“A strong Lokpal is needed, but overburdening the Lokpal with all responsibilities from local grievances to corruption is unwise.” This was the focus of discussion at a lecture, ‘Fostering inclusiveness, plurality and equal opportunity – challenges for India's imperfect democracy', organised by Azim Premji University in the city on Saturday.
Activists Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Shankar Singh of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghtan (MKSS) asserted that broad public consultation, across groups and regions, should be taken up for a strong Lokpal Bill.
“We support the need for a strong, effective and comprehensive legislation to tackle corruption and bad governance. However, we believe that the Lokpal should be an independent body that has a focused and actionable mandate of dealing with grand corruption, and corruption in the highest echelons of power,” Mr. Dey said.
“Expanding the mandate of the Lokpal to include grievances, misconduct and judicial accountability (right from the attender to the Prime Minister) will overburden the Lokpal. In mandating the Lokpal to correct everything, it may end up doing nothing effectively,” Mr. Dey asserted.
“The national Lokpal should not be empowered with so much power that it eats up the entire bureaucratic system. Corruption will not go away with the constitution of a Lokpal. Individuals have to take it up as a cause and fight it till the end. We don't agree with the Government draft, but we also have differences in opinion with team Anna. We are in full agreement that nobody must be above the law. The Lokpal Bill needs a long process of debate – it should be practical and workable,” Mr. Dey said.
More Lokpals needed
Suggesting that there should be at least two or more institutions on the lines of the Lokpal to check corruption, Ms. Roy said that grievances and corruption should be looked at separately.
“There should be a Lokpal to look at top-level corruption and another Lokpal for addressing grievances,” she said.
“The proposed Lokpal only pays lip service to grievance redressal. Grievances should be dealt with the bottom-up approach. We feel that a district ombudsman has to be put in place, who can address the grassroots level of corruption. A separate Lokpal should be set up to look at high-level corruption,” Ms. Roy said.
Panel disbanded
She said the MKSS had written to the joint committee set up to draft the Lokpal Bill asking for consultations and terms of references. “But before we could head anywhere, the committee was disbanded. So we are in the public domain now. We will make people listen. We will set meetings and consultations with the Government. It is important to have different nuanced opinions on an issue, else it won't mature properly,” she added.
Shankar Singh gave a personal narrative of his journey that led him to be part of the MKSS.
