Hunger strike by Shri Anna Hazare to introduce Jan Lokpal bill‏

Email sent on 5-Apr-2011
Dear PM,

You said to Shri Hazare that 'I appreciate and share your concern on corruption'. But you will not take any action against corrupt people and allow your party and coalition partners to loot the country. It is bizarre. Corruption is at every level of our society and we need a effective law to put corrupt people behind bar as quickly as possible.  Rajiv Gandhi introduced anti defection law which had so many loop holes that till today it could not stop horse trading. We need independent and autonomous investigative agency free from any kind of political influence. CNN IBN nailed CBI lie on Bofors. CBI told Honourable Supreme Court that it spent Rs 250 crore till 2005 when actual spending was Rs 5 crore. CBI did so under pressure from you.

I am sorry to say that integrity of Shri Hazare is far more than yours. Your only concern is the interest of Gandhi family, Congress party and PM's chair. The reason that you don't want to accept Lokpal bill as proposed by Shri Hazare and other in full is that the proposed bill does not suit our corrupt politicians.

It has been alleged by India against corruption group that 'The latest draft of Lokpal bill prepared by the present UPA government is a complete eyewash. It seeks to completely insulate politicians from any kind of action against them.' I can't agree more with them when I see some of the malicious clauses in the bill as compiled by the group 

• Lokpal will not have any power to either initiate action suo motu in any case or even receive complaints of corruption from general public. The general public will make complaints to the speaker of Lok Sabha or chairperson of Rajya Sabha. Only those complaints forwarded by Speaker of Lok Sabha/ Chairperson of Rajya Sabha to Lokpal would be investigated by Lokpal - Lokpal should be like CBI with proper infrastructure.
• Lokpal, after enquiry in any case, will forward its report to the competent authority. The competent authority will have final powers to decide whether to take action on Lokpal’s report or not. In the case of cabinet ministers, the competent authority is Prime Minister. In the case of PM and MPs the competent authority is Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha - Just scrap this stupid clause.
• Lokpal should have power to investigate, arrest and prosecute any MP, MLA, Panchayat, municipality member, police officer, judges and bureaucrats
• There is a strong punishment for “frivolous” complaints. If any complaint is found to be false and frivolous, Lokpal will have the power to send the complainant to jail through summary trial but if the complaint were found to be true, the Lokpal will not have the power to send the corrupt politicians to jail - It is a draconian clause. Should be scrapped.
• Lokpal will have jurisdiction only on MPs, ministers and PM. It will not have jurisdiction over officers - It must have jurisdiction over any elected member in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Assembly, Municipality, Panchyat, police, judges and bureaucrats, acting or retired.
• Lokpal will consist of three members, all of them being retired judges - Each state should have Lokpal consisting of at least 20 members. Please don't forget that we have half million acting and retired corrupt politicians, police officers, bureaucrats and judges. Members should be not only from retired judges but also from other background.
• The selection committee consists of Vice President, PM, Leaders of both houses, Leaders of opposition in both houses, Law Minister and Home minister - Medmbers of Lokpal should be selected by panel of 50 non political celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, Kiran Bedi, P C Sarkar, Amartya Sen and many others.
• Whereas a time limit of six months to one year has been prescribed for Lokpal to enquire, however, subsequently, there is no time limit prescribed for completion of trial - We should make heavy use of technology like brain mapping which should be accepted as evidence in the court of law. 80% of the trials should be completed in 1 year. Remaining 20% may be completed maximum of 2 years.
• Lokpal will have the powers to investigate any kind crime committed by politicians, police, judges and bureaucrats be it money laundering, harassment of whistleblowers, failure to public grievance redressal system to name few.
• Punishment should range from jail term of 5 to 25 years, freezing of assets to recover stolen money, hefty fines, demotion etc 

Sir, Corruption perception index of India for 2010 is only 3.3. We are 87th most corrupt country in the world. In 2009 CPI was 3.4. If you don't want to introduce lokpal bill as amended by India against corruption group, what is your strategy to improve CPI to 7 in next two years?

Thanks Satyaki
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