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PM must come under Lokpal ambit, says Digvijay Singh
By Times of India.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Sunday created a flutter by endorsing civil society's demand to bring the prime minister and the higher judiciary under the ambit of Lokpal, taking the government and his party colleagues by surprise.
"My view is that the prime minister, judiciary, NGOs and industrial houses should also be brought under the ambit of Lokpal. But there should be a system to ensure that the Lokpal does not misuse its power," Singh said at his hometown Raghogarh on Sunday evening, according to agency reports.
(This is correct; "corruption in India" is not merely generated by the government which after all controls a very small percentage of the Indian economic activity ....in reality a meager 13%, { and thus inadvertently the Lokpal movement looks like its about witch-hunting the Congress, which in turn makes them defensive}
BUT a lot of the "corruption in India" takes place outside the remit of government economic activity....so what Digvijay Singh sahib is proposing is effective and makes sense...the details need to be worked out, and the process of getting an effective mechanism put in place. As per the previous post the Lokpal can be the SC of the anti-corruption mechanism that exists in India with its Byzantine non-performance system thus far. Lets not at this early stage talk down the Lokpal pessimistically as some kind of Indian Star chamber, but confidently hope of all the wonderful work it can do for the country as with the SC.)
"When I was the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, I had brought the CM's post under the purview of Lokayukta (ombudsman)," he said.
Although Singh appeared to be critical of the efforts of a few people to "exert pressure on the government" — seen by many as a reference to the campaign by Anna Hazare -- his statement that PM and higher judiciary should be within Lokpal's jurisdiction may embarrass the government.
(Anna Hazare seems to have been an important catalyst which gave significant impetuous and shape to the growing NATIONAL anti-corruption sentiment......otherwise the growing rage would have just festered without any significant sensible articulation by national political figures against this massive national problem.....Anna Hazare thus served this very important national service.
Consider the situation in Pakistan where there is seething public anger about several issues; drone strikes which kill innocent Pakistan civilians which the Pakistan military says they can't stop; the general problem of security and terrorism which the Pakistan military is unable to stop after 10 years; corruption, poor economic performance, total incompetence, and subservience to the USA by the Zardari government..........these grievances aren't being addressed by any PUBLIC FIGURES in Pakistan and seriously debated and addressed.......because often the Pakistan military makes threats direct or implied and simply states "shut up and put up"....that is dangerous for Pakistan, and for the future of the country.
Normally the duty of that should have been filled by Nawaz Sharif as the major opposition leader, but given his 10 paratha a day with Mutton Dau Piaza curry face + chicken Biryani + Ras Malai..........and visits to the American embassy for more gora cock sucking.....he has failed to galvanize the public effectively, EVEN given glaring opportunities and mistakes by the PPP, and the Pakistan military. He should be spending 20 hours a day going around the country with the Pakistani newspapers and tv stations in toe raging about the incompetence of the current government working as a corrupt nexus with the Pakistani military, and USA.
Full marks for India on that one, and her public servants.
However with Baba Ramdev turning the "Corruption in India" issue from a SECULAR debate into a quasi-religious circus, with inane sound bites and demands......for me the public discourse went a little down hill, conflating "Corruption in India" with the Saffron color, Hinduism, talwar waving and setting up a private militia......the corruption in India is a complicated problem WHICH CAN BE SOLVED eventually, but not with overt emotionalism and melodrama.)
The government has ruled out including PM and higher judiciary within the ambit of the anti-graft ombudsman and appears to be headed for a confrontation with civil society on the issue.
