When it was conceived to deal with corruption!
Today, the country marched ahead in getting yet another
avenue of institutionalized corruption. The Union Cabinet today approved the
much (MUCH) diluted and toothless version of the ‘Lokpal Bill’.
Much has been talked about the futile utility of the
Lokpal that the government wants to build. The whole political class conspired
to create an institution that was in no way capable enough to keep check on the
erring politicians and bureaucrats.
Lokpal Bill’s history is over four decades old but every
initiative was killed effectively. The recent one, that began in 2011 looks to
go ahead one step further.
It is not going to kill the initiative. It is going to
kill the spark left after every killed initiative in the past that had reignited
the demand every time. It is going to institutionalize the Lokpal. Now, the
drum-beating would begin. The propaganda machinery would focus on showing it as
an achievement. The institutionalization would serve their purpose to kill the
voices for Lokpal. They would say we have done it. They would ask the activists
to seek ‘legal’ and ‘constitutional’ recourse if they demand changes. They
would happily allow the battle to become ‘for an effective Lokpal’ from ‘for a
Lokpal’. That would give them time to devise more political con to buy more
time.
Almost every political party had some objection when the
Bill was presented in the Parliament in 2011. Somehow, the Lok Sabha was able
to pass a much diluted version as the number game helped the ruling United
Progressive Alliance government. The ruling alliance members got their points
in and out. The opposition members got their chance in the Rajya Sabha where
the ruling coalition didn’t have the numbers. They got ball rolling in the
upper house of the Parliament. The country saw the shameless display of
political audacity and insensitivity when the Bill was stalled and the Rajya
Sabha was adjourned sine die at the midnight of December 29, 2011.
The subsequent events since then have further diluted the
Lokpal Bill. What the Union Cabinet today approved after some more amendments
is nothing but a fallacy intended to continue the delirium the political class
wants to keep the masses in.
They believe the half-baked products of this democracy
have no political alternatives and have no intellectual depth to think over the
political scheming over issues like Lokpal.
After being approved by the Union Cabinet, the Bill will
be sent to the Rajya Sabha. It will see the Lok Sabha again to get nod for the
amendments. It is expected to happen in the upcoming Budget session of the
Parliament.
So, the stage is set for another administrative behemoth
that will survive on the exchequer’s money squeezing out the always scarce fund
available at common man’s disposal. Had it been a groundbreaking initiative in
creating a transparent and effective ombudsman powerful enough to check and
prosecute corruption at every level, the input cost would really make a sense.
But being more of an advisory body and being more of yet
another tool in a lengthy judicial process, the proposed Lokpal, would only add
to the misery of the endless wait to see the culprits punished.
And when every government institution is crumbling under
the omnipresent tentacles of corruption; when a President is accused of wasting
public money on meaningless tours; when the Prime Minister is accused on
letting corruption unchecked; when a chief justice of the Supreme Court faces
corruption allegations; when the CBI director is accused of favouring a
politician like Lalu Yadav in the Fodder Scam; when the Gandhi family is
accused of subverting the law to clear name of Robert Vadra in dubious land
deals; and so many more case studies and examples of corruption at every level
of the governing machinery, it is foolhardy to expect that the upcoming Lokpal
would not become just yet another opportunity for its employees to execute more
under-the-table deals.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
