar Gupta on the Jan Lokpal bill (April 23, 2011)
Uncategorized October 28th. 2011, 6:33pmI somehow missed this article where Shekhar Gupta has thoroughly analyzed and listed all that is wrong with the then Jan Lokpal Bill. (I think the Jan Lokpal Bill has since been modified. The version at http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/downloads.html is dated June 21, 2011. So some of the issues pointed out by Shekhar Gupta may no longer hold. Nevertheless, it gives an idea of the mindset of and (dis)ability of the Jan Lokpal bill drafters in drafting such an important bill.) Following are some excerpts:
… The Musharraf reference is also tempting because the standard answer from this group of civil society leaders to the question if their bill violates the basic spirit of the Constitution is, so what, the Constitution can be amended as it has been so many times. But the kind, and number of Constitutional amendments this draft will require, will need a Musharraf.
… Where will the rest come from? Your guess is as good as mine. All of these will have to be people of “unimpeachable integrity” and also “should have demonstrated their resolve to fight corruption in the past.” From where will you find these people, particularly as you are working on the presumption that a large number of judges of the Supreme Court and high courts do not pass that test of unimpeachable integrity. And who will choose them? A committee headed by the prime minister who, in turn, will be under the jurisdiction of the Lokpal he chooses. But, wait, it is more complicated than that. This committee shall include the two youngest judges of our high courts and Supreme Court respectively, the presumption being that the young are cleaner (Clause 6, 5 c and d). But, if a Lokpal has to be fired for misdemeanour, the case will be heard by a bench consisting of the five seniormost judges of the Supreme Court? Confused? Why are the youngest virtuous while hiring, and the seniormost equally so while firing?
… If this is not sounding impossible already, this search committee has to recommend at least “three times the names as there are vacancies” (Clause 6, 10 f). So if you thought it is hard enough to find so many perfect men and women, you now know that you have to find thrice as many. And, of course, when the selection committee’s choice is finally forwarded to the president, she “shall” sign it within a month.
… If the idea of this bill is to take away all discretion, and strike terror in the hearts of the bad guys, it does that very effectively.
Except, so many of the rest, generally innocent Indians, may live in that terror as well. The bill, for example, entitles the Lokpal to collect 10 per cent of all the fines collected, stolen wealth recovered, or even national wealth saved from being stolen, in its own corpus for its own use, thereby creating extortionist incentive: the more you value, the more you collect.
… If you report on another citizen and he is caught and convicted, you would similarly earn 10 per cent of the money recovered, and/ or the money saved from being swindled as your reward. We will, therefore, be incentivised by law to become a nation of cops and spies, sneaking on neighbours and family for pecuniary gain. Such things happen in North Korea and if it is your argument that its people are happier than us Indians, we will need some convincing.
… the Lokpal members will be deemed police officers, have the powers of seizure and search without going to a magistrate — precisely the question with Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act) — have protection of contempt of court law, will function as civil courts, be investigators and prosecutors, throwing out the very principle of separation of powers, checks and balances (Clauses 8-19, 21, 24, 25, 27, 32).
… This bill, in this form, is designed to match the dictum of “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It also presumes all Indians are thieves, unless proven otherwise, and can only be governed in a police state. Further, that a society of a billion-plus thieves can be cleansed by barely a dozen individuals armed with the most undemocratic law drafted in a democracy outside its Parliament. That is why this needs greater, cooler discussion.
November 4th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Hi Barala,
Greetings to all the reader.
I would personal like to support the Janlokpal bill whatever there is difference let it be there…
if we do not support as whole it will simple derail the plan.
Its not the time to discuss any changes in the the Janlokpal bill
Thanks to the team that they have raised the issue in such a way that for the first time there is some hope
that these pressure on the government may lead to form a mechanism to curb the corruption.
Our difference opinion is nothing but the politician gain and there are some people,news channel do it knowingly.
So i would like to request you to put some news refer to governments insensitive and the way it handles.
Thanks
Syama
November 4th, 2011 at 11:54 pm
A lot of problem in India is due to “hero worship” and “following the mass without thinking on our own”. A strong lokpal bill may be a good idea, but it is arrogant for Team Anna to think and suggest that only Janlokpal bill is the way, and supporting that blindly despite its severe drawbacks is – IMHO – dangerous.
November 6th, 2011 at 12:37 am
Thanks for your reply..I just would like to say at this moment if we go against the team Anna and their Janlokpal Bill we are not only harming the team but destroying the only chance of hope of anti corruption bill(Even though it is not the best one).
If you think they are arrogant,corrupt or whatever(Arvind not paid the dues, kiran is used economy class)
you can hang the team Anna as soon as the bill gets passed or put them behind the bar.
I have gone thorough every detail of the bill and the news from the beginning…in my personal opinion they are far better then government,politician,Arundhati Roy, T N Seshan,Teesta Setalvad and many more…Team Anna looks like some selfish/arrogant and they are not best leaders for the common people. just go through their back ground Arvind, Kiran and other team members. Arvind himself is an IRS officer he could have made million by being a corrupt.I simple say he is cool guy and definitely i like him very much the way he talks,dress sense,thoughts etc.I would like to request other readers to put theri comments so I can know where I stand.
Thanks
Syama
November 6th, 2011 at 11:21 am
The Jan Lokpall bill is not just the best one. It is a dangerous bill. So it should not be passed. A good, well thought out and well written bill on the subject should be passed.
Team Anna is to be lauded for bringing this issue to the forefront. My hats off to them for that.
November 6th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Thanks Chitta…Its good to see you have mentioned good about Team Anna.
If the bill is danger and not going to workout then it can be changed in future…so no issues this is just beginning and long to go.
I am just wondering those are against Team Anna and the same time they don’t have any concrete alternative.
Don’t you think Anna’s Team has sharpest brain and the approach has worked and made the people united
now it will put some pressure to govt to pass a meaningful
anti corruption bill.
Those (media/person) against Team Anna I have gone in detail about their background,
past action,comments,reviews found nothing but some sort confusion and nothing concrete which will derail the proces.
November 6th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
” .. Anna’s Team has sharpest brain”.
Assuming that is dangerous. I don’t know what kind of experience they have in drafting bills. I know Prashant Bhushan is a very reputed lawyer. But I don’t know of any bill that he has drafted. Kejriwal championed RTI after the bill was passed. Kejriwal’s self proclaimed guru (Aruna Roy, who now speaks against Kejriwal) led the drafting of the RTI bill.
Bills are legal documents that have to be precisely defined. There are many places the Jan Lokpal Bill is imprecise, incorrect, inconsistent and has contradictory statements.
I am not sure of your background; but if you have a mathematical background then you may understand what I am saying.
Say you have to define what a prime number is, or what a tree (in computer science data structure) is. It has to be precisely defined. One can not have a wrong or inconsistent definition as it is going to be used to settle court cases. If that definition is not precise it will create tons of problems. Based on the Jan Lokpal draft, it is clear to me that the Jan Lokpal bill is terrible in this respect.
Then comes the issue of what should be in the Lokpal bill. There is wide disagreement on this and there is no reason to blindly follow what Team Anna says.
In general, hastily drafting bills is not good. The same way passing a bill takes a long time; revising one also takes a long time. Passing a bill in haste (without thinking it through) is not at all good and dangerous.
The government has formed a parliamentary committee for this bill. Many good people (with more experience and sharp brain; e.g. Aruna Roy, Jay Prakash Narayan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayaprakash_Narayan_%28Lok_Satta%29) disagree with Anna Team’s view and have presented their views to the parliamentary committee. Team Anna should do that too.
They have brought the issue of corruption to the forefront and as I said they deserve kudos for that.
If they need to pursue a Lokpal bill, they should pursue a “good” lokpal bill. Let “good” be defined by a larger body of people rather than a small self selected Team Anna. When they say that we want only Janlokpal bill and any change has to be approved by Anna, then they are becoming arrogant and dictatorial. By saying that only they know what is right they are insulting the remaining 120 crore people (minus the blind followers) of India.
One of the greatest danger to a country is when one person or a group of people start claiming that they are the best and they know what is right and anyone that disagrees with them is against the country. Team Anna and many of its supporters are doing just that.
November 10th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
I agree with you,Sir. Team Anna’s movement only superficially proclaim to be open to reasonable debate.I was in full support of the movement initially but now they have become very rigid in their demand for the jan lokpal. The Jan Lokpal Bill and also the Govt. Lokpal Bill(which is even more horrible) are clearly a long way from ideal. Not only are many aspects of the Jan Lokpal bill vague and subjective(and hence dangerous)but also as pointed out by Aruna Roy in her interview in Tehelka Magazine,the Jan Lokpal is making the lokpal the one body which would take over absolutely every form of corruption at all levels which, seeing that corruption is a way of life in India, would really overburden the whole mechanism. However after all the debates I have read, I really feel that demanding any changes now to the Jan Lokpal Bill or supporting other versions to the Bill is a lost cause for the concerned citizens of this country and can perhaps be acheived only by the Standing Committee. The people who support this movement have become hardliners in their support of Anna. Team Anna have really used issues in the common man’s mind as the hate for dynastic rule of Gandhi pariwar to win further support. I acknowledge that the movement is healthy dynamism for our stagnant political system but one can only make the people more powerful and empowered by making mass movements more reasonable.
November 11th, 2011 at 2:59 am
“The government has formed a parliamentary committee.”
There are some of the worst people are there(Manish Tiwari,Amar Singh,Paswan,Laloo…
Many good people(Aruna Roy)..
She was part of the NAC which is headed by Sonia Gandhi and silence for a long time and suddenly appeared..
she would have discussed it from January when the issue raised and prepared the Draft.
I know her background and would like to say she is fine..
But this time she is acting like a puppet of government to divert the attention.
If Aruna is serious then instead of new draft she would have added a point here and there to Janlokpal Bill then
something would have worked out…but created a 4th Draft all together different which created more confusion.
The Govt is not serious at all…I am sure there will be 5th Draft,6th Draft, Just its delay tactics and attention divert.
About Team Anna they are not perfect but they dont have any other option That is why “JanLokpal Bill is must”
November 11th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Citizens watching the government is always good and keeps the government in check. But be tolerant and respectful of other citizen’s views and don’t assume or think that anyone whose views are different from yours are government puppets and only you and/or your idols know what is right for a 1.2 billion people country.