he move comes as a safer strategy for the Congress-led coalition government, as the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the communist Left Front have reportedly expressed their dissent against the draft approved by the Union Cabinet on Tuesday.
By designing it as a statutory Lokpal, the government can ensure a smoother passage of the law allowing minimal scope to the Opposition of holding up the anti-corruption law that has taken the centre-stage in Indian politics for many months now.
Media reports quoting unnamed sources said that government's move to keep the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) separate from the proposed ombudsman under the Lokpal Bill has not been welcomed by the BJP.
The right-wing Hindu nationalist party is also unhappy with the domination of government members in the search committee for the nine-member Lokpal (ombudsman) and also seeks a change in the selection panel for the CBI Director.
As per the government’s draft of the Lokpal Bill that is set to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, not only has the CBI’s autonomy been retained, there has been no move to merge either its prosecution or investigation units with the ombudsman.
Instead, the Lokpal has been mandated to have its own inquiry and prosecution wings implying that it will not have any police-like powers to investigate and will be a quasi-judicial body.
However, it will have the power to monitor all graft-related cases referred by it to the CBI and, following the completion of investigations, its prosecution wing will put them up for trial in its own courts.
Corruption crusader Anna Hazare rejected these provisions of the Lokpal Bill on Tuesday, slamming it as the government's “betrayal” and said he would go ahead with his planned hunger strike campaign demanding a strong anti-graft law for three days, starting Dec 27.
However, the three-day fast warning was widely seen as a climb-down from his earlier stance of going on an indefinite hunger strike, although Hazare did say his India Against Corruption (IAC) group were also planning a Jail Bharo (Fill the Jails) movement from Jan 1, 2012.
"The government has gone blind....it can't see the problems and worries of the people. Crores of people have asked them to bring the Lokpal Bill....it can't hear them also because they have gone deaf. So let the government go its way and I will go my way,” he said.
“I have decided that for three days I will fast along with my fellow mates and after three days I will go on jail bharo (court arrest) for three days and following that I will go to the five poll-bound states and campaign there," Hazare said on Tuesday evening.
The government also risks a stronger, more popular backlash if it fails to get the Lokpal Bill passed within the Winter Session of the Parliament that ends on Dec 23, since parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Shiv Sena have vetoed a move for an extension.
The weathered government, battered by scores of corruption scandal exposes and scathing opposition attacks, hopes to dodge public ire as seen in April and August this year, from an increasingly impatient middle class galvanised by Hazare’s campaigns against corruption.
Tag: anticorruption bill in hindustan, anticorruption bill in india, lokpal bil in india, Lokpal bill in 2011, lokpal bill in 2012 , indian lokpal bill, anna hazare lokpal bill, astrology of lokpal india, indian lokpal bill of corruption, recommendation of lokpal standing committe, anna hazare demand of lokpal bill
By designing it as a statutory Lokpal, the government can ensure a smoother passage of the law allowing minimal scope to the Opposition of holding up the anti-corruption law that has taken the centre-stage in Indian politics for many months now.
Media reports quoting unnamed sources said that government's move to keep the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) separate from the proposed ombudsman under the Lokpal Bill has not been welcomed by the BJP.
The right-wing Hindu nationalist party is also unhappy with the domination of government members in the search committee for the nine-member Lokpal (ombudsman) and also seeks a change in the selection panel for the CBI Director.
As per the government’s draft of the Lokpal Bill that is set to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, not only has the CBI’s autonomy been retained, there has been no move to merge either its prosecution or investigation units with the ombudsman.
Instead, the Lokpal has been mandated to have its own inquiry and prosecution wings implying that it will not have any police-like powers to investigate and will be a quasi-judicial body.
However, it will have the power to monitor all graft-related cases referred by it to the CBI and, following the completion of investigations, its prosecution wing will put them up for trial in its own courts.
Corruption crusader Anna Hazare rejected these provisions of the Lokpal Bill on Tuesday, slamming it as the government's “betrayal” and said he would go ahead with his planned hunger strike campaign demanding a strong anti-graft law for three days, starting Dec 27.
However, the three-day fast warning was widely seen as a climb-down from his earlier stance of going on an indefinite hunger strike, although Hazare did say his India Against Corruption (IAC) group were also planning a Jail Bharo (Fill the Jails) movement from Jan 1, 2012.
"The government has gone blind....it can't see the problems and worries of the people. Crores of people have asked them to bring the Lokpal Bill....it can't hear them also because they have gone deaf. So let the government go its way and I will go my way,” he said.
“I have decided that for three days I will fast along with my fellow mates and after three days I will go on jail bharo (court arrest) for three days and following that I will go to the five poll-bound states and campaign there," Hazare said on Tuesday evening.
The government also risks a stronger, more popular backlash if it fails to get the Lokpal Bill passed within the Winter Session of the Parliament that ends on Dec 23, since parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Shiv Sena have vetoed a move for an extension.
The weathered government, battered by scores of corruption scandal exposes and scathing opposition attacks, hopes to dodge public ire as seen in April and August this year, from an increasingly impatient middle class galvanised by Hazare’s campaigns against corruption.
Tag: anticorruption bill in hindustan, anticorruption bill in india, lokpal bil in india, Lokpal bill in 2011, lokpal bill in 2012 , indian lokpal bill, anna hazare lokpal bill, astrology of lokpal india, indian lokpal bill of corruption, recommendation of lokpal standing committe, anna hazare demand of lokpal bill
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