Newspapers all across the country are filled with this new thing called the "Jan Lokpal Bill" & somehow the public seams to have formed a new Gandhi in form of Mr. Anna Hazare. Sitting back in the hostel, I happened to be a part of one of the late night discussions.
One of the most interesting part of this lokpal bill is the rising support of people sick & tired or corruption ruining the future of this country. Yes, it is the need of the hour, we can't let India's future be written with Scamonomic studies all over. We can't allow ministers & diplomats swiping us clean of the tax payer money. An anti-corruption body is indeed the need of the hour & the Lokpal bill seams the best alternate.
While agreeing to all these facts, I was just pondering over things when something just started giving me hiccups. That is the element of democracy in this whole propaganda. Mr. Anna Hazare says that most of the governments are corrupt & even the Prime Minister needs to be kept under a check & we all agree. Yet, just a small argument to ponder upon : Is the prime-minister & the government not the elected representative of the 1.2 Billion population of our country? Is it not we choose this government? Do we really need a body or a person who stands above our right of choice?
Also, if the prime-minister & the union government which is elected by the entire country & which remains under the constant watchful eyes of the media, can turn to means of corruption then what guarantee does any citizen of the country possess that the Lokpal shall always be a honest man? For the sake of progress & anti-corruption, can we pass on so many powers to a authority which god forbid, if misused can be an essential threat to our democracy in itself. If the Lokpal has the authority with the suo-moto powers shall take on the executive wing of the democracy, with having a right to give punishment upto life imprisonment it virtually takes control of the judiciary. Does this not impose the a great threat to the biggest democracy in the world?
Every one likes India Shining, but at what cost?
Do think about it it!!!
One of the most interesting part of this lokpal bill is the rising support of people sick & tired or corruption ruining the future of this country. Yes, it is the need of the hour, we can't let India's future be written with Scamonomic studies all over. We can't allow ministers & diplomats swiping us clean of the tax payer money. An anti-corruption body is indeed the need of the hour & the Lokpal bill seams the best alternate.
While agreeing to all these facts, I was just pondering over things when something just started giving me hiccups. That is the element of democracy in this whole propaganda. Mr. Anna Hazare says that most of the governments are corrupt & even the Prime Minister needs to be kept under a check & we all agree. Yet, just a small argument to ponder upon : Is the prime-minister & the government not the elected representative of the 1.2 Billion population of our country? Is it not we choose this government? Do we really need a body or a person who stands above our right of choice?
Also, if the prime-minister & the union government which is elected by the entire country & which remains under the constant watchful eyes of the media, can turn to means of corruption then what guarantee does any citizen of the country possess that the Lokpal shall always be a honest man? For the sake of progress & anti-corruption, can we pass on so many powers to a authority which god forbid, if misused can be an essential threat to our democracy in itself. If the Lokpal has the authority with the suo-moto powers shall take on the executive wing of the democracy, with having a right to give punishment upto life imprisonment it virtually takes control of the judiciary. Does this not impose the a great threat to the biggest democracy in the world?
Every one likes India Shining, but at what cost?
Do think about it it!!!
Well Written!
ReplyDeleteAs much as I appreciate the sense of public uprising and camaraderie created by Anna Hazare , I am a little skeptical about The Lokpal Bill itself , it doesn't have all bases cleared and there are a lot of loopholes which need to be addressed, like the sense of supreme authority to The Lokpal as you mentioned! These are loopholes which need to be filled.
Keep Writing!
""Is the prime-minister & the government not the elected representative of the 1.2 Billion population of our country? Is it not we choose this government? Do we really need a body or a person who stands above our right of choice? ""
ReplyDeleteDo we really have a choice?Its like you have Devil A and Devil B and you have to choose among them.The thing is,they are devils,and no matter which you choose,its devil anyways.Having someone watching over them wouldnt make much of a difference acc. to me.If they can survive the media,Lokpal isnt a big deal
Jasjot as per your theories of the devil. You have proofs to tell me how almost every government has acted as a devil more than its predecessor however the point to be understood is that the scene ain't all that pessimistic. West Bengal has opted out a 34 years ruling government. Change is available only if we wish to adapt to it which is most cases we don't. So, even if its about choosing amongst devils are we really willing to let our option of choice go away & accept it all as fate? And are we willing to allow somebody not to respect our choice of the devil is something that really needs consideration as it is just this power of vote (the choice) that we have gained after all those years of our freedom struggle. Are we willing to let go of it?
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I came across with one of my discussions with somebody was, however this devil might just be ( not talking of corrupt in this case, but talking about all the worthy illiterate, inefficient ministers of ours), they are the "Chosen One" by a decent section of our society. We have to respect their power of choice no matter if that choice maybe "Laalu Prasad Yadav" as this section of our society enjoys equal right to freedom & equality as any of us. If we don't respect their choice what we are really implementing is gonna be called the "The White Man's Burden" in some form or the other.
ReplyDeleteJust making things a bit more in prospective, imagine if we were to form a national forum for improvement of technical education (completely hypothetical), which had to consist of 1 representative from each college of India. Now just imagine if an IITian would mock down the CEC representative & not hear his opinion or in fact, maybe just disqualify him , ain't a unfair to our college & a breach to our rights which would rather not be accepted. The same is the case with these honorable ministers of our, whom we have to respect to respect India at large.