Reform

The Lokpal Bill in Parliament – passes the Lok Sabha, fails in the Rajya Sabha

All through the progress of the Lokpal debate that happened this year, there was a strong feeling – can such a law ever come to pass ? Can a law which has been pushed for 43 years now actually come into force, even if it was not as strong as one would have wished ? As time moved on from April, when the issue came to national prominence, the discussion started getting more focused. But it was the agitation in August that seemed to do the impossible, create a tidal wave of public (and media) pressure that pressured the Government to seem to do something, and it gave a commitment to pass a Lokpal Bill with certain characteristics. But, is it really possible that any political party in India will be serious about the Lokpal ? Think about it – the Lokpal desires to set in place an independent investigating authority that will investigate corruption (and typically, corruption is only associated with the ruling Government machinery and the bureaucracy).
Now, the economics of politics in India is simple. They are almost all in it for the money and influence; and there is no money to be made from the Government unless you have a babu (or multiples babus) who show the path, partake in the corruption, or let it happen and do not raise any objection. So, when you talk about politicians being corrupt, that is not possible without the involvement of the official machinery, and we are asking the Government and other political parties to create an outside agency that seeks to throttle this money making ability. Politicians in India are smart, and they are not about to commit suicide.
So why did the political class agree to setup a Lokpal in August ? Well, they saw a huge wave of anger in terms of a public out to apparently protest wide-spread corruption, and saw that this anger could not be countered by any more denials – instead, the usual method of delay has to be used. Delay is the most potent political weapon that the political class has, to be used for any major controversy, such as the Lokpal issue, or the Telangana issue (which is no longer front page news, and hence is not worthy of needing an immediate resolution).
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Lessons from the Unheard – the Anna Hazare fast and campaign

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5 days into Anna Hazare’s fast and you could surely tell that something was abuzz. You could almost sense the fever wherever you went. Crowds congregating in corners, some distributing pamphlets while others just euphoric about being part of something historic. Some IT parks even witnessed a few of their employees taking out solidarity walks.

In the din of this unspoken frustration, age-old grievances were being raised by various strata of society concerning their plights which we are all too familiar with. It has been said that this agitation has brought the middle class to the fore. However a small promenade into the masses in Ramlila would shatter this premise immediately. The single fact that brought all classes of society together this time is an endemic problem that has plagued our nation since the time of its inception. This in my opinion was the first and most important message that resonated with one voice to the Government.

In the battle that soon ensued, both Civil Society and the Political Class (as being seen elsewhere in the world) took their own extreme positions, waiting for each other to budge. The trump card that Civil Society had was an elderly man on a hunger fast, and that put the ball directly into parliament!! The Government had to budge for this was their only way out of the predicament, they may be smarter though, the next time someone pulls a “fast” on them.
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Farmer’s agitation in Noida gets all the parties involved, but who knows the real issues ?

The ongoing agitation by farmers in the Western Part of Uttar Pradesh is now rocking the entire polity. A few days back, farmers were protesting for a higher amount of compensation / unwilling to surrender their land for commercial purposes in the Greater Noida area of Uttar Pradesh, and as a part of this agitation, there were clashes with the police. The farmers here have a number of retired armymen along with them, and are also fairly active, and as a part of preparing for confrontation, they were prepared with stones, as well as arms. The police swooped down on them, but met active resistance, and in the ensuring clashes, along with the farmers, there were injuries to people on the Government side, including the deaths of 2 policemen. Now, Uttar Pradesh has a police force that is complemented by the PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary), which is pretty infamous. In an earlier such confrontation, the PAC was attacked, and it went on a rampage. In the current case, one does not really know the composition of the attacking Government forces that went on the rampage in the village of Bhatta Parsaul in the Greater Noida area, whether it was a mix of the PAC and other police forces, but the end result was that the village was cordoned off, the media was not allowed to enter for some time, and when the media came in again, they met a scene where the villagers alleged that the police force went on the rampage, attacking everybody, forcing the menfolk away (to the extent that for the last few days, there were no menfolk to be seen in the village). In addition, the leaders of the agitation farmers was being hunted, with a price being set on his head and information being sought for his arrest.
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