{"id":9870,"date":"2011-08-03T20:08:38","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T20:08:38","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-08-03T20:08:38","modified_gmt":"2011-08-03T20:08:38","slug":"Indian-govt-to-introduce-new-anti-corruption-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=9870","title":{"rendered":"Indian govt to introduce new anti-corruption bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

The much-hyped “Lokpal Bill” would allow citizens to approach a newly-created watchdog with complaints about officials, including federal ministers and senior bureaucrats who are shielded under India’s current laws.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ombudsman (similar to a Congressman) will be picked from the highest levels of the judiciary and supported by 10 other officials who would be from the judiciary or people of “impeccable integrity”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The final version of the bill has been strongly criticized by civil society activists, who were allowed to participate in the drafting process but complained that their views were marginalized.<\/p>\n

In particular, they attacked the decision to remove sitting prime ministers and the higher judiciary from the ombudsman’s purview.<\/p>\n

The conduct of MPs inside parliament is also exempt.<\/p>\n

As soon as the bill was introduced, the leader of the opposition in parliament, Sushma Swaraj, denounced the exclusions.<\/p>\n

“Our categoric position is that the prime minister should also be within the ambit” of the ombudsman, Swaraj said.<\/p>\n

India has a dismal record of bringing corrupt senior public officials to justice.<\/p>\n

In six decades only one senior politician, Rao Shiv Bahadur Singh, has been convicted of graft and served a jail term — for taking a bribe in 1949.<\/p>\n

Current laws require the government’s approval before any sitting bureaucrat or minister can be prosecuted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Civil society efforts to strengthen the bill were spearheaded by a veteran Indian activist, Anna Hazare, who won concessions from the government in April with a 98-hour hunger strike that gained widespread national support.<\/p>\n

As the bill was being introduced in parliament, he symbolically burned a copy in the western city of Pune and said he would start a new fast on August 16.<\/p>\n

“By introducing this weak bill the government has clearly shown that they have no intention to fight corruption,” he said.<\/p>\n

Hunger strikes, a traditional Indian protest, have become a focus of resentment over the corruption that plagues all levels of life in India, from massive government contracts to small daily bribes.<\/p>\n

Maybe the US should adopt some sort of “Lokpal Bill”!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em>
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