PM should seek fresh public mandate: Advani
Nellore (AP), Aug 22 (ANI): Slamming the UPA government on the issue of corruption, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should seek a fresh public mandate.
"I would like to tell Manmohan Singh, the time has come for this government to quit voluntarily and go to the people and seek their support once again, seek a fresh mandate from the people, of really speaking, their mandate of 2009 has been exhausted," said Advani.
Advani further said the Congress party had falsely promised the public that they shall work for the welfare of the 'Aam Aadmi' or the common man, but have disappointed many.
Advani's comments come in the wake of anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare's nationwide campaign against corruption, which has witnessed unprecedented public support from all fronts.
The Jan Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill, the anti-graft legislation, is seen as a weapon to root out corruption and nepotism from the government machinery and in public life.
The proposed Bill envisages the set up of a national anti-corruption watchdog to check financial mismanagement and corrupt practices that have deeply pervaded several democratic and civic institutions of India. (ANI)
The above just proves what I have been saying.
The BJP is not interested in eradicating corruption.
It is just interested to take the benefit of Anna's agitation to hold fresh elections so that they can increase the strength.
Mr. Lal Krishna Advani, people have seen through the game.You have fooled them enough.
We do not want fresh elections.
We want your party to support Anna in getting his bill passed so that corruption is removed.
Join the other nine parties who have already pledged their support to Anna's bill otherwise you and your party will always be branded as corrupt, just like the congress.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
ANNA SHOULDN'T UNDERMINE DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS
NAC Member Aruna Roy says Gandhian is ill-advised.
The Aruna Roy-led National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) on Saturday described activist Anna Hazare's resolve to continue his fast till Parliament passed his version of the Lokpal Bill as "dangerous" and "undemocratic".
Affirming faith in the parliamentary process, NCPRI members said that while the government draft left much to be desired, significant changes could be made in the pending anti-graft legislation. Arguing that Anna Hazare should not deride democratic institutions, NAC member Aruna Roy said the Gandhian was" ill-advised" adding, "We must assert our rights. But to get rid of these institutions would be a great disaster for all the people in this country. We must make these democratic institutions work for us and they must work for us."
Roy said that NCPRI would take their version of the Lokpal bill and the accompanying basket of measures to the Standing Committee and the Hazare group should do the same.
In an apparent reference to Hazare setting a deadline to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill, she said, "I think Annaji is ill-advised.... anyone who says my view should be the only view is wrong."
Former Chief Justice of Delhi HC Justice A P Shah said that the deadline on Parliament was "dictatorial and undemocratic". He added, "What will happen to this country if every group starts insisting on passing their own laws ? It's a most unreasonable demand and I have doubts that they understand the implications of their demand."
Roy's colleague Shekhar Singh said that Hazare's was a "dangerous" statement. "If we have support of 1 or 2 lakh people we will take over the functions of the Parliament today...tomorrow it could be courts."
Another NAC member Harsh Mander said that it was the right of all people to be heard and no one could claim to represent all people.
On being asked about the NCPRI version of the Lokpal Bill, Hazare aide Prashant Bhushan said, "We have differences with Aruna Roy on two issues. We have recommended that all government servants should come under Lokpal but they suggest that there can be a separate body to look into the grievances against them."
The above is an article published in the TOI today, 21st August 2011.
The statements made by members of the NCPRI do contain some truth. A precedent has been set which will encourage a self-interested person or group of people or a section of the society to organise similar demonstrations in future to fulfill their demands, thus jeopardising the stability of the nation. As it is, the country has its hands full of sectarian groups ready to pounce on any frivolous issue. In the meantime, the BJP has taken advantage of the situation to stage a come-back.
It was foolhardy on the part of the UPA government in not taking the whole matter seriously. The Congress party failed to gauge the mind of the people, proving the beggarly condition of the party. It is rudderless, floating in Parliament, simply on numbers. The Congress will have to take full blame for anything that goes wrong in future.
Electoral Reforms
Two days ago some journalist asked Arvind Kejriwal what their next programme after this Lokpal Bill.
He remarked that it would be Rejection of candidates if none of them were found suitable and 2) recall of legislators if they did not perform satisfactorily.
These are very good topics and deserve to be taken up. However, I would suggest a thorough package of electoral reforms.
1)I would suggest using mobile voting. Mobiles have become ubiquitous and almost everyone has a mobile or two or even three in his hand. A record of one mobile per person should be kept with the election commission. During elections, all those registered mobile numbers should be activated to cast only one vote for MP elections and one vote for MLA elections. This could then be extended for corporation or municipal elections. We already have these voting in realty shows on TV, it should just be extended so that from one mobile, one can cast only one vote.In those areas which are outside the range of mobile towers, there can be EVMs or paper voting could be used.
2) Elections should be completely government funded. At present with private money the winners want to recover the expense incurred a thousand fold. This breeds corruption. It starts from the top and goes down to the lowest level. It would be better funding the election expenses than to bleed through the nose because of corruption. Further, good candidates who cannot now stand for elections because of expenses would be able to stand.Further, only serious candidates who have a chance of winning should be allowed to stand.If necessary we should have a pre-election where voters should be asked whether a candidate should be allowed to stand. Once we have the mobile set up this should be no problem. Only the top 4 candidates should be allowed to contest.
3) No person should be allowed to stand for more than one seat.Indira Gandhi, Lalu Yadav and a host of other prominent leaders were in the habit of doing so. It is a waste of national resources.
4)If any candidate dies during the course of elections, there should be no countermanding of elections. If the person is from a recognized political party, the party should appoint another person.If an independent candidate dies, the process should continue.
5)A person who has been convicted by any court for certain types of crime like extortion, robbery, dacoity, rape and attempt to rape, murder and attempt to murder, demanding dowry,kidnapping and corruption should not be allowed to contest for a minimum of 15 years after the conviction. Even if a person is out on bail, pending appeals in a higher court, he should not be allowed to contest until the appeal is disposed of.
6) Voters should be allowed to vote for 1st, 2nd and 3rd and 4th choice among the 4 candidates and also NONE, i.e rejection of all candidates if none of them are found to be acceptable.A candidate should be declared elected only on receiving more than 50 % of the cast votes.If in the first round of casting no one gets 50 %, the last candidate drops out and his 2nd preference votes are transferred to the other candidates.If still no one gets 50 % votes, the 3rd ranked candidate drops out and his 2nd preference votes are transferred to the other two candidates. If yet none of the candidates gets 50 % of the votes, a civil society appointed candidate is chosen.
7) Who is this civil society candidate?
Civil society will keep a bank of about 1000 good, educated candidates from all states in India chosen very transparently. In case of the above where nobody gets more than 50% of the votes or in case any elected candidate dies after the elections, the civil society candidate should fill the seat.India is a poor country and cannot afford regular elections, no matter what the cause.
8) In case parliament has to be dissolved mid-term because of horse trading, civil society candidates will fill the space and run parliament for the balance term of the parliament. Elections should be held only after completion of five years from the last election.
9) In case a candidate does not perform satisfactorily or has been found to have committed any of the crimes mentioned in (5), the electorate of that constituency can demand his recall through mobile voting. If 50 % of the votes polled demand his recall, he should lose his seat and a new candidate from the civil society bank should be appointed. There should be no re-election.
10) Once a voter is on the electoral rolls, his name cannot be deleted unless an SMS is sent to his mobile informing him who has requested his deletion and to file any objections to the deletion. Unless this process is carried out, nobody's name should be allowed to be deleted from the voters list.
I was on the voters list until a few years ago and I have a Voter ID card. Suddenly, without informing me, they removed my name, probably because of pressure of the CPM which was in power then. I have refused to go to the election commission to have my name included. They removed my name. It is their duty to include my name.I pay all my taxes, why should my name be deleted without asking me?
11)In situation like the present one, the mobile phones should be used to have referendum for topics which the MPs feel they know better than the people who elected them.If we had that in place now, the MPs claims would have been punctured by now.Hence provisions should be kept for holding referendum on important points.
He remarked that it would be Rejection of candidates if none of them were found suitable and 2) recall of legislators if they did not perform satisfactorily.
These are very good topics and deserve to be taken up. However, I would suggest a thorough package of electoral reforms.
1)I would suggest using mobile voting. Mobiles have become ubiquitous and almost everyone has a mobile or two or even three in his hand. A record of one mobile per person should be kept with the election commission. During elections, all those registered mobile numbers should be activated to cast only one vote for MP elections and one vote for MLA elections. This could then be extended for corporation or municipal elections. We already have these voting in realty shows on TV, it should just be extended so that from one mobile, one can cast only one vote.In those areas which are outside the range of mobile towers, there can be EVMs or paper voting could be used.
2) Elections should be completely government funded. At present with private money the winners want to recover the expense incurred a thousand fold. This breeds corruption. It starts from the top and goes down to the lowest level. It would be better funding the election expenses than to bleed through the nose because of corruption. Further, good candidates who cannot now stand for elections because of expenses would be able to stand.Further, only serious candidates who have a chance of winning should be allowed to stand.If necessary we should have a pre-election where voters should be asked whether a candidate should be allowed to stand. Once we have the mobile set up this should be no problem. Only the top 4 candidates should be allowed to contest.
3) No person should be allowed to stand for more than one seat.Indira Gandhi, Lalu Yadav and a host of other prominent leaders were in the habit of doing so. It is a waste of national resources.
4)If any candidate dies during the course of elections, there should be no countermanding of elections. If the person is from a recognized political party, the party should appoint another person.If an independent candidate dies, the process should continue.
5)A person who has been convicted by any court for certain types of crime like extortion, robbery, dacoity, rape and attempt to rape, murder and attempt to murder, demanding dowry,kidnapping and corruption should not be allowed to contest for a minimum of 15 years after the conviction. Even if a person is out on bail, pending appeals in a higher court, he should not be allowed to contest until the appeal is disposed of.
6) Voters should be allowed to vote for 1st, 2nd and 3rd and 4th choice among the 4 candidates and also NONE, i.e rejection of all candidates if none of them are found to be acceptable.A candidate should be declared elected only on receiving more than 50 % of the cast votes.If in the first round of casting no one gets 50 %, the last candidate drops out and his 2nd preference votes are transferred to the other candidates.If still no one gets 50 % votes, the 3rd ranked candidate drops out and his 2nd preference votes are transferred to the other two candidates. If yet none of the candidates gets 50 % of the votes, a civil society appointed candidate is chosen.
7) Who is this civil society candidate?
Civil society will keep a bank of about 1000 good, educated candidates from all states in India chosen very transparently. In case of the above where nobody gets more than 50% of the votes or in case any elected candidate dies after the elections, the civil society candidate should fill the seat.India is a poor country and cannot afford regular elections, no matter what the cause.
8) In case parliament has to be dissolved mid-term because of horse trading, civil society candidates will fill the space and run parliament for the balance term of the parliament. Elections should be held only after completion of five years from the last election.
9) In case a candidate does not perform satisfactorily or has been found to have committed any of the crimes mentioned in (5), the electorate of that constituency can demand his recall through mobile voting. If 50 % of the votes polled demand his recall, he should lose his seat and a new candidate from the civil society bank should be appointed. There should be no re-election.
10) Once a voter is on the electoral rolls, his name cannot be deleted unless an SMS is sent to his mobile informing him who has requested his deletion and to file any objections to the deletion. Unless this process is carried out, nobody's name should be allowed to be deleted from the voters list.
I was on the voters list until a few years ago and I have a Voter ID card. Suddenly, without informing me, they removed my name, probably because of pressure of the CPM which was in power then. I have refused to go to the election commission to have my name included. They removed my name. It is their duty to include my name.I pay all my taxes, why should my name be deleted without asking me?
11)In situation like the present one, the mobile phones should be used to have referendum for topics which the MPs feel they know better than the people who elected them.If we had that in place now, the MPs claims would have been punctured by now.Hence provisions should be kept for holding referendum on important points.
I am the Middle Class
Recently the media and politicians have been saying derisively that this agitation of Anna Hazare is being led by the middle class.
Who is the middle class?
I am middle class if
I work in the government and am not in a position where I get good bribes
I work in the private sector and am not in the upper management.
I work in the non-organised sector, no matter in what post
I run a small shop
I earn just enough to manage my household expenses.
I do not own a house or flat or have to take a loan to buy a flat.
I own a house but have to keep tenants to run my life.
I have to take a loan to put my children through professional education.
I have to take a loan to get my daughter married.
I can't afford a car and have to take a loan to buy one.
I can just afford a two wheeler
I have to take public transport to office.
I can't afford a holiday to any of the hill stations or sea side resort.
I can't afford treatment at a private hospital without health insurance.
The middle class has always been at the receiving end of all the atrocities of the government.
Government employees are covered by DA where any inflation is taken care of in their salaries. Further, every five years, their salaries increase through wage commission awards. Where do the others go.? They are the most affected by corruption. And yet government employees are the most corrupt. They are not satisfied with their salaries.
The big industrialist can pass on any inflation increase to us and we have to bear it.
We cannot go out half naked like the adivasis and the BPL people because we have our own middle class mentality of keeping outward dignity intact.
We have been bearing all these insults silently all these years, waiting for a Masiha who could deliver us from these corrupt politicians. We have found such a person in Anna and have to support him.
We have no choice for if we miss this chance we may not get it for another 100 years.
Who is the middle class?
I am middle class if
I work in the government and am not in a position where I get good bribes
I work in the private sector and am not in the upper management.
I work in the non-organised sector, no matter in what post
I run a small shop
I earn just enough to manage my household expenses.
I do not own a house or flat or have to take a loan to buy a flat.
I own a house but have to keep tenants to run my life.
I have to take a loan to put my children through professional education.
I have to take a loan to get my daughter married.
I can't afford a car and have to take a loan to buy one.
I can just afford a two wheeler
I have to take public transport to office.
I can't afford a holiday to any of the hill stations or sea side resort.
I can't afford treatment at a private hospital without health insurance.
The middle class has always been at the receiving end of all the atrocities of the government.
Government employees are covered by DA where any inflation is taken care of in their salaries. Further, every five years, their salaries increase through wage commission awards. Where do the others go.? They are the most affected by corruption. And yet government employees are the most corrupt. They are not satisfied with their salaries.
The big industrialist can pass on any inflation increase to us and we have to bear it.
We cannot go out half naked like the adivasis and the BPL people because we have our own middle class mentality of keeping outward dignity intact.
We have been bearing all these insults silently all these years, waiting for a Masiha who could deliver us from these corrupt politicians. We have found such a person in Anna and have to support him.
We have no choice for if we miss this chance we may not get it for another 100 years.
Corruption in the 5 wings of GOI
THE FINE BALANCE
It only needed an issue like the impeachment of a judge to bring discontents out into the open. But the context should not detract from the arguments of Arun Jaitley of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), both of whom were vocal in their criticism of the way judges are appointed. They were ultimately speaking up for balance, since their main demand was that the executive play a greater role in judges’ appointments. The dominance of the higher judiciary in the appointment of judges has long been the cause of simmering discomfort between the executive and the judiciary. The promise to form a national judicial commission has been equally long-standing, coming from different leaders at different times, generating debate, discussion and high-minded piety, without it ever coming to pass. The commission is envisaged as a broad-based panel comprising members of the higher judiciary and of the executive, and eminent citizens, that would include, among its other duties, that of appointing judges. The proposal has repeatedly tripped on the inescapable, if unspoken, issue of power. Whose word would be final, the executive members’ or the judiciary’s? Or even, who can veto whom?
In this less than dignified see-saw of points of view, the judiciary holds up the bogey of the politicization of judges’ appointments as its defence against sharing the power to appoint judges with the executive and other non-judicial individuals. As is being repeatedly demonstrated, however, internal checks and balances that the judiciary claims are good enough are not adequate for balance and fail in providing transparency. That is the point of view presented by Messrs Jaitley and Yechury. It is a pity that this should be perceived as a disagreement at all. The judiciary in its wisdom may also see that transparent systems, whether of appointment or of promotion and transfer, would increase its stature and defeat its critics. This is particularly important at a time when the courts have been seen as activist, tending to overstep the bounds set by the overall threefold structure of the democracy, consisting of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
Judges may come to their seats through various routes. In the United States of America, for example, federal judges are appointed in accordance with Article III of the constitution. That is, the US president appoints them and this is endorsed by the Senate. This is what would be perceived in India as a purely political appointment. In Britain, the system of appointment by the queen on the advice of the prime minister and the chancellor has recently been changed to one of open competition through the judicial appointments commission. This reform has clearly been made in the search for a middle way, for the sake of transparency and fairness. India, too, must find its own way to the same principles, even if the form of the national judicial commission is not considered ideal. There could be no better way to end charges of vested interests and opaqueness than a transparent system of appointment
MPs are pointing fingers at the judiciary but failing to note their own failings.
The judiciary has performed much much better than parliament.
Why don't the MPs first set their own house better instead of finding faults in the judiciary.
Why don't they see that the MPs who get selected for parliament are scrupulously honest. At present 60 % of MPs and MLA have corruption charges against them.
There are extortionists, dacoits, smugglers, rapist, murderers amongst them and yet they have the audacity to point fingers at the judiciary.
Just as the MPs are demanding to have a say in the selection of judges, would they allow scrutiny by the judiciary of all the persons who stand for elections? Then how do criminals become MPs. And do they allow scrutiny of all the persons who become ministers. This is a serious topic and should be further looked into so that criminals do not become our legislators.
There are five wings of the government.
Although the Executive should be on top, this list has been made in increasing order of corruption hence since it is the most corrupt, it is at the bottom.
1.The CAG
2.The Election commission
3.The judiciary
4.The Army
5.The executive
The CAG has been consistently performing very well since independence and actually points to the corruption existing in the executive's processes.
The Election Commission was once a dormant force which did not know its power. It was only T N Seshan who made them realize what power they had and ever since then they have been gaining strength and performing better with each successive election. This time the way they carried out the Tamil nadu, West Bebgal and Bihar elections was really creditable.
The Judiciary has many faults. It starts with the lowest courts of the land where when the file goes before the magistrate, the petitioner has to grease the palm of the court clerk also called the Peshkar.Don't the Peshkar get a salary from the government? Why do the petitioner have to pay him. This money, collected by the Peshkar is them distributed and I can safely assume that the magistrate or lower court judge gets a share. As we go higher, the amounts increase. So the judges cannot claim immunity.
The function of the army was never scrutinized. We respected it for they sacrificed their lives to protect us. However, we have not had a war for many years and when we tried to reward the heroes of the last Kargil war we see a full-scale scam developed with the connivance of politicians and bureaucrats, The Adarsh Scam. One scam after another has come to light, The canteen supply scam, the Sukna Land Scam are a few names. When the executives have looted, how could the army be free?
The Executive.
This is the government both at the centre and at the sate levels. I don't think I need to elaborate on this. It is for everyone to see and which is the foundation of Anna's agitation.
You will see that only #1 and # 2 are comparatively free of corruption. We are obliged to the CAG for exposing all the corrupt actions of the government.
# 3,4 and 5 are in the increasing order of corruption.
It only needed an issue like the impeachment of a judge to bring discontents out into the open. But the context should not detract from the arguments of Arun Jaitley of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), both of whom were vocal in their criticism of the way judges are appointed. They were ultimately speaking up for balance, since their main demand was that the executive play a greater role in judges’ appointments. The dominance of the higher judiciary in the appointment of judges has long been the cause of simmering discomfort between the executive and the judiciary. The promise to form a national judicial commission has been equally long-standing, coming from different leaders at different times, generating debate, discussion and high-minded piety, without it ever coming to pass. The commission is envisaged as a broad-based panel comprising members of the higher judiciary and of the executive, and eminent citizens, that would include, among its other duties, that of appointing judges. The proposal has repeatedly tripped on the inescapable, if unspoken, issue of power. Whose word would be final, the executive members’ or the judiciary’s? Or even, who can veto whom?
In this less than dignified see-saw of points of view, the judiciary holds up the bogey of the politicization of judges’ appointments as its defence against sharing the power to appoint judges with the executive and other non-judicial individuals. As is being repeatedly demonstrated, however, internal checks and balances that the judiciary claims are good enough are not adequate for balance and fail in providing transparency. That is the point of view presented by Messrs Jaitley and Yechury. It is a pity that this should be perceived as a disagreement at all. The judiciary in its wisdom may also see that transparent systems, whether of appointment or of promotion and transfer, would increase its stature and defeat its critics. This is particularly important at a time when the courts have been seen as activist, tending to overstep the bounds set by the overall threefold structure of the democracy, consisting of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
Judges may come to their seats through various routes. In the United States of America, for example, federal judges are appointed in accordance with Article III of the constitution. That is, the US president appoints them and this is endorsed by the Senate. This is what would be perceived in India as a purely political appointment. In Britain, the system of appointment by the queen on the advice of the prime minister and the chancellor has recently been changed to one of open competition through the judicial appointments commission. This reform has clearly been made in the search for a middle way, for the sake of transparency and fairness. India, too, must find its own way to the same principles, even if the form of the national judicial commission is not considered ideal. There could be no better way to end charges of vested interests and opaqueness than a transparent system of appointment
MPs are pointing fingers at the judiciary but failing to note their own failings.
The judiciary has performed much much better than parliament.
Why don't the MPs first set their own house better instead of finding faults in the judiciary.
Why don't they see that the MPs who get selected for parliament are scrupulously honest. At present 60 % of MPs and MLA have corruption charges against them.
There are extortionists, dacoits, smugglers, rapist, murderers amongst them and yet they have the audacity to point fingers at the judiciary.
Just as the MPs are demanding to have a say in the selection of judges, would they allow scrutiny by the judiciary of all the persons who stand for elections? Then how do criminals become MPs. And do they allow scrutiny of all the persons who become ministers. This is a serious topic and should be further looked into so that criminals do not become our legislators.
There are five wings of the government.
Although the Executive should be on top, this list has been made in increasing order of corruption hence since it is the most corrupt, it is at the bottom.
1.The CAG
2.The Election commission
3.The judiciary
4.The Army
5.The executive
The CAG has been consistently performing very well since independence and actually points to the corruption existing in the executive's processes.
The Election Commission was once a dormant force which did not know its power. It was only T N Seshan who made them realize what power they had and ever since then they have been gaining strength and performing better with each successive election. This time the way they carried out the Tamil nadu, West Bebgal and Bihar elections was really creditable.
The Judiciary has many faults. It starts with the lowest courts of the land where when the file goes before the magistrate, the petitioner has to grease the palm of the court clerk also called the Peshkar.Don't the Peshkar get a salary from the government? Why do the petitioner have to pay him. This money, collected by the Peshkar is them distributed and I can safely assume that the magistrate or lower court judge gets a share. As we go higher, the amounts increase. So the judges cannot claim immunity.
The function of the army was never scrutinized. We respected it for they sacrificed their lives to protect us. However, we have not had a war for many years and when we tried to reward the heroes of the last Kargil war we see a full-scale scam developed with the connivance of politicians and bureaucrats, The Adarsh Scam. One scam after another has come to light, The canteen supply scam, the Sukna Land Scam are a few names. When the executives have looted, how could the army be free?
The Executive.
This is the government both at the centre and at the sate levels. I don't think I need to elaborate on this. It is for everyone to see and which is the foundation of Anna's agitation.
You will see that only #1 and # 2 are comparatively free of corruption. We are obliged to the CAG for exposing all the corrupt actions of the government.
# 3,4 and 5 are in the increasing order of corruption.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
A counter view
I am not Anna Hazare
Samar Halarnkar, Hindustan Times
August 17, 2011
Outside a Sufi shrine on a ramshackle south Mumbai street, a large poster above the main door flaps in the monsoon wind. “The one who gives or takes bribe is liable for hell,” it says, quoting verse 786/92 from the Islamic scriptures called Hadees Sharieff. “Viva! Viva! Viva! A 101 gun salute to Young India,” goes an enthusiastic tweet from Lt Gen HS Panag, a former Indian Army commander, living in Chandigarh.
If there were questions about the affiliations of the anti-corruption movement started by Kisan Baburao Hazare, or “Anna (elder brother)” as we know him, they were overlooked by most doubters after his clumsy arrest.
To first vilify and then incarcerate, a few hours after Independence Day, a frail, peaceable 74-year-old anti-corruption crusader in Tihar, a jail that symbolises the end of the road for the corrupt leaders, the rapist and the terrorist is to be beyond foolish.
The latest avatar of Anna’s six-month-old movement transcends class, religion and profession, and it is purer than before, as Mumbai’s BJP chief Raj Purohit found on Tuesday when he and his cohorts, waving party flags, were heckled into leaving.
So, they gather, traders, mothers and clerks, lighting candles at India Gate in New Delhi, as their grandfathers and grandmothers did 64 years ago to watch their nation awake to light and freedom.
So, they gather at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, where once millions gathered to push India towards that freedom, Hindu and Muslim shopkeepers and college youth in jeans and Gandhi topis that say in Marathi and English, “I am Anna Hazare”.
So they gather at Freedom Park in Bangalore, quickly stepping out during lunch breaks at their technology companies, to join what Hazare calls the “second freedom movement”. It is hard not be swept up in the euphoria of the democratic moment.
But let me tell you why I will not wear a Gandhi topi, light a candle, or join the “second freedom movement”. Let me tell you why I do not want be Anna Hazare.
First, I find it hard to associate with the extreme passions at the core of this movement, a Bill to create a powerful anti-corruption ombudsman.
Hazare’s edition of the proposed law, the Jan Lokpal Bill, the people’s version, has flaws and those who support it blindly must recognise them. There are contentious issues, too many to mention here, including fuzzy definitions, inadequate separation of judicial and police powers, and possible prosecution of bribe givers.
These can be resolved, but there cannot be an our-way-or-no-way approach to negotiations.
Second, while the government was idiotic in accusing Hazare of “being steeped in corruption from head to toe” and autocratic in its actions against peaceful protestors, there is nothing to suggest a new Emergency is at hand.
This is a protest, not a revolution. I sense a lack of emotional proportion and a troubling hypocrisy from a middle class that refuses to get as moved to action by graver things, such as the murder of female children, child labour in homes, hotels and factories, or poverty outside our car windows.
There is excitable talk now of the constitutional right to protest, but this is not something we like to give to Kashmiris, or bother too much when it is snatched from tribals or others on the margins of middle-India’s imagination.
Have we ever stood by Irom Sharmila Devi, the Manipuri woman who has been on a hospital bed for a decade, force fed through tubes because she is on a hunger strike to have a draconian security law removed?
Third, the lokpal could be a useful institution, but as Karnataka’s Lokayukta is demonstrating, existing institutions only need strengthening. In the brouhaha over Hazare, it has largely escaped national attention that former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has now sought anticipatory bail after cases of corruption were registered against him.
A lokpal is no panacea for reforms and governance.
“Anna Hazare says bring back the black money. Do u know what will happen if (R) 1,456 lakh crore comes back?” asks one popular sms. India will “financially” be “number one”.
Each village, we are told, will get R100 crore; there will be no need to pay electricity bills or taxes for the next 20 years; petrol will cost R25, milk R8; India’s borders “will become more stronger (sic) than the China Wall”; we can build 28,000 km of “rubber road (like in Paris)”; houses for 100 million people; 1,500 “Oxford-like universities”; 2,000 free hospitals.
It is a mistake to deride such dreams, as the Congress’ smug, condescending, vitriol-spewing functionaries have been doing. The email, text and other messages that have gone viral across large swathes of urban India represent a nation’s daily frustrations, unfulfilled aspirations, stalled reforms and shoddy governance.
They represent all the things that exhaust those of us who — unlike the Congress’s arrogant, loose-talking ministers and the power elite — cannot jump lines or buy our way out of: rising prices, woeful transport, education and health facilities. They represent all that India desperately wants — and wants now.
It is clear that India’s rise over the last 20 years has been despite the government, not because of it. Only now, after the reforms of 1991, are we seeing some urgency.
Awaiting a stalled Parliament are 35 pending bills, 32 new bills and discussions on blockbuster reforms, including the Goods and Services Tax, the Direct Tax Code, the Land Acquisition Bill, and yes, the Lokpal Bill. Anna will be free soon.
He will continue to focus attention on what he must, but India has much, much more to discuss
I was sent the above by Anik Basu to represent a counter point to why I support Anna.
This blog was started because news papers published whatever they wanted according to the editorial policy of the owners. We all know that the Hindusthan Times is run by the Birlas who always support the party in power.
The Telegraph supports the Congress party.
By far, I have found the Times of India is more balanced in its views.
My favourite paper was always "The Statesman" which I started reading in class VIII in school, thanks to Mr. Lobo, who inculcated the habit in us by bringing the paper to our class. Unfortunately, criticism of Indira Gandhi during the emergency and its high principal of giving news only and not creating news and also not printing nude pictures of women on its back pages which was demanded by the masses, took its toll. It gradually reduced its pages and is now past its glory.
I suppose I am politically conscious because of that habit although I do not support any political party. My support or criticism is always issue based.
When a person uses "cohorts" and "Raj Purohits"in his article, it shows he is completely against one party and favouring another no matter how he wants to appear balanced by first criticising his favourite party.The words used are in bad taste.
If the BJP supports any issue does it make it unsupportable by the rest of India. Does not the BJP belong to India? Are they not affected by corruption. Note there is a difference between the BJP MPs and the people who may be supporting the BJP. The MPs do not support Anna although they would like to take the benefit of Anna's movement by dislodging the congress. But the BJP workers support Anna. Hence the BJP MPs are as far removed from its support base as the congress is from its people.The BJP and all other MPs have all participated in the loot of the nation so I do not expect any of the MPs to support Anna Hazare.
He speaks of being idiotic in accusing Hazare of “being steeped in corruption from head to toe”
It was not an idiotic. It was a calculated very move just as they have been using theCBI and Enforcement Directorate to defame Swami Ramdeo. Just as they are using the CBI to harass Jagan because he has dared to go against the party. It is the habit of the party in power at the centre to harass people who may go against it. The Congress does it, the BJP does it. That is why they want to retain control of the CBI and other investigation agencies. and which Anna wants to remove from their power so that they can truly work independently without government interference.
The author has objections to "children lighting candles at India gate like their grandfathers". He however misses the point that even the grandfathers are lighting the candles now as they did 64 years ago.
He says "there was nothing to suggest a new emergency was at hand." However, the governments action in arresting Swami Ramdeo at 1.00 am and breaking up a peaceful gathering using lathicharge, tear gas shells and burning the tents was nothing short of Emergency behaviour. The veiled threat of the PM in his Independence Day speech warned Anna that he behave or he would receive the same treatment.His arrest at 7.00 from his flat, before he could set out had set in motion of the government carrying out its threat.The government took him first to the police hostel and then to Tihar Jail to keep company with Suresh Kalamadi and A. Raja.What an irony? Accuser and accused in the same jail
What the government did not bargain for was the strong reaction from the people who took to the streets.
He says "This is a protest, not a revolution. I sense a lack of emotional proportion and a troubling hypocrisy from a middle class that refuses to get as moved to action by graver things, such as the murder of female children, child labour in homes, hotels and factories, or poverty outside our car windows."
He, like the government, are mixing up the forest for just a few trees. They are failing to see it is a revolution and so taking a very casual view of it.A protest occurs only in one or two place, not the whole of India. Old, young and the children, all castes, all religion, all professions,all sex, male, female and neutre, all states, all language speaking people are participating. And yet he calls it a protest. He mentions a few other things which should be bothering them but for which they are not agitating. He forgets that those very things are because of corruption. Poverty, tribal problems, beggar outside you car window, these are all the result of corruption Wealth is being concentrated in a few hands with the result others remain poor.
He wants to compare this agitation with the right of Kashmiris.The Kashmiris are protesting to leave India because they are muslims and are being instigated by Pakistan. You cannot compare their agitation with the agitation of a nationalist like Anna who loves is country. And yet the author compares, shows the bankruptcy of his arguments.
He again compares Irom Sharmila Devi, the Manipuri woman's, agitation with this revolution.This is again against the context.If Manipur is in India, everything has to be done to protect the integrity of India.With China breathing down our necks, we cannot allow the north-eastern states and Kashmir unfettered freedom to do what they want.
I agree with him regarding the Lokayuka in Karnataka. But does he not know how difficult it has been to remove Yedurappa or has he forgotten. Even after removing him he retains power because his replacement is beholden to him. Gujarat has not been able to appoint a Lokayukta for the last 10 years, for whatever reasons. Each party is trying to gets its own appointed candidte selected. so that the Lokayukta will favour it. The Karnataka Lokayukta is an exception because unfortunatley for Yedurappa, he happened to be Justice Santosh Hegde, who could not be influenced.
I agree with the author that the 1450 lakh crore black money lying in foreign banks cannot be brought back because the government has signed a "Prevention of Double Taxation" agreement in May 2011.One part of the agreement says that the Swiss authorities will not have to disclose anything regarding money deposited in Switzerland, prior to May 2011.So all Indians and the Supreme Court can forget all the previous money which was stashed away in the Swiss and other banks. The government at one stroke written of that amount.
So all the politicians, bureaucrats, industrialists and film stars can live "Happily Ever After", nobody will chase them for their ill gotten wealth.
In conclusion I would request everyone who reads this blog to watch the go to the site given below, watch the clip and let me know whether you want an end to corruption
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1714109831035&comments
I had sent my rebuttal to Samar who had written the above article.I have given below his letter to me and my reply
Radheshyam sharma,
I do not write according to the diktats of my newspaper's owners. Never have. Never will. Oi know this is hard for you to believe but integrity is something you do not seem familiar with.
Whether Congress or BJP, I see little difference in these parties. Both harbour corrupt people and have done nothing to stop it.
You are obviously a blind BJP supporter so it is futile to get you to argue rationally; I see you have freely twisted what I have said.
Still, if you are politically aware, as you claim to be, you should know that your party in the past tried to put Anna in jail and Prashant Bhushan whom they now praise, was derided by your party as a Maoist and traitor. Pretty laughable.
As for your dismissal of those unlike you, manipuris and Kashmiris, as being unworthy of freedom, all I can say is people like you will destroy this country in trying to make it a Hindu Pakistan
Don't bother to respond. I won't be reading it.
Best Regards,
Samar
Samar,
I don't care whether you read my rebuttal but I have said in my mail I am a supporter of no political party and I have also criticised the BJP as well as the Congress.
I would rather say that your blinkered vision does not allow you to see any further than the congress although you claim to present a balanced view.
If anyone does not support the congress you start thinking that the BJP is behind it like earlier the CPM used to think the CIA was behind every mischief which befell India.
Anna Says no political party is supporting him and today only some nine parties have decided to support him.
The BJP is not one of them.
And yet you see the hand of the BJP.
I feel sorry for your biased vision.
Best regards
Radheshyam Sharma
Samar Halarnkar, Hindustan Times
August 17, 2011
Outside a Sufi shrine on a ramshackle south Mumbai street, a large poster above the main door flaps in the monsoon wind. “The one who gives or takes bribe is liable for hell,” it says, quoting verse 786/92 from the Islamic scriptures called Hadees Sharieff. “Viva! Viva! Viva! A 101 gun salute to Young India,” goes an enthusiastic tweet from Lt Gen HS Panag, a former Indian Army commander, living in Chandigarh.
If there were questions about the affiliations of the anti-corruption movement started by Kisan Baburao Hazare, or “Anna (elder brother)” as we know him, they were overlooked by most doubters after his clumsy arrest.
To first vilify and then incarcerate, a few hours after Independence Day, a frail, peaceable 74-year-old anti-corruption crusader in Tihar, a jail that symbolises the end of the road for the corrupt leaders, the rapist and the terrorist is to be beyond foolish.
The latest avatar of Anna’s six-month-old movement transcends class, religion and profession, and it is purer than before, as Mumbai’s BJP chief Raj Purohit found on Tuesday when he and his cohorts, waving party flags, were heckled into leaving.
So, they gather, traders, mothers and clerks, lighting candles at India Gate in New Delhi, as their grandfathers and grandmothers did 64 years ago to watch their nation awake to light and freedom.
So, they gather at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, where once millions gathered to push India towards that freedom, Hindu and Muslim shopkeepers and college youth in jeans and Gandhi topis that say in Marathi and English, “I am Anna Hazare”.
So they gather at Freedom Park in Bangalore, quickly stepping out during lunch breaks at their technology companies, to join what Hazare calls the “second freedom movement”. It is hard not be swept up in the euphoria of the democratic moment.
But let me tell you why I will not wear a Gandhi topi, light a candle, or join the “second freedom movement”. Let me tell you why I do not want be Anna Hazare.
First, I find it hard to associate with the extreme passions at the core of this movement, a Bill to create a powerful anti-corruption ombudsman.
Hazare’s edition of the proposed law, the Jan Lokpal Bill, the people’s version, has flaws and those who support it blindly must recognise them. There are contentious issues, too many to mention here, including fuzzy definitions, inadequate separation of judicial and police powers, and possible prosecution of bribe givers.
These can be resolved, but there cannot be an our-way-or-no-way approach to negotiations.
Second, while the government was idiotic in accusing Hazare of “being steeped in corruption from head to toe” and autocratic in its actions against peaceful protestors, there is nothing to suggest a new Emergency is at hand.
This is a protest, not a revolution. I sense a lack of emotional proportion and a troubling hypocrisy from a middle class that refuses to get as moved to action by graver things, such as the murder of female children, child labour in homes, hotels and factories, or poverty outside our car windows.
There is excitable talk now of the constitutional right to protest, but this is not something we like to give to Kashmiris, or bother too much when it is snatched from tribals or others on the margins of middle-India’s imagination.
Have we ever stood by Irom Sharmila Devi, the Manipuri woman who has been on a hospital bed for a decade, force fed through tubes because she is on a hunger strike to have a draconian security law removed?
Third, the lokpal could be a useful institution, but as Karnataka’s Lokayukta is demonstrating, existing institutions only need strengthening. In the brouhaha over Hazare, it has largely escaped national attention that former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has now sought anticipatory bail after cases of corruption were registered against him.
A lokpal is no panacea for reforms and governance.
“Anna Hazare says bring back the black money. Do u know what will happen if (R) 1,456 lakh crore comes back?” asks one popular sms. India will “financially” be “number one”.
Each village, we are told, will get R100 crore; there will be no need to pay electricity bills or taxes for the next 20 years; petrol will cost R25, milk R8; India’s borders “will become more stronger (sic) than the China Wall”; we can build 28,000 km of “rubber road (like in Paris)”; houses for 100 million people; 1,500 “Oxford-like universities”; 2,000 free hospitals.
It is a mistake to deride such dreams, as the Congress’ smug, condescending, vitriol-spewing functionaries have been doing. The email, text and other messages that have gone viral across large swathes of urban India represent a nation’s daily frustrations, unfulfilled aspirations, stalled reforms and shoddy governance.
They represent all the things that exhaust those of us who — unlike the Congress’s arrogant, loose-talking ministers and the power elite — cannot jump lines or buy our way out of: rising prices, woeful transport, education and health facilities. They represent all that India desperately wants — and wants now.
It is clear that India’s rise over the last 20 years has been despite the government, not because of it. Only now, after the reforms of 1991, are we seeing some urgency.
Awaiting a stalled Parliament are 35 pending bills, 32 new bills and discussions on blockbuster reforms, including the Goods and Services Tax, the Direct Tax Code, the Land Acquisition Bill, and yes, the Lokpal Bill. Anna will be free soon.
He will continue to focus attention on what he must, but India has much, much more to discuss
I was sent the above by Anik Basu to represent a counter point to why I support Anna.
This blog was started because news papers published whatever they wanted according to the editorial policy of the owners. We all know that the Hindusthan Times is run by the Birlas who always support the party in power.
The Telegraph supports the Congress party.
By far, I have found the Times of India is more balanced in its views.
My favourite paper was always "The Statesman" which I started reading in class VIII in school, thanks to Mr. Lobo, who inculcated the habit in us by bringing the paper to our class. Unfortunately, criticism of Indira Gandhi during the emergency and its high principal of giving news only and not creating news and also not printing nude pictures of women on its back pages which was demanded by the masses, took its toll. It gradually reduced its pages and is now past its glory.
I suppose I am politically conscious because of that habit although I do not support any political party. My support or criticism is always issue based.
When a person uses "cohorts" and "Raj Purohits"in his article, it shows he is completely against one party and favouring another no matter how he wants to appear balanced by first criticising his favourite party.The words used are in bad taste.
If the BJP supports any issue does it make it unsupportable by the rest of India. Does not the BJP belong to India? Are they not affected by corruption. Note there is a difference between the BJP MPs and the people who may be supporting the BJP. The MPs do not support Anna although they would like to take the benefit of Anna's movement by dislodging the congress. But the BJP workers support Anna. Hence the BJP MPs are as far removed from its support base as the congress is from its people.The BJP and all other MPs have all participated in the loot of the nation so I do not expect any of the MPs to support Anna Hazare.
He speaks of being idiotic in accusing Hazare of “being steeped in corruption from head to toe”
It was not an idiotic. It was a calculated very move just as they have been using theCBI and Enforcement Directorate to defame Swami Ramdeo. Just as they are using the CBI to harass Jagan because he has dared to go against the party. It is the habit of the party in power at the centre to harass people who may go against it. The Congress does it, the BJP does it. That is why they want to retain control of the CBI and other investigation agencies. and which Anna wants to remove from their power so that they can truly work independently without government interference.
The author has objections to "children lighting candles at India gate like their grandfathers". He however misses the point that even the grandfathers are lighting the candles now as they did 64 years ago.
He says "there was nothing to suggest a new emergency was at hand." However, the governments action in arresting Swami Ramdeo at 1.00 am and breaking up a peaceful gathering using lathicharge, tear gas shells and burning the tents was nothing short of Emergency behaviour. The veiled threat of the PM in his Independence Day speech warned Anna that he behave or he would receive the same treatment.His arrest at 7.00 from his flat, before he could set out had set in motion of the government carrying out its threat.The government took him first to the police hostel and then to Tihar Jail to keep company with Suresh Kalamadi and A. Raja.What an irony? Accuser and accused in the same jail
What the government did not bargain for was the strong reaction from the people who took to the streets.
He says "This is a protest, not a revolution. I sense a lack of emotional proportion and a troubling hypocrisy from a middle class that refuses to get as moved to action by graver things, such as the murder of female children, child labour in homes, hotels and factories, or poverty outside our car windows."
He, like the government, are mixing up the forest for just a few trees. They are failing to see it is a revolution and so taking a very casual view of it.A protest occurs only in one or two place, not the whole of India. Old, young and the children, all castes, all religion, all professions,all sex, male, female and neutre, all states, all language speaking people are participating. And yet he calls it a protest. He mentions a few other things which should be bothering them but for which they are not agitating. He forgets that those very things are because of corruption. Poverty, tribal problems, beggar outside you car window, these are all the result of corruption Wealth is being concentrated in a few hands with the result others remain poor.
He wants to compare this agitation with the right of Kashmiris.The Kashmiris are protesting to leave India because they are muslims and are being instigated by Pakistan. You cannot compare their agitation with the agitation of a nationalist like Anna who loves is country. And yet the author compares, shows the bankruptcy of his arguments.
He again compares Irom Sharmila Devi, the Manipuri woman's, agitation with this revolution.This is again against the context.If Manipur is in India, everything has to be done to protect the integrity of India.With China breathing down our necks, we cannot allow the north-eastern states and Kashmir unfettered freedom to do what they want.
I agree with him regarding the Lokayuka in Karnataka. But does he not know how difficult it has been to remove Yedurappa or has he forgotten. Even after removing him he retains power because his replacement is beholden to him. Gujarat has not been able to appoint a Lokayukta for the last 10 years, for whatever reasons. Each party is trying to gets its own appointed candidte selected. so that the Lokayukta will favour it. The Karnataka Lokayukta is an exception because unfortunatley for Yedurappa, he happened to be Justice Santosh Hegde, who could not be influenced.
I agree with the author that the 1450 lakh crore black money lying in foreign banks cannot be brought back because the government has signed a "Prevention of Double Taxation" agreement in May 2011.One part of the agreement says that the Swiss authorities will not have to disclose anything regarding money deposited in Switzerland, prior to May 2011.So all Indians and the Supreme Court can forget all the previous money which was stashed away in the Swiss and other banks. The government at one stroke written of that amount.
So all the politicians, bureaucrats, industrialists and film stars can live "Happily Ever After", nobody will chase them for their ill gotten wealth.
In conclusion I would request everyone who reads this blog to watch the go to the site given below, watch the clip and let me know whether you want an end to corruption
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1714109831035&comments
I had sent my rebuttal to Samar who had written the above article.I have given below his letter to me and my reply
Radheshyam sharma,
I do not write according to the diktats of my newspaper's owners. Never have. Never will. Oi know this is hard for you to believe but integrity is something you do not seem familiar with.
Whether Congress or BJP, I see little difference in these parties. Both harbour corrupt people and have done nothing to stop it.
You are obviously a blind BJP supporter so it is futile to get you to argue rationally; I see you have freely twisted what I have said.
Still, if you are politically aware, as you claim to be, you should know that your party in the past tried to put Anna in jail and Prashant Bhushan whom they now praise, was derided by your party as a Maoist and traitor. Pretty laughable.
As for your dismissal of those unlike you, manipuris and Kashmiris, as being unworthy of freedom, all I can say is people like you will destroy this country in trying to make it a Hindu Pakistan
Don't bother to respond. I won't be reading it.
Best Regards,
Samar
Samar,
I don't care whether you read my rebuttal but I have said in my mail I am a supporter of no political party and I have also criticised the BJP as well as the Congress.
I would rather say that your blinkered vision does not allow you to see any further than the congress although you claim to present a balanced view.
If anyone does not support the congress you start thinking that the BJP is behind it like earlier the CPM used to think the CIA was behind every mischief which befell India.
Anna Says no political party is supporting him and today only some nine parties have decided to support him.
The BJP is not one of them.
And yet you see the hand of the BJP.
I feel sorry for your biased vision.
Best regards
Radheshyam Sharma
Who is Anna Hazare?
10 things to know about Anna Hazare 'n Jan Lok Pal Bill.. !
1. Who is Anna Hazare?
An ex-army man. Fought 1965 Indo-Pak War
2. What's so special about him?
He built a village Ralegaon Siddhi in Ahamad Nagar district, Maharashtra
3. So what?
This village is a self-sustained model village. Energy is produced in the village itself from solar power, biofuel and wind mills.
In 1975, it used to be a poverty clad village. Now it is one of the richest village in India. It has become a model for self-sustained, eco-friendly & harmonic village.
4. Ok,...?
This guy, Anna Hazare was awarded Padma Bhushan and is a known figure for his social activities.
5. Really, what is he fighting for?
He is supporting a cause, the amendment of a law to curb corruption in India.
6. How that can be possible?
He is advocating for a Bil, The Jan Lokpal Bill (The Citizen Ombudsman Bill), that will form an autonomous authority who will make politicians (ministers), beurocrats (IAS/IPS) accountable for their deeds.
8. It's an entirely new thing right..?
In 1972, the bill was proposed by then Law minister Mr. Shanti Bhushan. Since then it has been neglected by the politicians and some are trying to change the bill to suit thier theft (corruption).
7. Oh.. He is going on a hunger strike for that whole thing of passing a Bill ! How can that be possible in such a short span of time?
The first thing he is asking for is: the government should come forward and announce that the bill is going to be passed.
Next, they make a joint committee to DRAFT the JAN LOKPAL BILL. 50% government participation and 50% public participation. Because you cant trust the government entirely for making such a bill which does not suit them.
8. Fine, What will happen when this bill is passed?
A LokPal will be appointed at the centre. He will have an autonomous charge, say like the Election Commission of India. In each and every state, Lokayukta will be appointed. The job is to bring all alleged party to trial in case of corruptions within 1 year. Within 2 years, the guilty will be punished. Not like, Bofors scam or Bhopal Gas Tragedy case, that has been going for last 25 years without any result.
9. Is he alone? Who else is there in the fight with Anna Hazare?
Baba Ramdev, Ex. IPS Kiran Bedi, Social Activist Swami Agnivesh, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and many more.
Prominent personalities like Aamir Khan is supporting his cause.
10. Ok, got it. What can I do?
At least we can spread the message. How?
Putting status message, links, video, changing profile pics.
At least we can support Anna Hazare and the cause for uprooting corruption from India.
At least we can hope that his Hunger Strike does not go in vain.
At least we can pray for his good health.
Sent by Prakash Bhartia
The name Hazare has come so much in our lives that while typing Prakash Bhartia I had inadvertantly typed Prakash Hazare
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