What a day! Do I need to say more? The parliament has unanimously resolved for in principal support of Anna Hazare’s three demands on Lokayukt in states, lower bureaucracy and citizens charter. The Lokpal movement had brought the citizens together in support of a corruption free India. This issue was raised predominantly by the urban population and some would say it was dominated by the middle class. I would say not the middle class necessarily but yes the more politically aware citizens were the majority in support of this movement. There were no truckloads filled audiences invited to Ramlila Maidan, the rallies also more or less had spontaneous support. For once people were out in large numbers for a constructive purpose.
Now one might argue that this wasn’t really a victory that “India Against Corruption” and the so called Team Anna were initially demanding. Their bill was never tabled in the parliament. But I for one had never believed that this was really the aim of Team Anna in the first place. It was never possible for the initial demand they were making to be accepted. The parliament was always going to be one to make laws. This was a demand raised in sheer sense of betrayal they had felt when the government’s version of Lokapal bill was revealed. It came to light then that the government is capable of being completely insensitive to public grievance on corruption. Possibly survival instincts of the supporters of corruption in the government had kicked in and they brought about a completely worthless legislation. Their aim in my view always was that the ruling party and ultimately the Parliament take the process of creating an anti-corruption ombudsman seriously. It was a proposal that had first come out in 1969, and had since been repeatedly discussed, but could never transform into a law. Anna has achieved that purpose. He has got his message through.
Over the years our politicians have conformed to the image of being both thick skinned and deaf. I would make an argument that before being corrupt, what they were corruptible and they are corrupt today because the special interest groups (read big businesses) have worked the system to their advantage. This is what causes the multi crore or rather multi lakhs of crores worth of scams that we come to hear about these days. So the politicians had two constituencies the vote banks(read rural poor and marginalized sections of society) and the super rich who would sponsor their political and personal lives. During Anna’s Lokpal movement they have become aware of a third constituency that of the politically aware citizens of our country who are concerned about the issues of governance faced by us, and they have finally responded.
Cutting across political lines they have accepted that corruption that has been troubling the nation for so long has reached a saturation point. By accepting Anna’s three demands they have shown that they are sensitive to genuine demands of the people. They have also shown that they can act with utmost maturity and conduct the proceedings of the house with dignity. This was a welcome sight. I would like to see more of these dignified debates in the parliament and not the walkouts and shouting and storming the well of the house that we witness all too often in the Parliament. I wish this does not become just a one of case but becomes a precedent on how the parliament should function on issues of national importance.
Saturday 27 August 2011
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Lokpal Movement - Time to Chose Sides
The more I observe the events of the past week around Anna Hazare unfold the more I am convinced that the arguments being made about unconstitutionality of the movement, about wrongness of the method of protest and demands raised, about this being a middle class movement and not really a grass root movement of real India, about the parliament being supreme, about law making being delayed, about governance being affected, about a foreign government being involved and so, on seem to fall flat on their face.
Citizens of our country have lived with bad governance for too long. We have let corruption become a part of our DNA. We have for long time patiently tolerated corrupt administration. Some have renamed bribes as a convenience charge or a tip, some use it as means of getting ahead of competition, others call it compulsion. The government does not even use the term graft and calls it leakages. We have for too long eroded our conscience and have been too pragmatic in our lives to have allowed this monster to grow as big as it is today. It needs to be reaffirmed now that the time for taking sides is here.
Anna has galvanized the people of our nation for a just cause. There is a specific objective that people have this time, the leadership of this movement has the right credentials and there is a momentum in this movement which is unprecedented in recent history. It is time to choose sides. No longer can the political class hold on to unreasonable control of the public institutions of India. Every system works if the people who run the system make it work. But the political leadership has allowed our institutions to corrode and one wonders if this is what the founding fathers of our constitution would have envisaged for these institutions to function.
The three pillars of the constitution namely the executive, the legislature and the judiciary are meant to remain independent and not encroach on each other’s function and independent they are but efficient they are not. All three pillars have been affected by institutional corruption and they have failed to correct themselves for several decades now. The most responsibility of governance lies with the executive branch but not only are they the most lacking, it appears they are also the ones who are most against a strong Lokpal. This public outcry today is to move the executive, to force them to bring a strong Lokpal bill to the parliament. They will resist but for how long is the question? Can they continue to ignore the public anger against corruption? Can they use arguments about process and procedures to deny people their right?
All processes and procedures, the parliament and the government are meant to serve the people. Can the same procedures be used to deny people what they deserve? One can disagree with many of the points in the Lokpal bill which “India Against Corruption” has brought forward. What was expected is not that the entire bill should have been accepted as is? What was expected is that an honest attempt should have been made to make a strong independent Lokpal. An honest attempt should have been made by the political class to clean them self.
This is time for them to act now. It is time for them to choose sides now. They have to decide whether they will continue to protect their corrupt brethren or will they for once realize that status quo is no longer acceptable to people. They have to choose sides now and reaffirm their loyalty to their electors. Once they are on the side of the right then they can debate on what is the best way to implement the right. But they have to choose the right now. The time to choose has come.
Citizens of our country have lived with bad governance for too long. We have let corruption become a part of our DNA. We have for long time patiently tolerated corrupt administration. Some have renamed bribes as a convenience charge or a tip, some use it as means of getting ahead of competition, others call it compulsion. The government does not even use the term graft and calls it leakages. We have for too long eroded our conscience and have been too pragmatic in our lives to have allowed this monster to grow as big as it is today. It needs to be reaffirmed now that the time for taking sides is here.
Anna has galvanized the people of our nation for a just cause. There is a specific objective that people have this time, the leadership of this movement has the right credentials and there is a momentum in this movement which is unprecedented in recent history. It is time to choose sides. No longer can the political class hold on to unreasonable control of the public institutions of India. Every system works if the people who run the system make it work. But the political leadership has allowed our institutions to corrode and one wonders if this is what the founding fathers of our constitution would have envisaged for these institutions to function.
The three pillars of the constitution namely the executive, the legislature and the judiciary are meant to remain independent and not encroach on each other’s function and independent they are but efficient they are not. All three pillars have been affected by institutional corruption and they have failed to correct themselves for several decades now. The most responsibility of governance lies with the executive branch but not only are they the most lacking, it appears they are also the ones who are most against a strong Lokpal. This public outcry today is to move the executive, to force them to bring a strong Lokpal bill to the parliament. They will resist but for how long is the question? Can they continue to ignore the public anger against corruption? Can they use arguments about process and procedures to deny people their right?
All processes and procedures, the parliament and the government are meant to serve the people. Can the same procedures be used to deny people what they deserve? One can disagree with many of the points in the Lokpal bill which “India Against Corruption” has brought forward. What was expected is not that the entire bill should have been accepted as is? What was expected is that an honest attempt should have been made to make a strong independent Lokpal. An honest attempt should have been made by the political class to clean them self.
This is time for them to act now. It is time for them to choose sides now. They have to decide whether they will continue to protect their corrupt brethren or will they for once realize that status quo is no longer acceptable to people. They have to choose sides now and reaffirm their loyalty to their electors. Once they are on the side of the right then they can debate on what is the best way to implement the right. But they have to choose the right now. The time to choose has come.
Sunday 21 August 2011
THE FOURTH PILLAR OF DEMOCRACY AND THE ANNA MOVEMENT
It is common belief that the fourth estate of a democracy is a free and independent Media. Media’s purpose is clearly that of a mirror that reflects the state of affairs in the nation. It shows us who we are, where we are currently and where we are headed. It reveals and makes transparent the inner workings of the other three pillars of democracy namely the Judiciary, Legislature and the Executive. It on a daily basis or in case of 24x7 news channels minute by minute makes the people aware of the current affairs in the country. So while the legislature is a reflection of the representative nature of our democracy the media is what enables a participatory democracy on a daily basis.
All four pillars of democracy are meant to be independent. Independence and freedom of the media is ensured by the fundamental right to freedom of speech for every individual. That the media is indeed the fourth pillar of democracy is established even more whenever a popular movement rises in the country. This is when the media both thrives on and feeds into the popular movement. This is when the real power of media is revealed and the independence of the media becomes most important.
The present movement for the Lokpal bill is a culmination of years of reporting on corruption issues by the media. There was never a grand design that a movement like this had to be created. While India Against Corruption NGO did organize Anna's protest but it is beyond them to organize the entire media campaign in favour of this movement. This movement evolved over the years because of the failings of the executive that was revealed by the media to the socially aware population of our country. For long the political class has assumed that their decisions would go unquestioned by apolitical people once they have been elected to the legislature. They have thrived on ill informed voters who have brought them to power over and over again on petty issues. They have played politics on petty issues like cast, subsidies, religion, regional identity, and so on and avoided being answerable to voters on bigger issues like corruption, defense, terror and others.
Media savvy population of the country is a new breed of voters who not only want to elect representatives every five years, but also want to participate in the daily workings of our country by staying abreast with the major issues and demanding transparency and action by the executive and legislatures on those issues. Anna Hazare has all but been a catalyst of this movement. The movement was already on for several years now. Anna Hazare has only highlighted the most important issue for the people of our country, and brought that latent public discontent to media’s attention, and through the media, to the attention of the political class. The ruling political party is bearing the brunt of this discontent but this is a message for all representatives that they need to be responsive to peoples concerns even in a non election year. That the political class has resisted this movement as best as it could, shows the culpability of the political class in corruption.
The same politicians who talk about how the Lokpal would undermine the independence of public institutions forget that it is they who have over the years destroyed the independence of our institutions. The Police, CBI, civil service, anti corruption watchdogs like the CVC etc, have all been undermined by political interference. The bogey of independence of the three pillars of democracy that the government purports to be safeguarding in their bill falls flat on its face when one looks at the history of interference by the executive in the workings of our institutions. The cash for vote’s scam, corporate lobbying, MPs asking questions in the parliament for money, the political horse trading that is all but common in our country are examples of how the independence of legislature are undermined. Promise of appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts after retirement to plum assignments in government committees can very well be used by the executive for interfering with the functioning of the judiciary.
The People of this country through the fourth pillar of our democracy are conveying to the politicians that it is time for them to curtail their own powers when it comes to investigation of corrupt amongst them. It may very well have been possible for them to be self correcting, but they have failed to do so over several decades. They have lost that opportunity. This has allowed corruption to grow deep roots and spread its tentacles to every walk of life. Stronger measures are needed and the people believe that an independent and strong Lokpal with investigative machinery under it but with a limited mandate to deal with only public corruption is a must for our country. All politicians and the government in particular should listen to the people and not try to weather this movement. It can be predicted that the more they resist or the more they try to delay the bigger this social movement will become. It is not a question of whether the government relents; it is a question of when the government relents.
All four pillars of democracy are meant to be independent. Independence and freedom of the media is ensured by the fundamental right to freedom of speech for every individual. That the media is indeed the fourth pillar of democracy is established even more whenever a popular movement rises in the country. This is when the media both thrives on and feeds into the popular movement. This is when the real power of media is revealed and the independence of the media becomes most important.
The present movement for the Lokpal bill is a culmination of years of reporting on corruption issues by the media. There was never a grand design that a movement like this had to be created. While India Against Corruption NGO did organize Anna's protest but it is beyond them to organize the entire media campaign in favour of this movement. This movement evolved over the years because of the failings of the executive that was revealed by the media to the socially aware population of our country. For long the political class has assumed that their decisions would go unquestioned by apolitical people once they have been elected to the legislature. They have thrived on ill informed voters who have brought them to power over and over again on petty issues. They have played politics on petty issues like cast, subsidies, religion, regional identity, and so on and avoided being answerable to voters on bigger issues like corruption, defense, terror and others.
Media savvy population of the country is a new breed of voters who not only want to elect representatives every five years, but also want to participate in the daily workings of our country by staying abreast with the major issues and demanding transparency and action by the executive and legislatures on those issues. Anna Hazare has all but been a catalyst of this movement. The movement was already on for several years now. Anna Hazare has only highlighted the most important issue for the people of our country, and brought that latent public discontent to media’s attention, and through the media, to the attention of the political class. The ruling political party is bearing the brunt of this discontent but this is a message for all representatives that they need to be responsive to peoples concerns even in a non election year. That the political class has resisted this movement as best as it could, shows the culpability of the political class in corruption.
The same politicians who talk about how the Lokpal would undermine the independence of public institutions forget that it is they who have over the years destroyed the independence of our institutions. The Police, CBI, civil service, anti corruption watchdogs like the CVC etc, have all been undermined by political interference. The bogey of independence of the three pillars of democracy that the government purports to be safeguarding in their bill falls flat on its face when one looks at the history of interference by the executive in the workings of our institutions. The cash for vote’s scam, corporate lobbying, MPs asking questions in the parliament for money, the political horse trading that is all but common in our country are examples of how the independence of legislature are undermined. Promise of appointment of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts after retirement to plum assignments in government committees can very well be used by the executive for interfering with the functioning of the judiciary.
The People of this country through the fourth pillar of our democracy are conveying to the politicians that it is time for them to curtail their own powers when it comes to investigation of corrupt amongst them. It may very well have been possible for them to be self correcting, but they have failed to do so over several decades. They have lost that opportunity. This has allowed corruption to grow deep roots and spread its tentacles to every walk of life. Stronger measures are needed and the people believe that an independent and strong Lokpal with investigative machinery under it but with a limited mandate to deal with only public corruption is a must for our country. All politicians and the government in particular should listen to the people and not try to weather this movement. It can be predicted that the more they resist or the more they try to delay the bigger this social movement will become. It is not a question of whether the government relents; it is a question of when the government relents.
Wednesday 17 August 2011
ANNA
So let me recap what happened on 16th of August, 2011. Anna Hazare refused to accept police conditions for his protest in JP Park. Police imposes section 144. Police arrests him and his associates from his residence early morning. They take him to Tihar jail and then he is released by late evening. But Anna refuses to leave the jail till he gets a permission to protest.
This short description of the events of today can very well go into history books if they finally result in the kind of change in our governance which all of us have desired for so long. Else it will be just another routine political protest that the ruling government of the day has been able to tide over and we are back to square one.
I have long believed that corruption whether big or small is the single biggest hurdle in recognition of our true potential as a nation. Lot of intellectual arguments can be made as to what the right “democratic” and “parliamentary” method should have been for bringing about a change. About who has the right to make laws in a democracy and why an elected government should bow down to unelected and self appointed “civil society”. But when you are talking of masses then no matter how intelligent the masses are it is not a time for intellectual debates. These arguments have happened in past and will continue in future but today the question is should the government bow down to Anna or not. Is Anna blackmailing an elected government?
Here is my argument. Supposing the government does bow down. Will it be the first time the government in the center has bowed down from its stated position under pressure? Let me jog your memory a bit. Hasn’t the government of the day in our country bowed down in past, to corporate lobbying, to foreign governments in international negotiations, to terrorists while negotiating hostage release, to our enemy countries in defeat or near defeat in war, to its minority allies to keep the government in power, to political horse trading to retain power, to Pakistan sponsored terrorism by climbing down from previous position of no talks till all stops to constructive dialog; and the list goes on. Well the government in the center has a history of bowing down to people and groups of much less credibility than Anna Hazare. Why such reluctance now?
I would say that in present situation it would only be democratic for a democratically elected government to not remain rigid and to climb down from its stated position once again in history; to perhaps, create history.
They should climb down from their stated position, and accept, that the Lokpal bill they have presented in Parliament does not do enough to address the real issues of corruption. It is also perhaps time for the black sheep in the political hierarchy to step aside and let the white sheep take center stage or for the gray ones to turn white. It is time for the government of the day to choose between black and white and get rid of this menace once and for all. It is a golden moment for Manmohan Singh or who ever it is in the present government who claims to be Mr Clean to really prove than he can really take leadership at this hour, and give the nation what it deserves; a corruption free and productive governance. A strong independent authority to bring justice to victims of corruption would be the first step in that direction. It can be seen, that the nation believes so.
This short description of the events of today can very well go into history books if they finally result in the kind of change in our governance which all of us have desired for so long. Else it will be just another routine political protest that the ruling government of the day has been able to tide over and we are back to square one.
I have long believed that corruption whether big or small is the single biggest hurdle in recognition of our true potential as a nation. Lot of intellectual arguments can be made as to what the right “democratic” and “parliamentary” method should have been for bringing about a change. About who has the right to make laws in a democracy and why an elected government should bow down to unelected and self appointed “civil society”. But when you are talking of masses then no matter how intelligent the masses are it is not a time for intellectual debates. These arguments have happened in past and will continue in future but today the question is should the government bow down to Anna or not. Is Anna blackmailing an elected government?
Here is my argument. Supposing the government does bow down. Will it be the first time the government in the center has bowed down from its stated position under pressure? Let me jog your memory a bit. Hasn’t the government of the day in our country bowed down in past, to corporate lobbying, to foreign governments in international negotiations, to terrorists while negotiating hostage release, to our enemy countries in defeat or near defeat in war, to its minority allies to keep the government in power, to political horse trading to retain power, to Pakistan sponsored terrorism by climbing down from previous position of no talks till all stops to constructive dialog; and the list goes on. Well the government in the center has a history of bowing down to people and groups of much less credibility than Anna Hazare. Why such reluctance now?
I would say that in present situation it would only be democratic for a democratically elected government to not remain rigid and to climb down from its stated position once again in history; to perhaps, create history.
They should climb down from their stated position, and accept, that the Lokpal bill they have presented in Parliament does not do enough to address the real issues of corruption. It is also perhaps time for the black sheep in the political hierarchy to step aside and let the white sheep take center stage or for the gray ones to turn white. It is time for the government of the day to choose between black and white and get rid of this menace once and for all. It is a golden moment for Manmohan Singh or who ever it is in the present government who claims to be Mr Clean to really prove than he can really take leadership at this hour, and give the nation what it deserves; a corruption free and productive governance. A strong independent authority to bring justice to victims of corruption would be the first step in that direction. It can be seen, that the nation believes so.
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