Anna Hazare

Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare, (Marathi: ) (born 15 January 1940), popularly known as Anna Hazare, is an Indian social activist who is especially recognized for his contribution to the development of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India and his efforts for establishing it as a model village, for which he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by Government of India, in 1992. On April 5, 2011, Anna Hazare has started a 'fast unto death', to exert pressure on the Government of India to enact a strong anti-corruption act as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a law that will establish a Lokpal (ombudsman) that will have the power to deal with corruption in public offices. Early life Anna Hazare was born in Bhingar village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra state in western India to Baburao Hazare and Laxmi Bai, an unskilled labourer family who owned five acres of land. He has two sisters. Due to adverse conditions in 1952 they had to move to their family home in Ralegan Siddhi. He was raised by his childless aunt in Mumbai but could not continue beyond VII standard and had to quit midway due to financial problems. Jan Lokpal Bill

In India, the Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's ombudsman Bill) is a draft anticorruption bill that would pave the way for a Jan Lokpal, an independent body like the Election Commission, which would have the power to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without government permission.[1] The bill has been drafted by Shanti Bhushan, former IPS Kiran Bedi, Justice N. Santosh Hegde, renowned advocate Prashant Bhushan, former chief election commissioner J. M. Lyngdoh in consultation with the leaders of the India Against Corruption movement and the civil society. The bill proposes institution of the office of Lokpal (Ombudsman) at center and Lok Ayukta at state level. Jan Lokpal Bill is designed to create an effective anti-corruption and grievance redressal systems at centre and to assure that effective deterrent is created against corruption and to provide effective protection to whistleblowers. The Lokpal Bill drafted by the government has languished in the Rajya Sabha for 42 years.[4] The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969 but could not get through in Rajya Sabha. Subsequently, Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008. Yet none of these bills were ever passed. India Against Corruption India Against Corruption (IAC) is a people's movement to demand comprehensive reforms of anti-corruption systems in India. Several eminent citizens have come together to force the Government of India to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill This initiative is supported by several eminent citizens of India including religious leaders, Right To Information Activists, social reformers and bureaucrats. Strategy Against Corruption Inspired from Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption the leaders of the IAC initiative have prepared a draft Jan Lokpal Bill. The Jan Lokpal Bill provides for a strong, efficient and politically independent institutions, the Lokpal and the Lokayuktas for investigation of corruption charges against public officials and politicians. The bill also provides for time bound grievance redressal and speedy investigation. In March 2011, the organization sent an open letter to PM Manmohan Singh and Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for a CBI probe as

recommended by Central government committee into "irregularities in the forest department", and into the harassment of IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi. Vote Bank Against Corruption The India Against Corruption initiative is creating a Vote Bank (Vote For India). They encourage Indian citizens to register on this website and take a pledge that they will not vote for a party which does not pass the Jan Lokpal bill. Political Support Several political parties have come to support the movement for Jan Lokpal Bill. Political leaders from different parties Sudhakar Reddy, A B Bardhan, Abani Roy (Left front), H D Devegowda (JDS) Mysora Reddy (TDP) and Jayant Chowdhry (RLD) signed a joint statement indicating their support to the movement.

Jan Lokpal Bill The Jan Lokpal Bill was drafted to counter the dilutions in the government sponsored Lokpal Bill. Main architect of the Jan Lokpal Bill is Shanti Bhushan. Need India is one of the top three economies in the world, but looking at corruption, India sinks to number 87; refer to the Corruption Perceptions Index. In other words it means 86 other nations have less corruption than India. Corruption plays a significant role in keeping poverty, illiteracy and other social ills in place.

The Jan Lokpal Bill proposes the Lokpal to be instituted as a ten member body along with its officers and other employees. The bill provides for the appointment of the Chairperson and members of the Lokpal within six

months of enacting the bill. Predictable vacancies in Lokpal are to be filled in advance at least before three months of such vacancy. Unpredictable vacancies are to be filled within one month of such vacancy. Timeline of events in support of the bill March 13, 2011 A group of Delhi residents dressed in white shirts and t-shirts took a four-hour drive around the city to drum up campaign against corruption and support the Jan Lokpal Bill. April 4, 2011 Anna Hazare, the anti corruption activist leader announces fast unto death till Jan Lokpal Bill enacted April 5, 2011 Around 6,000 Mumbai residents joined Anna Hazare for a one-day fast to support the demand for implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill. April 12, 2011 Hazare has announced to start the Jail Bharo Andolan on 12th April, 2011 if the Jan Lokpal bill is not passed by the government. Prominent Non Political Supporters Prominent persons with mass appeal are also favoring the movement. Spiritual

Sri Sri RaviShankar - Spritual leader & Founder of The Art Of Living movment Yog Guru Ramdev - Popular yoga guru and social activist

Activist

Anna Hazare - Eminent social activist

Arvind Kejriwal - Magsaysay award winner Kiran Bedi - Magsaysay award winner, social activist and a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Swami Agnivesh - social activist

Political support The protests are non political in nature. The political parties are being discouraged to take advantage of the issue. The response of prominent political parties and leaders is:

Bhartya Janta Party have extended support to the bill. The principal opposition demanded that the Centre convene an all-party meeting to discuss the Jan Lokpal Bill issue. Uma Bharti and Chautala tried to visit the Jantar Mantar. But both of them were booed by the people. They had to leave the agitation area immediately as people did not want them to be there. Also, Anna Hazare did not allow them to sit on the dais as it was feared that these politicians will misuse the platform for their own benefit. Jayaprakash Narayan (Lok Satta) - Ex-IAS officer, Social Reformer and Politician

Public support Anna Hazare states that they have received six crore (60 million) SMSes in its support.He is further supported by a large number of Internet activists, similar to Egypt Government response

The government have stated that it has not received the proposed bill copy and it doesn't seem in a hurry to acknowledge the issue. After the fast unto death was announced by Anna Hazare, he was invited for talks by the PM, but the response was bad as the PM said the government has no time for corruption till May 13. To dissuade the veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare from going on an indefinite fast, the Prime Minister's Office have directed the ministries of personnel and law to examine how the views of civil society activists can be included in the lokpal bill. The National advisory Council is against the government on the Lokpal bill. On the 5th April 2011, the National Advisory Council rejected the Lokpal bill draft of the government. Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday met social activists Swami Agnivesh and Arvind Kejriwal to find ways to bridge differences on the anti-graft Lokpal Bill.

Status of bill The government is again thinking of introducing a Lokpal Bill in parliament this year, and the National Advisory Council (NAC) chaired by Sonia Gandhi is considering it. But as it stands today, the bill is riddled with loopholes, defeating its very purpose. Criticism of U.P.A's Lokpal bill 1. 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. This not only severely restricts the functioning of Lokpal, it also provides a tool in the hands of the ruling party to have only those cases referred to Lokpal which pertain to political opponents (since speaker is always from the ruling party). It will also provide a tool in the hands of the ruling party to protect its own politicians.

2. Lokpal has been proposed to be an advisory body. 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 Lokpals 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, as the case may be. In the coalition era when the government of the day depends upon the support of its political partners, it will be impossible for the PM to act against any of his cabinet ministers on the basis of Lokpals report. 3. The bill is legally unsound. Lokpal has not been given police powers. Therefore Lokpal cannot register an FIR. Therefore all the enquiries conducted by Lokpal will tantamount to preliminary enquiries. Even if the report of Lokpal is accepted, who will file the chargesheet in the court? Who will initiate prosecution? Who will appoint the prosecution lawyer? The entire bill is silent on that. 4. The bill does not say what will be the role of CBI after this bill. Can CBI and Lokpal investigate the same case or CBI will lose its powers to investigate politicians? If the latter is true, then this bill is meant to completely insulate politicians from any investigations whatsoever which are possible today through CBI. 5. 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! So the bill appears to be meant to browbeat, threaten and discourage those fighting against corruption.

6. Lokpal will have jurisdiction only on MPs, ministers and PM. It will not have jurisdiction over officers. The officers and politicians do not indulge in corruption separately. In any case of corruption, there is always an involvement of both of them. So according to governments proposal, every case would need to be investigated by both CVC and Lokpal. So now, in

each case, CVC will look into the role of bureaucrats while Lokpal will look into the role of politicians. Obviously the case records will be with one agency and the way government functions it will not share its records with the other agency. It is also possible that in the same case the two agencies arrive at completely opposite conclusions. Therefore it appears to be a sure way of killing any case. 7. Lokpal will consist of three members, all of them being retired judges. There is no reason why the choice should be restricted to judiciary. By creating so many post retirement posts for judges, the government will make the retiring judges vulnerable to government influences just before retirement as is already happening in the case of retiring bureaucrats. The retiring judges, in the hope of getting post retirement employment would do the bidding of the government in their last few years. 8. The selection committee consists of Vice President, PM, Leaders of both houses, Leaders of opposition in both houses, Law Minister and Home minister. Barring Vice President, all of them are politicians whose corruption Lokpal is supposed to investigate. So there is a direct conflict of interest. Also selection committee is heavily loaded in favor of the ruling party. Effectively ruling party will make the final selections. And obviously ruling party will never appoint strong and effective Lokpal. 9. Lokpal will not have powers to investigate any case against PM, which deals with foreign affairs, security and defence. This means that corruption in defence deals will be out of any scrutiny whatsoever. It will become impossible to investigate into any Bofors in future. Anna Hazare's Role Social worker Anna Hazare has declared to go on an indefinite fast starting 5th April, 2011 to persuade Government of India to introduce and enact the Jan Lokpal Bill in place of the government proposed Lokpal Bill.