FIRSTPOST YOUSPEAK
Wednesday, May 22nd 08:23 PM IST
Gallery
Lokpal Bill GALLERY.
strongNew Delhi/strong: Samajwadi Party said it will strongly oppose the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, holding it was against the very basis of democracy. We are strongly opposed to the very concept of Lokpal. People who are elected by the people in elections are dishonest and only the Lokpal is honest. This is against the very basis of democracy, SP leader Naresh Agrawal told reporters here. He was asked to comment on the tabling of the report of a Select Committee which went into the Lokpal Bill. In the last session also, Agrawal was the first to oppose it in Rajya Sabha and had sought to bring a motion for referring the Bill to a 15-member select committee of the House. Agrawal said the issue of creating a Lokpal has been there since the times of Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee but it was not implemented then and why it should be implemented now. [caption id=attachment_533232 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi/strong: Samajwadi P
Before we forget the Delhi rape, remember Lokpal. It's precisely one year, to the day, since a href=http://www.firstpost.com/politics/stop-dreaming-of-a-lokpal-our-mps-just-gave-us-a-kick-168551.htmlemFirstpost's/em Venky Vembu/a wrote this piece 'Stop dreaming of a Lokpal! Our MPs just gave us a 'kick'. Today, the Lokpal is all but forgotten, postponed each session of parliament to the next. Now, as the winter session of parliament ends, it has been scheduled for the budget session. In early December 2011, there seemed to be no doubt that the Lokpal Bill would be passed thanks to the intense pressure from Team Anna, an apparently angry news media and citizens at large. The only debate was ona href=http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-lokpal-and-lokayukta-bill-2011-2146/ how different the version passed would be from Team Anna's version/a. Politicians knew better. They understand the short memories of the news media - and of the citizens. [caption id=attachment_573044 align=alignleft width=380 Before we forget the Delhi rape, re
The government has finally set the stage for the passage of the controversial Lokpal Bill in the Budget session of Parliament. The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the draft of the bill with some amendments proposed by the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha. There are, however, some issues like the government's discretion in transferring an investigating officer of a case without seeking the consent of Lokpal over which the opposition could raise an objection. Anna Hazare has already threatened a fresh agitation. The draft has also done away with Part III of the bill, which dealt with Lokayukta in the states. Several parties and state governments had opposed the provision seeking formation of Lokpal and Lokayukta under one central Act. On the basis of the recommendations of the parliamentary Select Committee, the government has inserted Section 63, which seeks setting up of the institution of Lokayukta through enactment of a law by the State Legislature within a period of 365 days from the date of commencement of the Act. It also did not accept the Select Committee's recommendation excluding NGOs from Lokpal's scrutiny. [caption id=attachment_609213 align=alignleft width=380 The government has finally set the
The Union Cabinet has given the go ahead to the amended Lokpal Bill and there is a fair chance that it would be cleared in Parliament soon. Now, Anna Hazare must wipe off that grumpy look and sport a smile. Admitted, the bill in its present form is disappointing. It does not make CBI or CVC independent bodies; it makes Lokpal toothless and not entirely free from government control; it leaves political parties out of the purview of the ombudsman; and it separates Lokayukta in states from Lokpal at the centre. This is not what Hazare had fasted for. But a small beginning is better than no beginning at all. Changes could be brought later on. If the country gets the institution of Lokpal finally, Anna Hazare deserves the credit for it, well most of it since one cannot ignore the role of activists like of Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi. However, it was on his frail shoulders that the entire agitation over the anti-corruption ombudsman rested. He was the moral force behind it. It was the appeal of his persona - innocent, sincere, honest and grandfatherly - that drew the youth to the movement and made it the phenomenon that it was. [caption id=attachment_609151 align=alignleft width=380 The Union Cabinet has given the go
strongNew Delhi/strong: Lokpal will have power to grant sanction to initiate prosecution against a public servant, a parliamentary committee has recommended, seeking to amend a provision in the bill which said no previous sanction was required for the ombudsman to bring charges. The recommendation of the Rajya Sabha Select Committee on Lokpal comes against the backdrop of the stand taken by the government that the provision in the Lokpal Bill to do away with previous sanction was against the principle of protection. ...The proposal to do away with the requirement of previous sanction...where prosecution is proposed by Lokpal, would be against the principle of protection needed for the public servants, the Law Ministry had told the Committee when it was scrutinising the Bill passed by Lok Sabha . The constitutional protection available to civil servants under Articles 311 and 320, clause 3(C) of the Constitution would also be adversely affected by the provisions of the proposed law, the Ministry had said. [caption id=attachment_534775 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi/strong: Lokpal will
The Cabinet today approved fourteen amendments to the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill that had been suggested by the Select Committee and rejected two suggestions, one of them related to transferring of CBI officials. The Cabinet had agreed to allow the Lokpal to prosecute persons against whom cases were filed, but the ombudsman would have no hold on the transfer of CBI officials who were investigating them, Minister V Narayanasamy told reporters today. One thing we did not agree on was about officers investigating cases referred by Lokpal. The select committee had recommended that without the permission of the Lokpal the officer should not be transferred. We did not agree on this, the minister said. The CBI is an independent investigating agency and since it already had a fixed manner in which it operated the agency should be allowed to transfer officials as required, Narayanasamy said. [caption id=attachment_608988 align=alignleft width=380 The Cabinet today approved fourteen
Anti corruption activist Anna Hazare has lashed at the government draft of the Lokpal bill that has been accepted by the Rajya Sabha, ahead of what promises to be yet another tumultuous Parliament session. emZee news/em reported that Hazare had said that the government Lokpal would not eradicate corruption, and was only fit for the dustbin. The Rajya Sabha Select Committee on Monday adopted its draft report on the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill. The Select Committee has suggested bringing Prime Minister under the purview of Lokpal. It also suggested that Lokayuktas be set up within a year. The report will be tabled within the first week of the winter session. [caption id=attachment_529080 align=alignleft width=380 Anti corruption activist Anna Hazar
strong9.20 am: Draft Lokpal bill to be tabled in Rajya Sabha /strong Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, is scheduled to table the Parliamentary select committee's draft Lokpal bill in the Rajya Sabha once Parliament resumes today. That is of course, assuming that any work actually gets done, and the sessions in the Upper House do not suffer the same fate they did yesterday. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day at 12 noon yesterday after Opposition MPs created a ruckus in the house. After its passage in the Lok Sabha last year, the Lokpal bill faced opposition hurdles in the Rajya Sabha on various provisions, following which it was referred to the Select Committee. The panel, which was to submit its report during the monsoon session, adopted it on 19 November. [caption id=attachment_532687 align=alignleft width=380 strong9.20 am: Draft Lokpal bill to
One of the many ways in which the UPA government has effectively scuttled the campaigns against corruption led, first, by Team Anna and, subsequently, by Baba Ramdev is by tossing out diversionary red herrings that had little or no bearing on the larger issue but which effectively divided the campaigners - and sabotaged the movement. Thus, for instance, at a critical stage of the discussions centred around the office of the Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman that was envisaged under the Lokpal Bill, the constituents of the UPA introduced a caste quota provision for the Lokpal panel. Leaders who thrive in politics by playing the casteist card held up parliamentary proceedings to demand that the Lokpal panel should represent the social reality of India - that is, be sliced and diced along caste lines. Even more hypocritical was the demand from some leaders - the names of Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav leap to mind - that the Lokpal panel provide quotas for women as well. The irony of this demand was that these very leaders had thrown a colossal tantrum in Parliament a few years ago to ensure that a bill to provide reservation for women in parliament was defeated. [caption id=attachment_423582 align=alignleft width=380 One of the many ways in which the U
Hopefully, the anger over the Delhi rape will not fizzle out as has been the case with the non-passing of the Lokpal Bill and the rage over the various scams that have plagued the nation. Why this particular rape and not any of the thousands of others ignited the anger is impossible to fathom, but it has captured the imagination of the public, both of men and of women. As was the case with the Lokpal Bill, the political classes, especially the ruling UPA, and more especially the Congress party, have been caught flat-footed. In the case of the Lokpal Bill, politicians conned a trusting citizenry into believing that they were sincere in their commitment to a strong anti-corruption bill and then pulled the rug a href=http://www.firstpost.com/politics/stop-dreaming-of-a-lokpal-our-mps-just-gave-us-a-kick-168551.htmlat the last minute/a. [caption id=attachment_573748 align=alignleft width=380 Hopefully, the anger over the Delhi
strongNew Delhi:/strong Activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal today criticised the UPA government for not coming out with a strong Lokpal bill, asserting that the proposed law would not check corruption. Why should you have any Lokpal? If an agency is created which will not stop corruption, will lead to increased corruption and provide protection to ministers, then what is the point, he told reporters here. We were not interested in just the word Lokpal. You can name it anything. The government has not done a favour to the people of the country (by the bill). It is the government's constitutional duty to give a corruption-free regime, he said. [caption id=attachment_608955 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi:/strong Activist-tu
strongPatna:/strong Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare today said assurances like the one by Sonia Gandhi that Lokpal Bill would be passed in the budget session of Parliament were being made for the past two years and said intentions of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress President on it were 'not clear'. Such letters and assurances (like the one by Sonia Gandhi) are coming for the past two years. Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier too written such letters to me promising to pass the Lokpal bill, Hazare told reporters here. (Their) intention is not clear ... They have been cheating people time and again ... If they had been honest one or at best two parliamentary sessions would have been sufficient to do it (pass the Lokpal bill), he said. [caption id=attachment_606377 align=alignleft width=380 strongPatna:/strong Anti-corruption
The leaders of the Opposition in both houses of Parliament have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to cancel the appointment of the new CBI director Ranjit Sinha, saying it was unfair for the government to appoint him days before the adoption of the Select Committee's draft report on the Lokpal bill, which set out an entirely new process in this regard. The Select Committee is learnt to have recommended that the CBI chief be appointed by a collegium comprising of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India. Technically, the government was not wrong to have appointed Ranjit Sinha under current law, especially given the fact that the Lokpal Bill has not been passed. But the BJP is arguing that the government was morally incorrect in deciding to appoint the director days ahead of the tabling of the Lokpal Bill. Sinha was appointed on 22 November. [caption id=attachment_533235 align=alignleft width=380 The leaders of the Opposition in bo
Social activist and face of the movement seeking the formation of the Lokpal, Anna Hazare today called the Lokpal Bill to be sent to Parliament a betrayal of the nation and said he was prepared to launch another agitation against it I call it cheating because the government had issued a gazette and formed a committee, that we were part of, which did not meet for even three months, Hazare said. Hazare said he wasn't afraid of launching another agitation at Ramlila Maidan around the time of the next election if the government failed to form a strong Lokpal. [caption id=attachment_610310 align=alignleft width=380 Social activist and face of the mov
strongFarukhabad:/strong Union Law minister Salman Khurshid has said that the Centre was ready to pass the Lokpal Bill by consensus and was making all efforts in this regard. The Lokpal Bill cannot be passed through agitations...We are ready to pass the Bill by consensus and all efforts are being made in this regard...Anna Hazare is ignoring the fact that UPA did not have a majority in Rajya Sabha, Khurshid said talking to reporters here last evening after attending an 'Iftar' function. [caption id=attachment_395418 align=alignleft width=380 strongFarukhabad:/strong Union Law
strongNew Delhi:/strong The much-hyped Lokpal Bill will be delayed further with the government today saying it will bring the measure in the Rajya Sabha in the Budget Session with required amendments in the light of the report of the Select Committee. Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy said in the Upper House that the Bill will be brought in the next session after the Opposition protested over the non-tabling of the report of the Select Committee. Government has to take Cabinet into confidence. Government will bring it (Lokpal Bill) in the budget session with required amendments as given by the Select Committee. Then the House can consider it, he said. [caption id=attachment_563120 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi:/strong The much-hy
strongPatna/strong: Anna Hazare today rejected the amended Lokpal bill approved by the Union Cabinet as a farce and announced he will launch another agitation if the government went ahead with the enactment of a weak legislation. The 75-year-old anti-graft activist also questioned UPA government's commitment to root out corruption in the country, saying he does not trust Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to bring a stringent Bill for creating an anti-corruption ombudsman. Both PM and Sonia Gandhi can no more be trusted to bring a stringent Lokpal bill to root out corruption ... Had they been committed to the issue it would not have taken two years to take a concrete decision in this regard, Hazare told reporters here. [caption id=attachment_609099 align=alignleft width=380 strongPatna/strong: Anna Hazare tod
The cabinet today approved the amended draft of the Lokpal bill but there was no discussion on any ordinance. The matter was considered at length. The cabinet has given its approval to Lokpal Bill. The recommendations of the Select Committee (of the Rajya Sabha) have been broadly accepted, Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar told emCNN-IBN/em.[caption id=attachment_608801 align=alignleft width=380 The cabinet today approved the amen
strongNew Delhi:/strong The much-hyped Lokpal bill could be tabled in Rajya Sabha in the ongoing monsoon session if a parliamentary panel looking into the legislation gives its report before the end of the session, the government said today. I am told that the select committee could probably give its report on Lokpal bill by 3 September. If it happens, we will bring the bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told reporters here. [caption id=attachment_411735 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi:/strong The much-hy
Attorney general Goolam E Vahanvati has warned that some of the provisions in the Lokpal Bill on probing complaints of corruption could be challenged in courts and suggested changes to avoid this pitfall. In his deposition before the Rajya Sabha select committee on the bill, the attorney general said the procedure suggested for an investigating agency to submit its inquiry report to the anti-corruption watchdog for further action could lead to complications. Citing an example, he is learnt to have said that if the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Lokpal differed on closure of a case, the accused could allege discrimination and approach the courts for legal remedy. [caption id=attachment_525531 align=alignleft width=380 Attorney general Goolam E Vahanvati
strongNew Delhi:/strong The government on Thursday gave ex post-facto approval to some official amendments to the Lokpal Bill moved in the Rajya Sabha earlier this year. One of the amendments included applicability of Lokpal Bill to a state only upon passing a resolution by the state legislature. [caption id=attachment_548604 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi:/strong The governm
Yes, the goalpost has changed for Team Anna says Prashant Bhushan. In an a href=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=Ws250712Interview.asp target=_blankinterview/a with emTehelka/em, Bhushan says while the team of course wants a Lokpal Bill it also understands they will not get a Lokpal immediately. The new goalpost? An investigation agency to go after the 15 Union ministers being accused of corruption. The rationale? Without the removal of these ministers we won't get the Lokpal says Bhushan. (Read the full interview a href=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=Ws250712Interview.asp target=_blankhere/a.) That's where it becomes a bit of chicken and egg since some of these same ministers were also the one who introduced the Bill in the Lok Sabha. But Bhushan says that's because they could push for a bill that was toothless enough to serve their interest. [caption id=attachment_391571 align=alignleft width=380 Yes, the goalpost has changed for T
With a renewed surge of support for the Team Anna protest over the weekend, Anna Hazare who joined a fast unto death swore that he did not mind dying for the cause of the country. My team had told me not to fast citing health reasons. When over 400 people are on fast, I cannot ignore them and not be on fast. Yesterday also my team appealed to me not to fast but I am sitting on fast from now. I consider I have your permission, said Anna to a crowd of around 6000 people who gathered at Jantar Mantar on Sunday. The government is alleging that we are deviating from our aim but it is the government which is moving away from its path. Our main demand is to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed. Till all the 15 corrupt ministers are sitting in Parliament, the Lokpal Bill will not be passed, he said. I am ready to sacrifice my life for the cause, Hazare added. [caption id=attachment_395572 align=alignleft width=380 With a renewed surge of support for
There is much to admire in Arvind Kejriwal. As he demonstrated during the campaign for the Jan Lokpal Bill, he burns with a fiery idealism that is somewhat rare in today's politics. Anna Hazare may have been the visible face of that movement, but Kejriwal was a key member of the 'brains trust', and, more than anyone else in that campaign, was engaged in the nuts-and-bolts of drawing the contours of an effective, independent anti-corruption agency. And although Kejriwal is not a lyrical orator, he has the capacity to distill complex ideas and present them to young audiences in a manner that inspires them to abandon their apathy and be a part of a larger cause. And if the Jan Lokpal issue was one of the rare instances when many young people became engaged in discussions on the micro-minutiae of law-making and the legislative process, the credit for that goes to Kejriwal. The man is something of a policy wonk, who is ever ready to go into clause-by-clause discussions and debates in the hope of persuading you of the merits of his case. For him, God strongis/strong in the details, and often reveals Himself in Clause 4, Subsection (3)(a)(ii) . As someone who watched him closely during the Jan Lokpal Bill campaign - and, I admit - was persuaded by his arguments on the need for a strong anti-corruption agency modelled on the Hong Kong and Singapore experiences, I know that he is often so fixated on the ideal objective that he is bullheaded enough to overlook the practical limitations that inhibit their attainment. [caption id=attachment_534506 align=alignleft width=380 There is much to admire in Arvind K
strongNew Delhi:/strong Aam Aadmi Party chief ArvindKejriwal today tore into the amended Lokpal Bill passed by theUnion Cabinet, saying the proposed body would be toothlessas the CBI will still function under the government. Speaking at a public meeting in west Delhi, Kejriwalalleged that the proposed Lokpal will not have any powers asthe Government has made it a toothless body. [caption id=attachment_613490 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi:/strong Aam Aadmi P
strongNew Delhi:/strong Claiming that UPA can get a Lokpal Bill passed if it wanted, Anna Hazare today alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was misleading people by harping on lack of consensus among parties when his party had managed support from others on issues like Presidential election. In his latest blog, Hazare sought to take on Singh for his remarks during Independence Day speech in which he said there was lack of consensus about Lokpal Bill while expressing hope that it will be passed soon. [caption id=attachment_423828 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi:/strong Claiming th
strongNew Delhi:/strong As his fast entered the second day, Anna Hazare today warned the government that it will have to go if it does not bring a strong Lokpal Bill as a wave of protest is building up. After an impressive turnout yesterday, the morning crowd at the fast venue of Jantar Mantar here was just around 400 with organisers blaming the low turn out on rains and disruption in Metro services due to collapse of the Northern Power Grid. They said they expect the crowd to swell as the day progressed. Hazare, 74, took the dais at 11 am and said, The way this wave of protest against corruption is building in the country, I am getting this feeling that the government would have to bring a strong Lokpal Bill or else it will have to go. [caption id=attachment_396506 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi:/strong As his fast
The Bharatiya Janata Party today raised questions over the authority of the Union cabinet on editing the draft of the Lokpal Bill, which is technically a property of the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha, as constituted by chairman of the Upper House of Parliament. The government cannot make any amendment to the Lokpal bill. Only the Rajya Sabha can make the changes, said BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad at a press conference in New Delhi. [caption id=attachment_609038 align=alignleft width=380 The Bharatiya Janata Party today ra
strongNew Delhi/strong: The report of the Select Committee on Lokpal Bill, which has recommended delinking creation of Lokayuktas in states from the central bill, is likely to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow. After its passage in the Lok Sabha last year, the bill faced opposition hurdles in the Rajya Sabha on various provisions, following which it was referred to the Select Committee. The panel, which was to submit its report during the monsoon session, adopted it on 19 November. The Department of Personnel and Training, which piloted the bill, will have to approach the Union Cabinet on the recommendations made by the committee.Once the bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha, it will be sent to the Lok Sabha again for approval of the amended version. Despite suggestions by the Law Ministry during depositions before the Committee suggesting 'insulation' to officials of the PMO, the Committee, headed by Satyavrat Chaturvedi, has not recommended any changes. [caption id=attachment_532317 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi/strong: The report
strongNew Delhi:/strong The cabinet is likely to take up the proposed amendments to the Lokpal bill on Thursday. Earlier this week, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had written to social activist Anna Hazare assuring him that the legislation would be passed in the coming budget session of parliament. The bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha last year, has been pending in the Rajya Sabha. It had to be referred to a select committee of the upper house, which has now submitted its recommendations. [caption id=attachment_607865 align=alignleft width=380 strongNew Delhi:/strong The cabinet