Anna Hazare movement has galvanized the Nation on the corruption issue. The nuances of the bill, whether the PM should be in or out, whether to include the lower bureaucracy or not is irrelevant now. Even the debate, whether a few members of civil society can dictate the Parliament is also irrelevant now. What is relevant is people have lost faith in politicians and have understood that politicians, bureaucracy and businessmen are looting the country for so many years without any fear and accountability.
If the Government or for that matter any political party wants to reduce the impact of Anna Hazare movement, they should do the following things:
1. Do not blame the CAG on the 2G scam report. Do not try to defend by saying that there is a zero loss to the nation and CAG figure of Rs. 1,70,000 crore notional loss is not correct. Also do not say that we have followed the same procedure, followed by NDA and hence we cannot be blamed for whatever wrong has happened. It is like saying that they were corrupt hence, we have a right to be corrupt. Accept the fact that there was a serious mistake and the Nation has lost crores of rupees, if not Rs. 1,70,000 crore and also tell the Nation that the Government will take action on all the people who are responsible for looting the Nation, right from Prime Minister to the junior-most Officer within a given time-frame. Having said that, take serious action on the people involved in it and show results within months as people have become impatient. The existing investigating agencies and the Government machinery has the capability to deal with the situation if there is a political will.
2. Also take action on all the issues raised by CAG – Common Wealth Games issue, Leasing of oil and gas blocks, Lease of aircraft by Air India, power sector scam, Adarsh Towers issue and many more issues brought out recently.
3. Do not make motherhood statements like the “Government is serious about corruption and intend to bring an independent authority like “Election Commission”. If the Government has any such plans, it should do it now, may be within a month and announce it today. It is not impossible to set-up any kind of system in less than a month’s time.
4. Do not try to malign the Anna team as not as honest as they appear to be. Anna team honesty is of no consequence to the corruption issue as they are not holding any Public Office and do not have access to public funds. It is like interfering in financial dealings of two friends. Even, if one of them has cheated the other, the Police and the Courts are there to deal with them and the Government has no business to interfere into that and even less important for a Party President to refer this issue in a public speech and try to divert the attention of the people. It is like almost saying that you are personally dishonest, therefore, we have a right to be corrupt and loot the Nation. The issue here is about corruption in public life not of character certificates of a few individuals, who do not hold any public Office.
5. Do not feel happy that Bihar Government has snubbed Anna team. Irrespective of the fact that the Bihar Government has passed a strong or a weak Lokpal bill, the Bihar Government reputation is far higher than that of Central Government. Bihar Government has acquired the illegally acquired property of an IAS Officer and converted that into a School for under-privileged children and initiating action on many more such properties. It has also made compulsory for all Ministers, MLAs and Officers to declare their property details within a given time-frame and achieved success on this issue. Why the same cannot be done by the Central Government? Why not Government make an announcement, that anyone who has not declared their property details, will not get the salary at the end of the month of a given month. Bihar has taken a number of measures in tackling corruption, hence people will be soft on Bihar Government, even if the Lokpal bill passed by Bihar Government is not as strong as that of Anna’s Lokpal bill. The same cannot be said about Central Government or some of the other State Governments.
6. Do not malign Anna Team as RSS members or a front of BJP or they are anti-congress. Instead, it is better if the issue raised by them is addressed, because finally, that is what matters.
7. Politicians should not go on a padayatra in the name of Corruption. Instead they should take action within the area which falls under them. In case of BJP, it is Karnataka and in case of Congress apart from Centre it is Maharashtra and Goa where scams have surfaced.
8. Do not blame the Courts for “increased judicial activism”. Realize the fact that the judiciary would not have interfered in the first place, had the political system taken appropriate action both on Governance issue and corruption issue.
9. Declare the names of all the people who are having black money abroad, at least those names which the Government is holding now. Do not take refuge under some imaginary law which bars declaring the names of people having black money accounts abroad. There is no law which can lead to a Minister’s or Government official’s arrest for declaring the names of Indians having black money accounts abroad. At best, it could be a violation of a privacy law of an individual which can be dealt with appropriately within the system as declaring names who hold black money gains priority over personal privacy as this serves national interest. The problem with the Government is, it takes great pains to defend the rights of the wrong doer, but fails to be fair to public at large, to whom it is accountable.
10. Do not blame or try to dilute the RTI. Statements like RTI is coming in the way of decision making does not hold good any longer. There is not even one case, where an Officer has taken a genuine decision which later on proved to be wrong and action was taken against him after the details were obtained through an RTI system. People are quite matured and can differentiate a decision taken with a vested interest and a decision taken in the interest of public which went wrong over a period of time. In fact, all the people who are making noise against the RTI are having a vested interest in keeping the information secret
The Government cannot take credit for the politicians, ex-bureaucrats, business men and black money holders, who are in the jail today. This has happened because of increased public awareness, CAG and the courts. There is not even a single case, where Government has taken action on its own without any pressure by any group and sends the culprit to jail. On the contrary, the Government has defended all the people who are highly corrupt – first the Common Wealth Games team was defended and the result was a very badly organized show. Later, the 2 G scam culprits were defended till the Neera Radia Tapes were out and public opinion turned against them. In the Hasan Ali case, the Government waited till such time, that he siphoned out all the black money from Swiss Bank account to some unknown place and initiated action only after repeated questioning by the Courts for “Action taken report”. In all these cases, the Government has behaved as if it is a party to the crime, hence lost people trust.
Now, if the Government has learnt any lessons, it should now initiate action on its own and book all the culprits, at least the major ones of all the scams, the one which have come to light and also the one which are yet to come to light and spread an image that the Government is not only a talker but also a doer. Then the effect of Anna’s Lokpal bill will come down. Otherwise, the movement has gone beyond the Lokpal bill and has spearheaded in bringing a number of people to become active players in the governance of the Nation. In the last six months, public involvement in civil administration like roads, civil amenities and public utilities has increased and are also taking active roles in selecting and electing public representatives like Corporators, Zilla Parishad members and other local bodies. The public are also demanding service from the elected members. Slowly, but steadily the movement is going beyond Anna. Is this not what Anna want? The Government has a last chance to take things under its control be taking the above mentioned actions. Is the Government listening?
If the Government or for that matter any political party wants to reduce the impact of Anna Hazare movement, they should do the following things:
1. Do not blame the CAG on the 2G scam report. Do not try to defend by saying that there is a zero loss to the nation and CAG figure of Rs. 1,70,000 crore notional loss is not correct. Also do not say that we have followed the same procedure, followed by NDA and hence we cannot be blamed for whatever wrong has happened. It is like saying that they were corrupt hence, we have a right to be corrupt. Accept the fact that there was a serious mistake and the Nation has lost crores of rupees, if not Rs. 1,70,000 crore and also tell the Nation that the Government will take action on all the people who are responsible for looting the Nation, right from Prime Minister to the junior-most Officer within a given time-frame. Having said that, take serious action on the people involved in it and show results within months as people have become impatient. The existing investigating agencies and the Government machinery has the capability to deal with the situation if there is a political will.
2. Also take action on all the issues raised by CAG – Common Wealth Games issue, Leasing of oil and gas blocks, Lease of aircraft by Air India, power sector scam, Adarsh Towers issue and many more issues brought out recently.
3. Do not make motherhood statements like the “Government is serious about corruption and intend to bring an independent authority like “Election Commission”. If the Government has any such plans, it should do it now, may be within a month and announce it today. It is not impossible to set-up any kind of system in less than a month’s time.
4. Do not try to malign the Anna team as not as honest as they appear to be. Anna team honesty is of no consequence to the corruption issue as they are not holding any Public Office and do not have access to public funds. It is like interfering in financial dealings of two friends. Even, if one of them has cheated the other, the Police and the Courts are there to deal with them and the Government has no business to interfere into that and even less important for a Party President to refer this issue in a public speech and try to divert the attention of the people. It is like almost saying that you are personally dishonest, therefore, we have a right to be corrupt and loot the Nation. The issue here is about corruption in public life not of character certificates of a few individuals, who do not hold any public Office.
5. Do not feel happy that Bihar Government has snubbed Anna team. Irrespective of the fact that the Bihar Government has passed a strong or a weak Lokpal bill, the Bihar Government reputation is far higher than that of Central Government. Bihar Government has acquired the illegally acquired property of an IAS Officer and converted that into a School for under-privileged children and initiating action on many more such properties. It has also made compulsory for all Ministers, MLAs and Officers to declare their property details within a given time-frame and achieved success on this issue. Why the same cannot be done by the Central Government? Why not Government make an announcement, that anyone who has not declared their property details, will not get the salary at the end of the month of a given month. Bihar has taken a number of measures in tackling corruption, hence people will be soft on Bihar Government, even if the Lokpal bill passed by Bihar Government is not as strong as that of Anna’s Lokpal bill. The same cannot be said about Central Government or some of the other State Governments.
6. Do not malign Anna Team as RSS members or a front of BJP or they are anti-congress. Instead, it is better if the issue raised by them is addressed, because finally, that is what matters.
7. Politicians should not go on a padayatra in the name of Corruption. Instead they should take action within the area which falls under them. In case of BJP, it is Karnataka and in case of Congress apart from Centre it is Maharashtra and Goa where scams have surfaced.
8. Do not blame the Courts for “increased judicial activism”. Realize the fact that the judiciary would not have interfered in the first place, had the political system taken appropriate action both on Governance issue and corruption issue.
9. Declare the names of all the people who are having black money abroad, at least those names which the Government is holding now. Do not take refuge under some imaginary law which bars declaring the names of people having black money accounts abroad. There is no law which can lead to a Minister’s or Government official’s arrest for declaring the names of Indians having black money accounts abroad. At best, it could be a violation of a privacy law of an individual which can be dealt with appropriately within the system as declaring names who hold black money gains priority over personal privacy as this serves national interest. The problem with the Government is, it takes great pains to defend the rights of the wrong doer, but fails to be fair to public at large, to whom it is accountable.
10. Do not blame or try to dilute the RTI. Statements like RTI is coming in the way of decision making does not hold good any longer. There is not even one case, where an Officer has taken a genuine decision which later on proved to be wrong and action was taken against him after the details were obtained through an RTI system. People are quite matured and can differentiate a decision taken with a vested interest and a decision taken in the interest of public which went wrong over a period of time. In fact, all the people who are making noise against the RTI are having a vested interest in keeping the information secret
The Government cannot take credit for the politicians, ex-bureaucrats, business men and black money holders, who are in the jail today. This has happened because of increased public awareness, CAG and the courts. There is not even a single case, where Government has taken action on its own without any pressure by any group and sends the culprit to jail. On the contrary, the Government has defended all the people who are highly corrupt – first the Common Wealth Games team was defended and the result was a very badly organized show. Later, the 2 G scam culprits were defended till the Neera Radia Tapes were out and public opinion turned against them. In the Hasan Ali case, the Government waited till such time, that he siphoned out all the black money from Swiss Bank account to some unknown place and initiated action only after repeated questioning by the Courts for “Action taken report”. In all these cases, the Government has behaved as if it is a party to the crime, hence lost people trust.
Now, if the Government has learnt any lessons, it should now initiate action on its own and book all the culprits, at least the major ones of all the scams, the one which have come to light and also the one which are yet to come to light and spread an image that the Government is not only a talker but also a doer. Then the effect of Anna’s Lokpal bill will come down. Otherwise, the movement has gone beyond the Lokpal bill and has spearheaded in bringing a number of people to become active players in the governance of the Nation. In the last six months, public involvement in civil administration like roads, civil amenities and public utilities has increased and are also taking active roles in selecting and electing public representatives like Corporators, Zilla Parishad members and other local bodies. The public are also demanding service from the elected members. Slowly, but steadily the movement is going beyond Anna. Is this not what Anna want? The Government has a last chance to take things under its control be taking the above mentioned actions. Is the Government listening?
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