Social activists draft new Lokpal Bill

Naming the existing Lokpal Bill as toothless, Swami Agnivesh along with Santosh Hegde, Lokayukta of Karnataka and Prashant Bhushan, supreme court lawyer, have drafted another Lokpal Bill, with the aim of making a single autonomous apex body the supreme civil authority of India, to whom the PM of India will also be answerable.

Social activist, human rights activist, professor, intellectual leader and activist against bonded and child labour, Swami Agnivesh announced the national level fight against corruption in Ahmedabad, during a press briefing organised by Fr. Cedric Prakash, SJ, founder, Prashant NGO. 

Swami said, "We have devised a citizen's forum to fight against corruption, called 'India Against Corruption', which took birth out of the Rs17,000 crore CWG scam, wherein the government has not taken any effective action. On November 14, to fight against this government inaction, 10,000 people joined hands and came forward outside the Parliament House police station.

"Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejrival, Justice DS Devatiya, Swami Ramdev, Devendra Sharma and others joined hands to lodge an FIR against the CWG scamsters. The police, however, did not lodge the FIR. The rule of law is ineffective and does not have any discretionary powers." According to Swami, scams are not only financial, but also a political outcome of corrupt officials.

Giving details about the Lokpal Bill, Swami said, "The bill was formed in 1968 but it has still not come into effect. Currently, the Lokpal works only like an advisory body, thanks to corrupt government officials. Hence, we have formulated another Lokpal Bill, which we will push in the parliament for it to get passed."

'India Against Corruption' is also insisting that CBI and CVC be merged with Lokpal, for which the PM will be answerable. Therefore Lokpal will be independent of the government. Lokpal will be responsible for providing protection against physical and professional victimization to whistleblowers, selection of members and chairperson through a transparent and participatory process, complaint of wrongdoing against an official of Lokpal shall be investigated and acted upon within a month.

Activist members of IAC have decided to carry out a huge rally on January 30, 2011 from Rajghat to Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.