देश में आयी आंधी हैं।
अन्ना दूसरा गांधी हैं।
[Translation: Storm has arrived in the country. Anna (Hazare) is the next (Mahatma) Gandhi]
This is one of the many slogans that you hear these days on the streets of many towns and cities in India. In a way, it sums up the current happenings in most parts of the country. The India Against Corruption movement (official website:http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org) which aims at getting Jan Lokpal Bill passed in the parliament has gathered full momentum now.
Different versions of Lokpal Bills have been introduced in Lok Sabha and/or Rajya Sabha but they never got passed. But, when Anna Hazare, a Gandhian activist, sat on fast unto death in Delhi to get the bill passed, it caught attention and subsequently support of media and common men. Jan Lokpal Bill – the bill that the activists and its supporters want to get passed – wants to create a strong politically independent body
The movement led by noted activists including the renowned Right to Information Act activist Arvind Kejriwal among others has been supported not only by other renowned people but also by hundreds of thousands of people from urban and rural area who show their support either by fasting or by organizing rallies creating awareness. While being asked, some people admitted having paid bribe at some point of time in the past as they didn’t have a choice. But, now they think that it is the very reason they support passing of the bill in order to create a system that doesn’t breed corruption.
The bill and the movement have been criticized by many people. Some critics argue that it is undemocratic to ‘blackmail’ the government to pass the bill. They say that Anna Hazare is challenging democracy with his protest. Also it is argued that very tiny portion of Jan Lokpal Bill supporters actually know enough about the bill and its possible implications. Another important discussion is whether Prime Minister should be allowed to be prosecuted under Lokpal or not. They also say that it is unconstitutional or ‘extra-constitutional to create such a system proposed by the Jan Lokpal Bill with such powers. And, some say the bill is too naïve to control corruption.
It’s unlikely that the corruption in public administration would stop overnight once this bill is introduced. But, people at large are hopeful that it will go on to become a deterrent to corruption.
What are your views on this?
Is Anna Hazare strengthening democracy or challenging it?
Shouldn’t the PM and higher judiciary come under the purview of Lokpal Bill?
Do you think Lokpal shouldn’t have such judicial powers?
piakaghar.com
livenri.com
Anna Hazare is Wrong & shouldn't be compared with Mahatma Gandhi
Anna wants it "Either His Way, or No Way".. Which is not fair at all!!
He is misusing Democracy on the name of Corruption..
People are blindly following him without knowing the facts..
I totally oppose Anna's approach towards the current situation, as much as I oppose Corruption & Misgovernance!!
Please click on the link below to see the related facebook note for further details:--
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=2375500146148
~ MoHiT ~
Thanks for the comment!
Looking at the type and quantum of the cause, and government's approach, I don't think Anna has any other option but to do what he is doing now. Remember, he had requested the government to consider working on the Lokpal Bill before this too. But, for obvious reasons, the government always ignored/delayed the Bill.
Even Mahatma Gandhi had resorted to fasting for a good cause. Anna is doing the same. Isn't it? Isn't he doing this for a greater common cause?
And, I don't know anyone whom Anna 'forced' to join him. In fact, I believe, as someone tweeted a few days back, he is strengthening the democracy by trying to get the bill passed.
It's a question how much people know. But, it's clear that people trust the movement and the cause behind it. People know that the system needs a transformation. And, that's all the information most people need. After all, we don't need to know how a drug is made to realize that we are sick :-)
Everyone has right to put forth his views. I would like to see more comments against (or in favour of) the movement and Anna Hazare.
PS: I couldn't see the Facebook page/note. I got the following error - The page you requested cannot be displayed at the moment. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page.
Why I >do not< support Jan Lok Pal Bill
In India, people have become absolutely desperate to eradicate corruption "forever" and the feeling has become stronger after the huge corruption scandals which came into light very recently.
I strongly feel that those who are supporting the Jan LokPal bill should >first try and understand< the detailed procedures for normal civil/Criminal proceedings in a democratic system of law and order.
Let me try and present a small introduction on this.
Any legal proceeding (civil and criminal) has 3 sides:
• Prosecution: Prosecutes the case on behalf of accuser/complainant/ plaintiff.
• Defense: Defense the accused.
• Judge: Based on the arguments of the two sides and the evidence provided by both sides decide the case and deliver the verdict (in criminal cases the verdict is usually a sentence, but need not be.)
Also, Home ministry (Police, CBI) works under the supervision of Justice Ministry (Prosecutors).
Police (investigators) which comes under Home ministry files a case (FIR) and collect evidences, catch or capture the accused and should take the accused to the court within the given timeline.
Police have to provide evidence and ask the judge for judicial custody if necessary. Judge will look into the police arguments through Prosecutor and then order judicial custody for the accused if they find the police arguments are valid that the accused >might try< to escape or that the accused might commit more crimes.
The Public prosecutor will be supervising the police.
The accused appoint a defense Lawyer to present his/her side of evidence/arguments. If the accused cannot personally appoint a defense lawyer, then the judicial system has to appoint a defense lawyer for the accused (if they ask for one). This holds good only in a democratic system of Law and order.
The judge will then analyse the arguments and evidences provided by both prosecutor and defense and then will decide the verdict. If the verdict is for the accused, then he/she is proved innocent. If the verdict is against accused then the state will declare the accused as a "criminal".
In short:
• In a Democratic system of law and order and its court proceedings, the prosecution is conducted by the state and therefore it is the responsibility of the state to prove the accused guilty and until then the accused is innocent- Innocent, until proven guilty.
• But in the Lok Pal bill, the above Democratic system of law and order is turned around. It becomes the responsibility of the accused to prove that he/she is innocent and until then he/she is guilty- Guilty until proven innocent. This law acts against the Democratic system of law and order. This is exactly what happens in an authoritarian state (communism for e.g.). This is the reason why I personally do not support Lok Pal bill.
The role of the state is to protect citizens and this is what democratic state should do rather than treat all its citizens as guilty first, until the citizens prove themselves innocent!
This bill is unconstitutional! Law should be a guideline and not a prescription!
In a country as big as ours with such huge population, this kind of state influence (undemocratic and authoritarian) might make the situation worse. We Indians have not tasted the bitterness of being under Authoritarian regimes and what more, we are ignorant of our own history, forget about other country's history.
Jan Lok Pal Bill is undemocratic because, it is not an elected body. Any unelected body taking supreme power is undemocratic and against our constitution. India as a country is based on this constitution.
If people do not understand this fact, they should first
reopen their civics book.
Power makes one corrupt, absolute power such as authoritarian powers makes abosolute corrupt! To understand this read Europe history.
I have read European history and here Hitler(extreme right on political scale) and Stalin(extreme left on political scale) had given similar promises same as Jan Lok Pal. Hitler had said Jews were taking out the blood out of Christians (just like Anna is saying about politicians) and later what happened to Jews is a History. These authoritarians later stuck their roots and it needed world wars and revolutions to remove it.
The fact that Indian middle class have woken up against corruption is a good thing but they are failing to understand how other ways apart from authoritarian Jan Lok Pal can be used to curb corruption. They want everything to happen like “fast food”. Everyone thinks about their future certainly. But nobody thinks about their community future, the future of next generations!
Regards,
Bhavana
Plz read up.
It appears that you either don't know or haven't given any credence to the history of THIS agitation.
IAC met every singly functionary and political party, explained and made presentations to them and asked THEM to take up the matter before resorting to an agitation. That agitation was started in April and the GOI broke its promises.
When any Government is unresponsive - whether in a democracy or a dictatorship - peaceful, law abiding but oppressed people WILL resort to increasingly coercive but democratically permitted protests. Thats what Kiran Bedi explained on TV this morning.
So, please, we don't need a lecture on democracy. Thank you!
J Srinivasan
@jsvasan
Not here to please you!!
Mr. Srinivasan, I am not here to hear your love towards "India against corruption" as well! This is my view of Jan Lok Pal.
I am knowledgeable about my Indian constitution and I feel anyone going against it is a traitor (if you say you dont give a damn to my thought then be it so). Becasue India as a country was built upon this great constitution.
People as half baked knowledge and short sighted as you will not be given a damn from a person like me. If you dont want to hear about democracy, go and take a hike!
There are other bodies which can do audit and this can be made independent of Government influence. Instead they want this authoritarian bill??!!
I very well know that IAC with Kajeriwala and Aruna Roy had started to redraft the Jan Lok pal bill in 2010 and why on earth did they exclude Aruna Roy( who believes in constitution)? Mr. Santosh Hegde could not answer this simple question on television on 23rd "buck stops here" and seems he was drunk and spoke horrible to Aruna Roy!
First they need to mend their manners and vocabulary before giving lessons to others!
To oppose Anna’s Jan Lok pal, does not make someone a believer in corruption!! But you wouldn’t know this through any social media BECAUSE it takes debates and discussions and knowledge to understand >politics and civics< of a country and not emotions and pulses of people!!! Rationality is the key and not emotions.
Regards,
Bhavana
anna hazare
Visit these spiritual and touching website.
http://anna-hazare-lokpal-bill.in/
It will provide you all current information, live & ongoing for anna-hazare & lokpal-bil
At least we can support him instead of sitting idle.
Like http://anna-hazare-lokpal-bill.in/ website to support anna-hazare!!!
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