Jan Lokpal Bill - जन लोकपाल विधेयक

Jan Lokpal Bill - जन लोकपाल विधेयक - Also referred to as the citizens' ombudsman bill

Is Janlokpal Bill So Strong to Deal effectively with Corruption in India

What is Jan Lokpal Bill -

In India, the Jan Lokpal Bill (Hindi: जन लोकपाल विधेयक) (also referred to as the citizens' ombudsman bill) is a proposed anti-corruption law designed to effectively deter corruption, redress grievances and protect whistleblowers. The law would create an ombudsman called the Lokpal; this would be an independent body similar to the Election Commission of India with the power to investigate politicians and bureaucrats without prior government permission.

A compromise bill, merging the Government's version and that of the civil group's version (Jan Lokpal), is being drafted by a committee of five Cabinet Ministers and five social activists.

For 42 years, the government-drafted bill has failed to pass the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, in 1969 but stalled in the Rajya Sabha. Subsequent Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008 but all failed to pass.

Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's Ombudsman Bill) :

1.Lokpal will have powers to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public.

2. Lokpal will have the power to initiate prosecution of anyone found guilty.

3. Lokpal will have police powers as well as the ability to register FIRs.

4. Lokpal and the anti corruption wing of the CBI will be one independent body.

5. Punishments will be a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of up to life imprisonment.

Draft Lokpal Bill (2010) :

1.Lokpal will have no power to initiate suo motu action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public. It can only probe complaints forwarded by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

2.Lokpal will only be an Advisory Body with a role limited to forwarding reports to a "Competent Authority".

3.Lokpal will have no police powers and no ability to register an First Information Report or proceed with criminal investigations.

4.The CBI and Lokpal will be unconnected.

5.Punishment for corruption will be a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of up to 7 years.

Protests : On March 13, 2011, a group of Delhi residents dressed in white shirts and t-shirts drove around the city for four hours in support of an anti-corruption campaign and the passing of a Jan Lokpal Bill.

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare went on hunger strike "unto death" on April 5, 2011, pending the enactment of a Jan Lokpal Bill. Around 6,000 Mumbai residents also began a one-day fast in support of similar demands.Protesters chose yellow as their colour and were seen wearing yellow dresses, T-shirts while waving yellow banners. Inter city protest co-ordination is underway to observe Yellow Sunday.

Hazare also announced plans to start a Jail Bharo Andolan protest on 13 April 2011 if the Jan Lokpal bill is not passed by the government. He also stated that his group has received six crore (60 million) text messages of support and that he has further backing from a large number of Internet activists.

The protests are not associated with any political parties, and Hazare supporters discouraged political leaders from joining the protests, because Hazare believes that political parties were using the campaign for their own political advantage.
 

Drafting Committee :

The drafting committee was officially formed on 8 April 2011. It consists of ten members, including five from the government and five drawn from society.

Chairmen :

The Government of India accepted that the committee be co-chaired by a politician and an activist, non-politician. It is reported that Pranab Mukherjee, from the political arena, and Shanti Bhushan, from civil society, will fill those roles.

Government representation

Five Cabinet ministers will be a part of the Drafting Committee. They are:

Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister, Co-Chairman;
P. Chidambaram, Minister of Home Affairs;
Veerappa Moily, Minister of Corporate Affairs;
Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and Information Technology; and
Salman Khursid, [Minister of minority affairs]
Civil society representationFive leading social activists will be a part of the Drafting Committee. They are:
Shanti Bhushan, Former Minister of Law and Justice, Co-Chairman;
Anna Hazare, Social Activist;
Prashant Bhushan, Lawyer;
N. Santosh Hegde, Lokayukta (Karnataka); and

Arvind Kejriwal.

Above details collected from/Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia

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What people are thinking about Jan Lokpal Bill (Comments - collected from various sites, polling, news etc.) :-

1. TOI Poll gives thumbs down to government's Lokpal Bill

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2. If you look at congress and it's spokespersons attitude , you can easily figure out that these ppl are more interested in trying to convince the nation how problems cannot be solved instead of telling how they can be solved!!!

This is really funny and disgusting at the same time. Congress is under the impression that they can take the whole country for a ride all the time and that a so called "democracy" doesn't see a revolution.. How immature!! They are not able to fathom that, the present mess will lead to revolution much bigger than what happened recently in mid east.

A beautiful quote by Lincoln that perfectly describes Congress is
"You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you cant fool all of the people all the time"

if Sonia Gandhi truly believes in Democrcay , then she should immediately sever her and her coming generations ties from politics. She should openly declare that she quits politics and none of her progeny henceforth will join politics. This is the first step towards DEMOCRATIZATION .


Secondly, we need Presidential Democracy where a person can hold office for at most 2 terms . This is a must and this will prevent the institutionalization if corruption.

To bring about this change , Constitution must be re-written and it's very possible, because constitution reflects the society and it has to change with times. It's not set in stone , nor is it the final word. It needs to incorporate the views of the masses.
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compulsory voting, otherwise fines

education is must for votings
govt funding, with proper party constitution election, proper bank , finanacial accounting
fix term for pm president mla, mp,, above 60 no one be allow in power, big character,,no tax chor, raper,criminal be allowed to contest,,on line informationfor whole politician be made, internet voting,information be given to voter, strong law , ethics for politicians
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Preeti - I also support to Mr. Hazare. Indian Govt. should accept his proposal for the lokpal bill. It's will benefit for our society. Also not that only it is not prepared by one man. It prepared by our most trusted people of India. So accoding to me it will sustain for long period.

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Manish h. shah, 08-Apr-2011, 10:52pm

anna hazare is doing good but i think that his fast his and the our corrupt neta start there corruption agin . beacuse they want india no 1 in corruption at the moment we are at no 4 in corruption. if we are do doing something . my god save this beautiful hindustan ... jsk.....
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kapil sibbal aap bhi 100% vote leke chunke nahi aye.
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Even after 64 years of independence, we haven't liberated ourselves from British set of mentality of choosing corruption as an easy mean to rule over people and the nation. Anna Ji is doing and asking for what we needed almost three-four decades ago. There should be a system in place that ensure stringent punishement or banishment (exile)for corrupt people. It is high time we should stand with Anna Ji against corruption and insist government to bring Lok Pal into existence. Jai Hind

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In essence most of the people in India wants - Strong Jan Lokpal Bill to Check Corruption in India, And Government of India should take effective measures to check corruption.

Most of news sources suggests current Jan Lokpal Bill (Draft) is not so strong to deal with corruption with effectively.