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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Skepticism Over India’s Anticorruption Bill by Lydia Polgreen

Skepticism Over India’s Anticorruption Bill by Lydia Polgreen

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published Published on Aug 9, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 9, 2011

After a four-decade battle, Indian lawmakers took the first formal step toward creating an independent anticorruption agency on Thursday, introducing a bill in Parliament that would appoint a powerful ombudsman, or Lokpal, to investigate wrongdoing by government officials.

But the draft of the law, which exempts the prime minister, members of Parliament and many other officials from the Lokpal’s jurisdiction, was roundly rejected by many of the people who had fought for the creation of an independent agency to battle corruption.

“This is the second war of independence,” Anna Hazare, an activist whose hunger strike this summer breathed new life into India’s anticorruption fight, said as his supporters burned copies of the government’s version of the bill. “This is the only opportunity to remove the corruption from this country. We should not miss this opportunity. I appeal to the youth of the nation to come forward to oppose this bill.”

Speaking from his village in Maharashtra, he exhorted supporters to join him in a new hunger strike. “I will start my hunger strike from Aug. 16,” he said.

India has been beset by a series of corruption scandals, including the inept and graft-ridden preparations for the Commonwealth Games last year, the government’s sale of cellphone spectrum at rock-bottom prices, and revelations that billions of dollars worth of iron ore were being mined illegally, leading to the removal of the chief minister of Karnataka State.

Activists have demanded that the government create a powerful investigator to handle high-profile corruption cases. But analysts worry that an anticorruption “supercop” accountable to no one is a recipe for political vendettas and legal chaos.

The bill, which was drafted by a government committee, covers only the central government and also does not include the high-level judiciary or lower-level bureaucrats, omissions that critics say will limit its effectiveness.

The panel that drafted the bill had said that it sought to balance the desire for a strong anticorruption agency with respect for Indian democracy, making it necessary to exempt certain officials to avoid misuse.

It is only one of a string of controversial bills likely to be debated during a monthlong session of Parliament.

Arvind Kejriwal, another social activist who has led the fight for the Lokpal, said the bill did not meet minimum standards.

“This bill is anti-common people,” he said at a news conference in Delhi. “This bill is against poor people. This bill will not solve problems of corruption from day-to-day life of common men.”

Hari Kumar contributed reporting.


The New York Times, 4 August, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/world/asia/05india.html?scp=4&sq=india&st=cse


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