Many of us must have read Lance Armstrong's autobiography "Its not just about the bike." The book was about his fight with cancer and how he almost resurrected himself and went on to win the tour de france, the most coveted cycling competition in the world. As the title aptly suggests it was about hope, the indomitable human spirit and the human endeavour to to counter all odds.
As the current movement has progressed, much has been written about the differences between the govt Lokpal bill and the Jan Lokpal bill. In my post I will focus on just three issues:
1. Why Lokpal is not the panacea of all ills
2. Why I still support this movement
3. What can be done in my view
There is underlying fallacy in the argument that passing a bill or creating a Lokpal will get rid us of all the corruption in the society. Corruption is a multi-dimensional problem which can only be dealt in a multi pronged manner.At the same time, saying that the Jan Lokpal bill is a piece of crap will be highly unjustified as there is an urgent need for an independent, unbiased ombudsman to investigate cases of corruption.
First let us look within. One major cause of corruption in our country is the dowry system. One must "accumulate" money to get his/her daughter married in a "respectable" family. Of course this is no justification for graft but this is a reality. How many of us can gurantee that we won't take a single anna as dowry. In fact I know many people in highly respectable families who treat dowry as ROI (Return on investment) on their son's education. I know many boys (some of them my friends) who proudly put a price tag on themselves. I know some people(even in my extended family) who consider black money as a sign of prestige and judge a job by the potential it offers in terms of graft. Can an effective Lokpal change this.Surely not.The moral degradation in ourselves has been stark and only a moral revolution at personal level can change all this.
No system in the world can cure human intentions gone wrong. The biggest mistake our constitution makers made was that they thought that the coming generations in politics will be equally public spirited and thus they made trust the basis of our constitution.There is not a single institution which has not been compromised and subverted by the current lot (barring perhaps the National Security Guards). What is the gurantee that Lokpal will not go the same way.What if the investigative officers as stipulated in the Lokpal start harassing even innocent officers. What if they get involved in graft and submit a favourable report in corruption cases. Further, most of the cases of graft are based on mutual trust and interest and never get reported. Its only when the deal goes foul people come out with facts.
Creating a legislation is one thing, spreading awareness about it is another. From my own personal experience of working in a public sector organisation the fact remains that RTI is largely being used to settle personal scores.Of course RTI is necessary, so is Lokpal. But the point I want to put is that there is an absence of mechanism to educate the lower strata of the society about the various legislations which are being made. As a result these laws are mostly being used or perhaps "mis-used" by influential and rich local goons.
There are many more reasons why a team of 10 people under Lokpal will not be able to weed out corruption at the lowest level no matter how efficient,honest and of impeccable integrity they are. That obviously does not imply we don't need a strong Lokpal agency in the country. The Janlokpal bill is an effective legislation which should be applied in letter and spirit in public life.Remember that after all, this movement is rightly named a India against corruption and not India for Lokpal. The Jan Lokpal bill is the first step we need to take in our fight against corruption.The fact that it has been tabled in the parliament eight times and not passed it necessitates that the movement incorporates it as one of its demand.
Coming to my support for the movement, it stems from the fact this movement symbolises hope. Its not about one person Anna or about the Lokpal bill. Its about the anger and frustration the common man faces day in and day out. Its about the absence of leadership the current government is having. At the same time it represents the feeling that something can be done, something can be changed. And in my personal memory this is the only time our middle class has come out of their slumber, apathy and cynicism and went on roads to suport a cause.This is perhaps the only movement in the world which is not about overthrowing a regime or a "revolutionary" movement as put up by some ultra left people. Its a very normal,rational, non violent and sensible movement for reform in the existing system. This is not against congress or for bjp or any other political party. As against so many agitations from Telangana to Kashmir where public property were being burnt, this is one agitation where the leader appeals to the people not to damage public property.This is undoubtedly a movement with a soul. People needed a non corrupt personal of unquestionable credentials and uncompromising values and convictions and Anna, surely has given this movement a face, a soul and an inspiration.
Well, the solution to corruption: It has to be multi pronged. I will mention a number of them in a not so orderly manner.A strong Lokpal will definitely be a people's watch dog over the machinery. Alongwith this, we need systemic reforms on many fronts. E-governance alongwith heavy use of technology in all spheres is one of them. After all, its not just the election commission which stopped booth grabbing during elections it was the small and humble electronic voting machine which made peaceful elections a reality.Eliminating human intervention in day-to-day governance activities can go a long way in minimising corruption at ground level. The main cause of this movement is that people are fed up of the current government and they are feeling helpless as they are going to continue till 2014. Instead of providing our elected representatives a sort of lease for five years we should have a right to recall them midway if found involved in corrupt practice or for that matter acting against public good. Electoral reforms will help many young educated people to enter into politics. Talented and educated people are not able to enter politics because they know they are "unelectable" in the current system where money calls the shots. At the same time people of our generation have to leave the lure of fat pay packets and enter the public life. In an interview of an academician, he rightly said that the best brains of our country are selling soaps and shampoos. Further when we are creating a system to punish corrupt officers, we must create complementary system to reward honest people. At present honest people in the system find themselves helpless and find their jon thankless as they are put to so much scrutiny which takes away their productivity without getting rewarded for the good work they are doing apart from personal satisfaction.
I would like to sum up my post with a simple fact : "It was not about Gandhi, and it is not about Anna"
