THESE DAYS a lot is being written and said about Anna Hazare’s agitation and his crusade against corruption. Thousands of people are joining him at Ramlila Maidan and other millions are writing on social networking sites and blogs, candle marches are going on, but does any one of us actually know what Lokpal Bill is about, and the problem with the Lokapal Bill government has drafted. The answer is a big NO, none of us has taken the pain to go through both the drafts before forming our opinion – which is mainly media driven.

After going through the draft Lokpal Bill I would not hesitate to say that it is one of the best legislations drafted in Independent India. This is a creation of a fourth tier in the system after the Legislature, Judiciary and Executive. The Lokpal would have jurisdiction over all Union Ministers except the Prime Minister, all Members of Parliaments (Subject to protection under Article 105(2) of Constitution of India) and all Class A officers.

The proposed bill does not only make the Lokpal an independent body but also provides a separate investigation and prosecution wing. It empowers the Lokpal with the powers of civil court, it can take help of any officer of any State or Union, may call for records from any office and can also initiate contempt proceedings (the power earlier reserve only to High Court and the Supreme Court), even without an order from any court the Lokpal may on its own provisionally attach the property which it suspects to have been acquired by corrupt means. The act waves off the sanction for prosecution and the Lokpal may recommend transfer or suspension of any officer (which the government has to normally accept and any deviation from it would require reasons in writing), all public servants are required to disclose their assents and there is a presumption of acquisition of assets by corrupt means. The bill also proposes to make the Citizen’s Charter binding (which itself would be a second antidote to the corruption after the Right to Information Act).

The Lokpal has the power to recommend disciplinary action against any officer merely on finding him guilty in his preliminary inquiry, so the person here is presumed to be guilty unless proven otherwise – contrary to the system we have been following in our Criminal Jurisprudence.

Whereas, the bare reading of the Jan Lokpal Bill clearly shows a poor drafting and a poor application of mind. It’s nothing more than an essay or a written speech by some social activist who does not have any trust and faith on the existing system and at the same time presumes to find a flawless system. The so called “Civil Society” aspires to give the law making power to the Lokpal where in Section 6(s) of the Bill it gives the power to prepare a sentencing policy for the offences under Prevention of Corruption Act and revising it from time to time. So what they aspire for is to have an all powerful institution having the complete system under him and the system which does not have any check over it and which is not directly accountable to anyone.

But despite this, the bare reading of both the bills provides that the only major contention for dispute is the exclusion of Judiciary and the Prime Minister from it. Honestly speaking, every one of us who has even a slight knowledge of the Constitution and Law would vouch for the fact that if any attempt is made to include the Judiciary within the purview of Lokpal it would make it vulnerable and hit the basic structure of the Constitution by going against the independence of judiciary. So let’s accept it that corruption in judiciary could only be curtailed by something like Judges’ Inquiry Bill and not by Lokpal. This leaves us to the exclusion of the Prime Minister from the Lokpal.

When I see so much hue and cry being raised for the exclusion of the Prime Minister I wonder that how many of us are effected by the corruption at that level, if any. How many of us deal with the Prime Minister and how many of us believe that if we have an honest Prime Minister (like we have one today) the corruption would come to an end. I believe this is not such a big issue to bring the operation of the act to halt and disturb the entire nation. Let the Act come in operation and then of course the same could be amended subsequently, if required, and even otherwise once the Prime Minister demits his office he would be under the preview of the Lokpal.

Moreover, the Prime Minister is already accountable to the Cabinet and the Parliament, further he hardly does any work under his signature as most of it is done by the Officers and Ministers who would certainly be under the Lokpal. So instead of looking for their political goals the people should work towards the development of the country.

Now after discussing the issue I would also like to address Anna’s agitation and the manner in which it is proceeding. I do not consider it democratic to hold the democratically elected government to ransom. This approach of the Anna group that “only their version” of the bill should be tabled and passed – despite the fact that they have no legal support of people. Democracy is about discussion and then taking the decision by majority. If they have failed to convince the parliamentarians, people who are there to make law, they can not cry foul. Asking for a referendum would set a wrong precedent and would make the functioning of the government impossible. Gathering a lakh or two laks people in a country of 121 crore is never going to be difficult for any Baba, Anna or Sadhu or any Bollywood Star or a Cinestar from South. So in future we will be forced to conduct plebiscite for everything.

Moreover in such case we should not cry foul if tomorrow people from Kashmir raise voice for conducting plebiscite there, because they have much valid ground considering the assurance made by India in United Nations.

So if Anna has the kind of support he claims, then he should let the bill be passed in its present form, contest the election in 2014 and after coming to power he should make the necessary changes in the Act. But until he has that kind of support and power he should let the democracy work and should not try to usurp power by backdoor entry.

You can not be Mahatma unless you start thinking reasonably and start thinking beyond your personal interest.