LOKPAL Bill

Past couple of decades some civil rights activists have been demanding a Citizen Ombudsmen Office to be created to address corruption, administrative & governance issues in India. This was introduced as the Lokpal Bill couple of decades ago and is still not passed in the Indian Parliament. This Bill will allow creation of a Lokpal which will investigate and penalize (upto a certain degree) government officials and ministers found guilty of corruption charges or improper governance. This Lokpal will cover all officers and staff of Government of India.

Once Lokpal is created, citizens can take their grievances to Lokpal which will initiate an enquiry into the matter and pass a judgment in maximum 2 years. In certain complex cases the Lokpal will ask the Central Bureau of Investigation of India ( CBI) to investigate the matter. Now begins the problem.

CBI is under the direct control of Home Ministry of the Central Government and therefore civil rights activists feel that while investigating charges against the Government there will be conflict of interest for the CBI. This is 100% correct. The civil rights activists have been demanding that CBI be made an independent body with no Government control and the Government refuses to do so. This has become the sticking point for the passage of the Lokpal Bill.

Civil Rights groups say that the Government has malicious intent in not granting CBI Independence. This is quite possible, but let us look at the flip side.

Democracy means rule of people through their elected representatives. The Legislature, the Judicary and the Executive form the three main branches of the Government and Legislature in essence holds the strongest position in the three. In a country like ours where the Legislature and Executive has been doing a pathetic job the temptation is to create an additional institution like Lokpal to act as counter-balance. Isn’t it belittling the importance of Judiciary in a way? Isn’t it like creating a watchdog agency to monitor another watchdog agency which in turn will monitor someone else. Where does it end? Can we be 100% sure that the members of the Lokpal will not collude together to compromise on justice? Aren’t we giving too much power in the hands of unelected representatives of the people? I know this argument does not solve the issue of corruption in the political class, but if the political class is not doing its jobs then shouldn’t we simply vote them out rather than having a new agency in place. And will not honest and integral politicians make sure that bureaucrats fall in line?

Lokpal and an independent CBI are deadly combination detrimental to the democratic setup. How do we know that CBI officials will not get swayed by their own interests? How do we know that CBI bosses are beyond reproach? Aren’t we opening up a fourth power centre apart from the three mentioned above? Will we not have one more corrupt mouth to feed if corruption enters CBI and Lokpal.

So what’s the answer then? I feel a free & fair media and education for the masses are the only two forces which can keep our democracy well lubricated. I am not writing a blanket appreciation for the media but after private media channels have started functioning in India in the past 2 decades or so we have seen significant turmoil in the Government. Media is making a difference be it Tehelka, Gujrat Riots, Jessica Lal, Priyadrashini Matto, CWG, 2G, Adarsh Scam, Karnataka Mining Scam etc. In the past 2 decades politicians and bureaucrats were often found on the back foot because of intense media pressure. Interestingly CWG, 2G and Adarsh scams were unearthed in spite of responsible ministers being in power. Doesn’t that show that something is going right somewhere? May not be 100% effective but it’s working. Yes there is fear that media houses are biased or have political affiliations or vested interests, but if the number of media agencies is sufficiently large then their polarities cancel out each other’s influences and prevents any adverse impact or misinformation. Their presence in a very large number is only helpful to the citizenry.

The second force which I feel is important is education. This is because people should know what deal they are getting. People in the remotest and most backward part of India should know what is due to them and only then they can choose wisely for themselves in the elections. An educated and well informed electorate will force political parties to field good candidates.

Let us not create additional avenues for corruption in our country by empowering CBI and Lokpal. Vote out the politicians if they are not right. The Election Commission has so been doing a fine job in ensuring free & fair elections

Democratic Government or Democratic Values?

For the past couple of decades, as a foreign policy, governments in the West have endeavoured to see democracy as a form of governance prospering around the globe. The fall of Berlin Wall followed by the fall of communist regimes seems to have vindicated their stand.

So the question is, is democratic government the political answer to all the world’s problems?

Democracy can broadly be defined as the rule of people. But in order to rule over themselves do people know what is good or bad for them? What ethics or moral system do they identify themselves with? Does their moral system believe in equal rights? Democratic setup is often considered a Greco-Roman invention, but did the Greeks & Romans considered all their subjects equal? How do we explain the endless brutalities, gladiators, slaves, in these empires? Were there any institutional or governmental reforms for the upliftment of these marginalised subjects of these empires? I don’t know of any. Also, this is quite ironical considering that in modern democracy we consider equality as the foundation stone of a democracy.

I believe Greco-Roman law system gave us institutions that help us run modern democracies but more than these institutions we need democratic values for a democracy to flourish. Without these democratic values these institutions are worthless.

Take the case of India for example. Caste System though pronounced null and void by the law continues to be institutionalised in certain parts of the country. People in these parts of the country simply do not understand the idea of equality. Even worse is the fact that those being abused don’t even know that they as citizens of a democratic India are entitled to certain rights. 

Another example is some of the countries in the Islamic world. In Iraq & Afghanistan, NATO is trying very hard to set-up democratic governments, but do we really expect them to succeed in these cultures where a unilateral view on all aspects of their lives is imposed upon people? Do they believe in the democratic values such as freedom of expression, freedom of religion, equality of sexes and other democratic rights? How will this pack-of-cards strength bearing government succeed and survive if the people itself don’t believe in the values the government is standing on.

So my point is that democratic values and not democratic institutions bring in true freedom. I believe, if overwhelming majority of people in a country believe in democratic values, then any form of government can succeed and survive.

I believe that NATO should focus their energies on instilling democratic values instead of toppling governments which is expensive and unpopular.

So lets not prematurely rejoice when Arab youths are overthrowing dictators. Lets wait and see what do they choose for themselves.