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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | The problem with the Jan Lokpal bill & Hunger Strikes by Sridhar Swaminathan

The problem with the Jan Lokpal bill & Hunger Strikes by Sridhar Swaminathan

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published Published on Apr 11, 2011   modified Modified on Apr 11, 2011
Anna Hazare and his supporters appear to have come to an agreement with the central government over forming a joint committee to draft the Lokpal bill.  We can all agree that corruption in India is a cancer eating away at the very core of the nation. Amidst the frenzied coverage of the hunger strike, and the exclamations of support for Hazare on social networks, there has been scant discussion of the merits and demerits of the Jan Lokpal bill. In our yearning for an answer to root out corruption, many are engaging in dangerous Group-think.  A nation can agree on the existence of a problem, but to reach consensus on a solution is an arduous task. There are several questions that remain unasked, let alone getting answers.

Prior to the agreement reached between the activists and the Government, the Government was drafting a Lokpal bill of its own, and in parallel, social activists were drafting the Jan Lokpal bill, in consultation with the “India against corruption” movement.  Some of my concerns with the Jan Lokpal bill, and the means used to achieve the much hyped joint committee are the following:

 The dangerous premise– Inherent in the position of the proponents of Jan Lokpal is the premise that all government institutions in their current form have failed us, and that a few activists, or elites, will re-write the way our institutions work and function.  This is not how change of this magnitude should be enacted.  Of course, in a Democracy, not everyone’s opinion can be heard before the drafting of a bill.  And that is why we have elections.  Our elected representatives are supposed to do that.  In theory, when a Lok Sabha member votes one way or the other on a bill, he represents not himself, but all the people of his constituency.  If a majority of the Lok Sabha votes for a bill, that implies that the total population of all the constituencies that those members represent support the bill.  That is how representative government is supposed to work.  The way the Jan Lokpal bill has been pushed and promoted, via blackmail, completely circumvents the constitutional process.  Among other things, this sets a dangerous precedent.  Maybe we are past the point of worrying about that actually, KCR fasts and the central government agrees to form a separate state, Anna Hazare fasts and the entire government machinery is threatened, and agrees to a joint-committee to draft a bill.  I fear we have already taken a dangerous path riddled with traps.  Given the efficacy of hunger strikes, what’s to stop other people with name recognition from doing the same.  Of course, if the aam aadmi goes on a hunger strike, people will just laugh and move on.

All government actions must be with the consent of the governed.  What’s happening now is that government actions are being determined by elites who decide when and where they want to fast on a certain issue.

The morality of hunger strikes– Yes, Mahatma Gandhi used this method to great effect against the British.  Be that as it may, in recent times, it has been used for political purposes and even to divide a state (Telangana). Many times, such fasts descend into farce, with people being forcefully fed, and even secretly being passed a snack or two by supporters.  Therefore, whatever the intentions of the person fasting, it is anything but democratic.  In effect it is blackmail, there’s no way to obfuscate that.  And, the irony is that this is not a method the common man can use, it’s a ploy and a publicity stunt which can only be used by the elites, whom the Government would not want to see die.  Hunger strikes may have been relevant in the pre-independence era, but not anymore.  There is something morally disturbing about telling someone – give me what I want else I will die.  In moral terms, there is no difference between a man making demands through a hunger strike, and a man pointing a gun at his own head and threatening to blow his brains out.  In a modern and more confident India, better strategies have to be adopted.  People have tried to project this as Anna Hazare somehow representing the whole nation.  This is hogwash.  Anna Hazare only represents himself, and his immediate circle of social activists.  Not everyone’s opinion was considered in the drafting of the Jan Lokpal bill.  It is presumptuous and pompous of Anna Hazare and his supporters to claim to represent 1.2 billion people and their ideas.

The practicality of  the Jan Lokpal Bill

I read the Jan Lokpal bill.  The bill makes numerous claims, it is ambitious in scope, and wide in its assumptions.

The Lokpal will have powers to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public.  In a country the size of India, with a population in excess of 1.2 billion, exactly how the mechanism will work is not well explained.  It appears that this will involve the setting up of a large bureaucracy.  The irony of setting up a bureaucracy to look into corruption in bureaucracies should not be lost on anyone.

The Lokpal will be granted powers to initiate Prosecution against anyone found guilty.  This implies some kind of a parallel judiciary and law enforcement mechanism.  Another example where the the Lokpal bill assumes that what’s broken can’t be fixed.  Why not make reforms to our current courts system and law enforcement enterprises, do we really need a parallel law enforcement mechanism and judiciary.  There’s not the slightest hint that the drafters of the Jan Lokpal have any idea about the turf wars this would cause.

The Lokpal will protect whistle-blowers, have police rights, determine punishments, and the list of responsibilities of the Lokpal goes on and on.  In summary, the Lokpal will be a law enforcement agency, judiciary, witness protection program, and investigative agency all rolled into one.  The whole idea would be laughable, if the implications were not so grave.

Another disturbing element of the Jan Lokpal bill is the rampant vigilantism that this will lead to.  The corruption reporting mechanism is sure to be misused, overused and abused.  The delegitimization of current government institutions, which is the basis for the Lokpal, could be counterproductive, and lead to more social instability and not less.

Finally, the Jan Lokpal bill is at best vague about who will pay for the functioning of the Lokpal.  One senses that the tab will eventually be footed by the tax-payer.  If that is the case, much more scrutiny has to be applied to every single piece of the Jan Lokpal bill.

The above are just a few items which should be cause for concern.  It is by no means comprehensive.  One hopes that in the coming weeks, the frenzy over this will subside and more calmer, saner voices will be heard.

The outpouring of support for Anna Hazare is entirely understandable, citizens are frustrated with corruption and want answers – perhaps easy answers.  However, responsible citizens must take a step back, and examine all solutions with prudence and care.  Expediency should not be favored over rigor. Anyone who claims they have quick answers for corruption must not be taken seriously.  Ultimately, providing blind and unconditional support to Anna Hazare and the Jan Lokpal activists, without examining the merits of their ideas, is not patriotism but merely intellectual laziness.

Politics Monitor, 9 April, 2011, http://politicsmonitor.com/?p=340


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