Social activist Anna Hazare, whose last week's fast forced the Centre to form a joint committee to draft the Lokpal Bill, on Monday asked Communications and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to resign from the panel if he felt that it would be able to achieve nothing.
Mr. Sibal reportedly said on Sunday that the Bill would not be able to solve problems related to education, health or civic issues. However, on Monday, the Minister denied making any such statement.
Mr. Hazare said: “If [Mr.] Sibal feels that nothing will happen due to the Lokpal Bill, then he should resign from the joint committee as soon as possible. Why is he wasting his and our time? Why does he want to be in the committee? If you believe that nothing will happen, you should not be there in the joint committee…he should resign and do some other work for the country.”
Mr. Hazare was talking to journalists before leaving for his village Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra after successfully leading the five-day anti-corruption campaign here.
Another member of the committee, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, who along with Mr. Hazare and three other personalities represents the civil society on the panel, also expressed his displeasure over Mr. Sibal's statement.
Raising doubt over the government's “seriousness” in drafting legislation and getting it passed in Parliament, Mr. Kejriwal said, “If someone is not getting rations due to corruption, then he can get relief from this Lokpal. If you are not getting admission in a school, you can get some relief. But if there is no school, then Lokpal will not help you. Here the government has to do something.”
The RTI campaigner said that first obstacles were put when it came to official notification of the committee and now such statements were being made. “How many obstacles they will put during the committee meetings, we don't know. We have great fear.”
Keywords: Anna Hazare, Kapil Sibal, Lok Pal bill, Joint Committee
I take exception to Anna Hazare's advise to Kapil Sibal. Apparently- Mr Sibal said that Lokpal bill will not be sufficient to root out corruption. This by itself may not be much off the mark! Mr.Hazare's response is at best pre-mature and at worst- intolerant of any opinion contrary to his opinion. Surely after the moral high ground- this suggests that he is insecured/unsure about the whole thing!!!One of the Gandhian values was tolerance of other's opinions!
Mr. Kapil Sibal should know that some time back it was idicated that in Karnataka number one in corruption was in health care and number two was education departments. The most effected due to corruption are lowest level 'aam admi'. Mr. Sibal must go to any dist. level office and watch the happenings for one hour. That will open his eyes.
Kapil Sibal has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth. He seems to have taken charge as the official clown of the Union Cabinet, though there are many contenders for that post. Surely, Dr Manmohan Singh's cabinet must go down in the history of India as the most inept, insensitive and obviously corrupt cabinet.
I wonder where India is heading with Mr. Sibal as HRD minister, a person who is so incapable of gauging the benefits of Lokpal bill...how can he implement HRD welfare schemes..forget about formulating new ones. Dear Mr. Sibal, the money confiscated and saved from the corrupt people will go a long way in welfare programs such as opening new schools etc...hope the hint opens up your mind.
Kapil Sibal has no moral right to be in this committee. This is the same guy who, without any shame, went on National Media to declare that no losses were made because of the 2G Spectrum scan. By nominating such a person, the Government has again demonstrated that they are not at all serious about tackling corruption. Moreover, Sibal has to stop his habit of spouting nonsense all the time. I greatly fear about the fate of this commottee.
If JanLokpal Bill can help to contain the rampant corruption, more funds will be available for development- educating children included.Is this not obvious to a Central cabinet minister? Mr Sibal's comment probably is indicative of the apathy to combat corruption. This is most unfortunate and needs to be explored further by the Civil Society.
I think the politicians already framed the bill in favour of themselves and they'll bring that into effect otherwise they will delay the bill passing date with some silly reasons which actually doesn't affect the bill.
Mr Sibal got a habit of destabilising any attempt to bring out the truth behind any scam. As a lawyer he always makes attempt to provoke the other side. Congress will make all sort of efforts to postpone this bill at any cost.
Mr Sibal has to stop his irresponsible bad mouthing. Corruption in higher levels is a grave national concern and people want the politicians be made accountable. Nation can't always rely on personal inegrity of people sitting at higher positions. We need institutional mechanisms to make sure that the system functions within the rule of the game.Lokpal if could make step forward in this direction then that will be a good idea.
Yes Sibal has no moral right to be in the panel.I dont understand why govt has selected a person who lied to people of india about 2G scam saying no loss has happened to indian govt from 2G scam.This UPA govt has full of scamstars liers we are just mute spectators.
All Indians supported the fight against corruption, and the Lok Pal Bill became the rallying point of support. It is very unfortunate Anna Hazare asked Sibal to resign from the Committee just for saying that the Bill is not a cure-all for aam aadmi's daily struggle for roti and kapda.Anna did a great disservice to his own cause by making the very unGandhian tirade against Sibal and praising Modi and Nitish in the same breath. People are likely consider that Anna is over-reaching himself by bringing in other agenda.
This Kejariwal did nothing when governments - both State and Central - packed all Information Commissions with retired bureaucrats. R.T.I. was basically aimed at removing veil of secrecy in administration. Government officers who were using confidentiality to cover up their own misdeeds and illegalities were given the charge of implementing R.T.I. Act and this A.K. never raised voice. His P.C.R.F. campaigned for awarding Information Commissioners and was busy assessing their performance for reward rather than looking into the grievances against Information Commissions' failure of RTI. Government departments learnt the art of circumventing the law and they are stubbornly refusing to part with information. Officials are least afraid of orders of CIC and State ICs. because non-compliance does not attract any penalty.Information Commissions are not ensuring compliance of their own orders. There are officers in CIC who are hand in glove with arrogant officers of departments. Respected Anna Hajare is requested to keep away these Zoolawallas from people's movement and use his native wisdom which is more vibrant.
Apparently Mr Sibal seems not able to shake off the habit of opening his big mouth and putting his foot into it. Makes me wonder. If this man seems to display utter lack of common sense and prudence, then why is he even occupying a minister's post. Was he not the man who made that comment 'Not a penny was lost in the 2G scam '?. We as a people are stuck with ministers of such caliber.
Whether Kapil Sibal is in or out but willfully or not so willfully excluding the entire opposition party from the panel is not a good thing. Equally important is the fact that no one should dictate who needs to be members from the civil society. Not even Anna can dictate. There has to be a discussion on who needs to be on the panel from civil society while including members from the opposition party. After all they represent hundreds of millions of people and are vital to passage of the bill.
Corruption is deeply entrenched in India. The politicians will not give up so easily. They have much to lose.
We are always with you and we will be with you always. These politicians always defend themselves and their corruption. And they don't want to change it since it will affect them more than anyone else.
This is how Congress, UPA and it's ministers are going to work on this? I don't think they are serious at all. What about opposition? We should have even included some members from opposition in the committee. This is democracy where even opposition has a role. Instead Congress seems to enjoy monopoly hogging on to all the positions from elected members. On top of that such statements! How serious are they?
Hazare is true that India has the problem of corruption almost in every field and it hinders the progress as well as the reputation of the nation. The corruption done by polititians are higher but at the same time the the corruption of the officials, especially in the rural offices are much affecting the poor people of India. An awareness programme is needed all throughout the nation to give some awarness to the people. Hazare also needs to know that there are other problems that hinders India; economic backwardness,existing caste problem, matters that endanger the secular nature of India, and so on. What is his stand on these matters? I saw some months back that the number of people below poverty line in India, according to UN is 430 million which slightly higher than African nations. We need to go further and think different measures to develop India. First we need to do away with the reservation plocy and take up the economic backwardness measure to help the poorest of the society. Reservation policy has become a policy for ever now.
Anna Hazare's reaction is a correct one. Kapil Sibal is a special representative from Congress High Command. He will use his knowledge of law to make the bill ineffective and complicated so that leaders of his party are excluded from the effectiveness of the Bill. He will be supported by Veerappa Moily and Pranab Mukherjee.So long People connected with Politics are involved we are not going to have an effective solution to this great problem.Anna Hazre's efforts and sacrifice should not be wasted.I am not pessimistic and I have seen the 'smartness' of our present day leaders. Their loyalty is not for the Nation but for certain group of people who hold the ultimate power.
The only way to moderate what people say is to allow the telecast of the proceedings to the Nation. It concerns everyone in the country. Let the public know who said what and decide for themselves. Ministers are not super human beings who need not have any control over what they do or say. It will be the real test of democracy. After all, if telecast of Loksabha and Rajyasabha are possible. Why not the telecast of deliberations of such an important issue.Therefore video recording should be resorted to.
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