LOKPAL VS, CORRUPTION

Lokpal vs Corruption

Lokpal can be effective if the people are ready for ending corruption. In a parliamentary system of democracy it is the political will that must stand for ending corruption. Devoid of this, instituting Lokapal system, RTI, measurers to implement transparency and good governance will all prove ineffective in ending corruption.

In India our legislators, judiciary and bureaucracy are all corrupt. Transparency International points out; legislators are the most corrupt. In India, it is more so. In our legislature elections, each candidate has to meet a million voters for the parliament election. In state elections the number is more than a lakh. To meet all voters within the limited period, to organize public and corner meetings, to get printouts for distribution among the voters and for transport of the candidate and his supporters to the meetings the candidate requires large funds. No one will give his money to another free. There is price for all the money he receives for the propaganda. MP / MLA is bound to be corrupt to amass these resources to pay the supporters and voters. Umpteen are their corruption methods. The election process has to be revamped to free the MP/MLA from this predicament.

In India Rule of Law absolves everyone from guilt. No one is guilty until guilt is proved unequivocally in the court of law. Judicial process in India is circumlocutory, long drawn and hence ineffective. Any culprit can drag on his case till the decision become ineffective. In the Rajiv Gandhi murder case the legal battle was prolonged all these 23 years. Now Karuna Nidhi is demanding the release of the murderers on the argument that they have been in jail all these years as under-trial prisoners. The most abominable aspect is that some of these interpreters of law are corrupt. The tragedy is that even the Supreme Court Judiciary is not exempt from this allegation.

Indian Executive and Bureaucracy machine in general is redtape bound, lethargic and slow moving. In our system, faults and failures of commission and omission are magnified and punished. Successes and achievements are trivialized and rarely appreciated and awarded. Most of the bureaucrats are pen-pushers. They shirk from responsibility to avoid failures and consequent punishments. They have organized themselves into powerful trade unions to protect their rights, This has gone to the other extreme of holding the State and the people on ransom by organizing national, state-wise or local bandhs, agitations, samarams and destruction of property, The loss in GDP and infrastructure run to billions. Post and telegraph workers, bank employees, transport workers, and now; all kinds of service personnel; Government and N G Os, organize such agitations

India is a vast country of 123 crores. In the Indian quantity-constrained regime all these are bound to happen. The supply of services, service personnel and goods are far less than the demand for them. Both suppliers and demanders equally do out of priority supply / demand for under the table payments and kimbalams. Increasing the supply of goods and service personnel to cater to the demand is the method to end corruption.

Face book and twitter made tens of thousands to assemble in the Cairo square in Egypt to oust Hosnie Mubarak. Anna Hazare gang tried the same technique to create such a din and bustle in Delhi. This made Anna a demagogue. The fourth estate and all varieties of media is the only beneficiary in such ho-hoi. Such gimmicks and Lok Pal cannot end corruption. It is not as simple as dethroning a ruler. Ending corruption not only require a strong political will, but also an increase in supply of services and goods to satisfy the millions of demanders. An RTI Act, Lok Pal Bill, Transparency of governance are all half –hearted measures that can not end corruption.

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