A rather dry topic

I am perplexed to find some of my friends opposing Anna Hazare's actions.Upon probing deeper,I see those who oppose, dont realize why Anna Hazare protests over the government's Anti-Corruption Lokpal Bill.Why he insists that his proposals be drafted instead.
Well friends,he doesnt' like the Government's Lokpal bill,because that bill creates an Anti Corruption body with no teeth.
It is often said that when a fish rots,it rots from the top.So if ever you hope to see the corruption mechanism in your country fall apart,you must cut off its power supply,tackle it from top down.
If in your country,you send in elected members to the parliament,which is the highest governing body and then in the middle of their tenure,you hear they run scams better than ministries,next tenure you hear some of them have misappropriated resources and funds worth hundreds of billions of dollars,and then if you see them jailed for a while before running free and up for elections again,if year after year you see 'scam-stars' starring as ministers and Members of Parliaments well my friend,feel free to suspect that the head-men(or women) of these parliaments,who haven't probably been accused are in collusion with those who have.
Hence wake up call for another power check and balance.A body of men who can independently and effectively look into charges against the most powerful leaders and bureaucrats..Birth of Lokpal...
Sensing the popular mood the Government of India has drafted a Lokpal bill,but their Lokpal would just be a titular body with no real powers.
Here in this article I will list the differences between the government's bill and proposals of change by Anna Hazare and the Civil Society.

Comparison of the Government Draft Lokpal Bill and the Civil society draft bill
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1.Government of India's Bill( Govt) :Lokpal will not have any power to either initiate action suo motu in any case or even receive complaints from general public.Public will complain to the speaker of the loksabha/chairperson of rajya sabha.Only those complaints forwarded by speaker/chairman will be investigated by lokpal.
This provides a tool in the hands of the ruling party to have only those cases referred to Lokpal which pertain to political opponents,since speaker is always from ruling party.

Civil Society proposal(CSP):Lokpal will have powers to initiate investigations suo motu in any case and also directly entertain complaints from public.

2.Govt :Lokpal has been proposed to be an advisory body.After an enquiry,
it will forward its report to competent authority.Competent authority will have final powers to decide whether to take action on Lokpal's report or not.
In the case of cabinet ministers,the competent authority is the prime minister.In case of Prime Ministers and Members of Parliaments the competent authority is LokSabha or RajyaSabha.

In the coalition era when the government of the day depends upon the support of its political partner,no PM is likely to act against her cabinet minister, based on the Lokpal's report,even if that cabinet minister is not from the PM's own party.
Likewise,if Lokpal reported against PM or MP (Member of Parliament)of the ruling party,will the house ever pass a resolution to prosecute PM or ruling party MP?Never.
(Remember a govt is in power because it has a majority in the parliament,and bills are passed by a simple majority)

CSP: Lokpal is not an advisory body.It will have the powers to initiate prosecution against any one after completion of investigations in any case.It will also have powers to order disciplinary proceedings against any government servant.

3.Govt:Bill is legally unsound.Lokpal has not been given police powers.It cannot register an FIR.
All enquiries conducted by Lokpal will tantamount to preliminary enquiries.
Even if the report of the Lokpal is accepted,who will file the chargesheet in
court,initiate prosecution,who will apoint prosecution lawyer?The bill is silent on that.

CSP:Lokpal will have police powers.It will be able to register FIR,proceed
with criminal investigations and launch prosecution.

4.Govt :Bill does not say what will be the role of Central Bureau of Investigation after this bill.Can CBI and Lokpal investigate the same case or CBI loses its power to investigate politicians?If the latter is true,then this bill is meant to completely insulate politicians from any investigations whatsoever which are possible today through CBI.

CSP : The part of CBI which deals with corruption cases,will merge into Lokpal,so that there is just one effective independent body to take action against corruption.

5.Govt: There is a strong punishment for frivolous complaints.If any complaint is found false and frivolous,Lokpal will have the power to send the complainant to jail through summary trial but if the complaint is found to be true,Lokpal does not have the power to send the corrupt politician to jail.So the bill is browbeat,threatens
and discourages those fighting against corruption.

CSP:Deterrence has been provided against frivolous complaints in the form of financial penalties against complainant.However,Lokayukta is empowered to prosecute the corrupt and take
disciplinary action against them

6.Govt : Lokpal will have jurisdiction only on MPs ,ministers and PM.It will
not have jurisdiction over officers.The officers and politician do not indulge in
corruption separately.In any case of corruption,there is always a dual involvelment.
So according to the govt proposal,every case would need to be investigated by both
Central Vigilance Commission and Lokpal.CVC for bureaucrats and Lokpal for politicians.Obviously the case records will be with one or the other agency and the way government functions,it will not share its records with the other agency.It is possible that the 2 agencies will arrive at completely different conclusions,this appears to be a sure way of killing the case.

CSP:Lokpal will have jurisdiction over politicians,officials,judges.CVC and entire vigilance machinery of government will merge into Lokpal.

7.Govt : Lokpal will consist of 3 members,all being retired judges.
There is no reason why choice should be restricted to judiciary.By creating so
many retirement posts for judges (human rights commissioner for example is the retired chief justice of the SC) the government will make the retiring judges vulnerable to government influences just before retirement as is already happening in the case of retiring bureaucrats.The retiring judges,in the hope of getting post retirement employment,do the bidding of the government.

CSP: The lokpal will have 10 members and 1 chairperson,out of them 4 need be
of legal backgrounds(not necessarily judges) others from any background.

8.Govt : The selection committee consists of vice president,PM,leaders of both houses,Leaders of opposition in both houses,Law minister,ome minister.Barring the vice president all of them are politicians whose corruption Lokpal is supposed to investigate.
Clearly there is a conflict of interest.Also selection committe is heavily loaded
in favour of ruling party.Obviously a strong and effective lokpal will never be appointed

CSP: Selection committee consists of members from judicial background,Chief Election
Commissioner,CAG and international awardees like Nobel prize and Magsaysay winners of Indian origin.A detailed transparent and participatory selection process has been prescribed.

9.Govt Lokpal will not have powers to investigate any case against PM wich deals with foreign affairs,security and defence.This means corruption in defence dea;s
will be out of scrutiny whatsoever.So in future,it will be impossible to investigate into any Bofors .

CSP: There are no such bars on Lokpal's powers.

10.Whereas a time limit of six months to one year has been prescribed for Lokpal
to enquire ,however,subsequently there is no time limit prescribed for completion
of trial.

CSP: Investigations should be completed within 1 year and trials should get over by next 1 year.

11.Govt : Under the present law,there is a small punishment for corruption.
Punishment for corruption is minimum 6 months and maximum 7 years imprisonment.

Civil Society Prososal(CSP): Enhanced punishment.Minimum 5 years to maximum of life imprisonment.

12.Govt : Nothing has been provided in law to recover the ill gotten wealth.

CSP: Loss caused to government will be recovered from all accused.

13.Govt:Large number of people raising their voice against corruption are being murdered.Lokpal does not have any powers to provide protection to them.

CSP: Lokpal will have powers to provide protection against physical
and professional victimization of whistle blowers.

14.Govt :It does not talk about investigations of corruption against judges.
CSP : Lokpal will have powers to initiate investigations on complaints of
corruption against judges.

15.Govt :Speaker would decide which complaints will be heard by Lokpal.
CSP: Lokpal will not be able to dismiss any complaint from the public without
hearing the complainant.

16.Govt : It does not deal with bureaucrats or police personnel.Corrupt bureaucrats
can continue on their jobs without any action against them.
CSP:Lokpal will have power to direct disciplinary action including dismissal
of a corrupt officer from service.

17.Govt : Our entire governance system suffers from inadequate public grievance
redressal system,which force people to pay bribes.Lokpal bill does not
address this issue.
CSP: Lokpal will ave the powers to order redressal in atime bound manner.It
will have powers to impose financial penalties on guilty officers,which would be paid
to complainant as compensation.

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The civil society has envisaged a Lokpal with power.Any corrupt act will be stricken.Some fear that innocent politicians and bureaucrats may suffer too.Some argue,it is unacceptable in a democracy ,for a non-elected body to indict an electorally chosen minister,...But ,my friends,Lokpal will work on public complaints and public concern.Even 'suo-motu' is not just whim but based on some tangible report,whether from the media or the CAG .
Has the general public ever connived to nail honest politicians?Moreover,there are mechanisms of investigations and trials,so the innocent should have nothing to fear.

As a final word,I think corruption is the biggest threat to democracy in our country. Counter measure for corruption will serve to strengthen the parliamentary democracy not weaken it.