LokPal Bill
As some of you might know, I oppose LokPal Bill.
This is not a gesture of disrespect to Anna Hazare. It is more about opposing the fundamental provisions of the bill. And about opposing the concept that our governing problems can be solved by adding another layer of bureaucracy instead of doing the real work of fixing whats wrong with the current institutions and laws. And as an aside, I do oppose his method of coercing a functioning democracy (India is one!) with moral blackmail. Furthermore, it is saddening to see decisions made over waves of media fueled passion that considers any debate over the pros and cons as heresy.
Please read the provisions of LokPal bill and share your thoughts.
Here are my thoughts in detail:
1. Jan LokPal is not democratically elected neither is he/she elected by democratically elected representatives. LokPal is nominated by "notables" in the society and can be deposed by supreme court justices only. So the LokPal does not represent the people in any sense. Fundamentally un-democratic.
2. There is too much concentration of power with this one position. We have three pillars - Executive, Parliament and Judiciary. Unfortunately, the 74th ammendment weakens it already. LokPal, with powers to initiate investigation with or without (suo moto) complaint, with police powers, and with powers to impose convictions flies in face of this "Three Pillared Democracy". Normally one agency investigates (police) and then has to convince other agency (courts) for a conviction. If both these powers are concentrated with one person, we can expect injustice soon.
3. I agree that courts and police are not exactly efficient or even functional. But then how does LokPal function if courts and police don't provide the background? And if we fix police and courts, why do we need LokPal?
4. We already have laws and institutions we need, but they are not functioning as they should. Adding an extra layer of redirection is a bad way to fix software bugs. And certainly is a horrible way to fix governance problems. But it is a great face saving gimmick to the politicians to show that they are doing something against corruption, while actually doing nothing. Create another office, and let the system under it be as broken as it was.
5. While I respect Anna Hazare, this form of moral blackmailing is not the way things happen in a democracy. Such forms of protests weaken the fiber of democracy instead of strengthening it and set a dangerous precedent. What is Vajpayee, Amitabh Bachhan or someone else tomorrow decides to fast for something close to their hearts?
6. And finally, this media fueled passion which treats any voice of debate as treason is saddening. "If you are not with Anna Hazare, you support corruption" has disturbing echos from George Bush's "If you are not with us, you are with terrorist". We are a democracy of different people, right? We all have a voice.
But I see we have a problem of corruption. How can that be addressed?
1. Moral rectitude must be the first step. I will not ask for a bribe or pay a bribe.
2. We have the laws and institutions we need. But the police are not effective and courts are very slow. Put in money, equipment, training and accountability in police departments. Speed up court processes. Only when people know that they will be investigated, quickly tried, and punished will they be deterred from committing crimes. Build police and courts if you want a rule of law.
3. Political parties need to be democratized internally. Currently our leaders are "appointed". Recent example I know is the appointment of Marashtra's Chief Minister by Sonia Gandhi. The only thing this man was known for was his loyalty to the Gandhi family. This cronyism instigates corruption. It exists everywhere where people have power to appoint and no one asks questions.
4. India is a functioning democracy. Not many agree with me on this. But for a recently independent country with such cultural, religious, geographic and historic diversity, with huge underdeveloped population and limited resources, India is doing extremely well in providing effective representation in decision making and governance. Ofcourse we can get better, and not all steps are in the right direction. But we need to believe in our democracy, and use the people power to get the things we think are correct done. We must never relinquish this power we have on our power holders. Else they will never be accountable.
5. And finally, I know that there is a power in symbolism. And Anna Hazare has used this symbolism to bring the issue of corruption in the forefront. Now is the time to seize this opportunity and public will and use it to make a _real_ change, than an apparent one that the Jan LokPal Bill is pretending to make!
This is not a gesture of disrespect to Anna Hazare. It is more about opposing the fundamental provisions of the bill. And about opposing the concept that our governing problems can be solved by adding another layer of bureaucracy instead of doing the real work of fixing whats wrong with the current institutions and laws. And as an aside, I do oppose his method of coercing a functioning democracy (India is one!) with moral blackmail. Furthermore, it is saddening to see decisions made over waves of media fueled passion that considers any debate over the pros and cons as heresy.
Please read the provisions of LokPal bill and share your thoughts.
Here are my thoughts in detail:
1. Jan LokPal is not democratically elected neither is he/she elected by democratically elected representatives. LokPal is nominated by "notables" in the society and can be deposed by supreme court justices only. So the LokPal does not represent the people in any sense. Fundamentally un-democratic.
2. There is too much concentration of power with this one position. We have three pillars - Executive, Parliament and Judiciary. Unfortunately, the 74th ammendment weakens it already. LokPal, with powers to initiate investigation with or without (suo moto) complaint, with police powers, and with powers to impose convictions flies in face of this "Three Pillared Democracy". Normally one agency investigates (police) and then has to convince other agency (courts) for a conviction. If both these powers are concentrated with one person, we can expect injustice soon.
3. I agree that courts and police are not exactly efficient or even functional. But then how does LokPal function if courts and police don't provide the background? And if we fix police and courts, why do we need LokPal?
4. We already have laws and institutions we need, but they are not functioning as they should. Adding an extra layer of redirection is a bad way to fix software bugs. And certainly is a horrible way to fix governance problems. But it is a great face saving gimmick to the politicians to show that they are doing something against corruption, while actually doing nothing. Create another office, and let the system under it be as broken as it was.
5. While I respect Anna Hazare, this form of moral blackmailing is not the way things happen in a democracy. Such forms of protests weaken the fiber of democracy instead of strengthening it and set a dangerous precedent. What is Vajpayee, Amitabh Bachhan or someone else tomorrow decides to fast for something close to their hearts?
6. And finally, this media fueled passion which treats any voice of debate as treason is saddening. "If you are not with Anna Hazare, you support corruption" has disturbing echos from George Bush's "If you are not with us, you are with terrorist". We are a democracy of different people, right? We all have a voice.
But I see we have a problem of corruption. How can that be addressed?
1. Moral rectitude must be the first step. I will not ask for a bribe or pay a bribe.
2. We have the laws and institutions we need. But the police are not effective and courts are very slow. Put in money, equipment, training and accountability in police departments. Speed up court processes. Only when people know that they will be investigated, quickly tried, and punished will they be deterred from committing crimes. Build police and courts if you want a rule of law.
3. Political parties need to be democratized internally. Currently our leaders are "appointed". Recent example I know is the appointment of Marashtra's Chief Minister by Sonia Gandhi. The only thing this man was known for was his loyalty to the Gandhi family. This cronyism instigates corruption. It exists everywhere where people have power to appoint and no one asks questions.
4. India is a functioning democracy. Not many agree with me on this. But for a recently independent country with such cultural, religious, geographic and historic diversity, with huge underdeveloped population and limited resources, India is doing extremely well in providing effective representation in decision making and governance. Ofcourse we can get better, and not all steps are in the right direction. But we need to believe in our democracy, and use the people power to get the things we think are correct done. We must never relinquish this power we have on our power holders. Else they will never be accountable.
5. And finally, I know that there is a power in symbolism. And Anna Hazare has used this symbolism to bring the issue of corruption in the forefront. Now is the time to seize this opportunity and public will and use it to make a _real_ change, than an apparent one that the Jan LokPal Bill is pretending to make!
Comments
Btw, I must add that this is just the draft of the bill and demands made by Anna Hazare. The real bill has yet to be passed and hence, is not final.
Its a little scary that the threat of a fast unto death and massive public hysteria can coerce the government of the worlds largest democracy to agree to a bill that is so fundamentally undemocratic.
It has been an easy way out for the government. They have managed to keep a large part of the nation happy while at the same time transferring the onus of getting the job done on to someone else.
The saddest part of this entire spectacle was the part the Indian TV media played. On most of the 'popular' news channels there was no debate, no attempt at education about the bill, but lots of hysteria.Some news anchors went as far as proposing that anyone not supporting the bill was anti Indian and pro corruption!!!
Another excellent article you may like
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/of-the-few-by-the-few/772773/
Read another interesting one few days back.
http://www.rajsubramaniam.com/post/4471733073/my-country-has-paid-up-the-ransom-mr-hazare
Well, if I were concise, I would be on Twitter, not on Blogspot. :)
Their answer to the question of having a new system, is that public is not trusting the existing ones. Therefore there has to be a new one. Even after being made aware of the weaknesses of the bill, they supported the jan lokpal bill.
And, they would rather blackmail the govt. than go through other processes. As they think that's the only language Govt. is listening to.
Probably most of the people on the streets will agree with them. And they would rather bring "something" in, rather than not do anything. The whole movement has become an emotional one, rather than a practical one fixing the problems. And no one is putting forth alternative better/safer proposals.
1. There is a need for a strong Lokpal. There are functions of government today which are not transparent or accountable to anyone. There are analogs available from other democratic countries that corruption goes down if you have strong laws to deter it. I don't believe that the Karnatake CM would have even resigned if Hegde was not there.
2. There is a need for independent Lokpal. If Lokpal is appointed by the government and can be sacked by the government, it cannot be very powerful. The only institution that can challenge the government today is Supreme court, because it doesn't fall under the government.
3. The Lokpal should have investigative powers. Today, the country has two investigative agencies - police and CBI, both reporting to government. You need someone independent of government to investigate cases against the government.
4. Lokpal should not be all-powerful. This is achieved by not giving the prosecution powers to the Lokpal. Lokpal can only initiate investigation, conduct it, and give recommendations for actions to the government or file a case in Supreme court. At the same time, it posts the results of its investigation on its website for citizens to look at it.
5. Lokpal should be a group of qualified, incorruptible individuals who understand law & constitution. As long as the base capabilities are met, the selection process can be tuned. Don't believe that a country wide election is the right way to go about it though, because that process is influenced by factors independent of the judgment of qualifications. This is one institution where you want to prefer merit over inclusion.