Gazette notification issued on constitution of joint committee to prepare draft Lokpal Bill
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare called off his five-day hunger strike on Saturday morning after receiving a gazette notification from the Centre on the constitution of a joint committee, comprising members from the government and civil society, for preparation of the draft Lokpal Bill.
Celebrations broke out at Jantar Mantar, venue of his fast, and also across the country with supporters rejoicing the social activist's “victory” for a stronger anti-corruption law. On the other hand, the government heaved a sigh of relief as the protest was spreading fast as more and more citizens and celebrities had been joining Mr. Hazare's movement.
After ending his fast, Mr. Hazare addressed a huge gathering of supporters and pointed out that this was just the beginning of the fight against corruption. “Our responsibility has now increased… we will ensure that the Lokpal Bill is passed before August 15 [2011],” the social activist said and urged the people to take up other crucial issues such as decentralisation of power and electoral reforms.
Though the agreement was reached on Friday night, with the government conceding the social activist's demands, he refused to break his fast until the Centre issued a government order.
However, the government went a step ahead and issued a gazette notification early in the morning. Officials of the Ministry of Law and Justice had to burn the midnight oil to prepare the draft and get it notified.
The notification said the Joint Drafting Committee would “commence its work forthwith and evolve its own procedure to prepare the proposed legislation.” It is supposed to complete its work the latest by June 30, 2011.
The 10-member Joint Drafting Committee will have five Cabinet members — Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (chairman), Home Minister P. Chidamabaram, Law Minister Veerappa Moily (convener), Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid.
Apart from Mr. Hazare, civil society will be represented by the former Law Minister, Shanti Bhushan (co-chairperson), the former Supreme Court Judge, Justice N. Santosh Hegde, lawyer Prashant Bhushan and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal.
Keywords: Anna Hazare fast, Lokpal Bill, joint committee, Swami Agnivesh, Manmohan Singh, gazette notification
Congradulation to Anna Ji:- it is not possible to stop corruption to pass parlimentary bill it help us to do legaly work. we should find out the honest worker. all the member of the new Committee shuold be honest, sacrifice and will fight against the corruption with boldly. it is the time to work against corruption. so we call all patriot to support Anna Ji.
Jai Hind! Vandemataram
As Hazare has rightly said, the fight has just begun. The support for the cause must continue unabated till the Jan Lokpal bill is passed in both houses of the parliament and becomes a law. What is also required is greater autonomy to the agencies like the CBI so that corruption can be more effectively tackled.
Congrats Anna and all Indians! Let all of us together fight against corruption and parliament has to pass the bill... Now they know what are true Indians and their love and dedication towards India... They should know that Indians were quite coz they were living in peace that there r people to take care of country but they started corrupting their own people n country... We are together and one power...
Jai Hind! Jai Bharat!
71 year old fighting for justice, where is our Youth Icon Rahul Gandhi. Where is all the so called clean image politicians like A.K.Antony. They never bothered to visit him. Anybody forming a part of the corrupt govt is enjoying corruption and are corrupt
The war between haves (corrupt) and (honest) have-nots has just begun with the initiation of the only (in 1.2 billion population) brave heart soldier Shri.Hazare. How his ideals are going to transform the prevailing political officialdom and clean the public administration need to be witnessed analytically with the current and post independence base line scenario. By any standards, Anna deserves respect.
While people are euphoric, this is actually a sad day for Indian democracy. An elitist and anti-democratic group of people have tapped into the anger against corruption to push their own agenda. The so-called 'civil' society includes many who are associated with violent groups such as the Maoists. They don't care about human rights or respecting other opinions. To eradicate corruption requires changing the administrative setup and freeing the enforcement machinery from political influence. It also requires identifying areas where corruption flourishes and figuring out the changes that make it harder. Anna Hazare has not shown any understanding of how to tackle corruption. People are being misled that the passage of this flawed bill will eradicate corruption.
Anna Hazare has once again showed to the world the potent of Sathyagraha and how one man can bring the government of the largest democracy to its knees. Hope the bill is passed and becomes a law by Aug 15th as desired by Anna Hazare. But the big question remains, can the law be enforced without prejudice? There are many laws than are not being enforced. Do we need one more law which can't be enforced? May be it not more laws that we need, but a fundamental change in peoples' mindset.
Please Email the Editor