Why Corruption is Bad for Everybody & How to Stop It?

Corruption harms everybody because it is based on injustice!  Corruption will not do any good to anyone in the long term basis, either to the giver or the receiver of the corrupted money.

EVIL EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION

Merited but Poor People are Denied:
Merited & qualified people who are poor & honest, not wanting to bribe, will remain unemployed thus depriving the expertise & knowledge of the good individuals to effective applications for the advancement of the individuals & society.

Bad Consequences of Selecting Unfit People:
Demerited & disqualified people when given in-charge of the posts they don't deserve; they will start malfunctioning resulting in unwanted outputs. If in administration, it will be mismanaged; if in engineering, structures won't last long; if in medical line, people will die of wrong prescriptions or wrong surgery; if in manufacturing, only substandard products will come out; if in education, substandard students will be the products; if in politics, faulty policies & mismanagement of public funds will happen...

No Hope for Educated Poor
Poor people who managed hard to get higher education when they completed their studies; they are given the popular 'Unemployed!' title to cap on all their certificates/diplomas/degrees/masters/PhDs and to start any self employed venture also needs capital and to get loan for it again they need money to bribe here & there! Those who are poor or educated poor and want to live honest but progressive life without bribery/corruption see no hope for development in life in the corrupted society. So, it is of no surprise that some/many of these unemployed youths are turning to insurgency as the alternative way of life.

Corruption Widening the Rich-Poor Gap:
People in power who have the advantage of accumulating bribed money will become richer & richer and the poor people who try to pay huge amounts as bribes will remain in debt thus creating a huge rift between the rich & the poor. The consequence of this extreme inequality in the society will brew disunity, envy, hatred & enmity between the people of the haves and the have-nots.

Corrupted People Degrades Self & Society:
People who became materially rich through corruption will degrade morally and start misusing the ill-accumulated money in higher criminal activities like maintaining criminal gangs to support his nefarious activities; himself or his children may become drug addicts or alcoholics or gambling or in prostitutes etc thus further tearing down the moral fabrics individually and socially.

When Poor People are looked down by Rich:
Poor people, who are constantly looked down upon by those rich counterparts in the society; having no means of decent living will turn to armed gangs to extort money from those rich & corrupted people thus sprouting up of pseudo insurgent groups.

When Honest People are not respected by Society:
In the corrupted society, honest & hardworking people will not be respected but will be considered as fools and so even those who were sincere & hard working before will start joining the corrupted rat race of the fallen society thus the evils of corruption will spread all over with no future hope & aspiration to live for.

Where the Corrupted Money go:
Huge amounts of corrupted public funds becoming black money will either divert away clandestinely to the foreign banks or the huge amounts remain as black money hiding doing nothing good for himself or the society.

Society where Corruption prevails:
Where corruption prevails, in that society, people will become more & more material minded, thinking that money is everything and thus start losing the spiritual qualities like the fellow feeling of love, sincerity, empathy, equity, unity, justice etc and thus trying to accumulate money by hook or crook; people will become materially mad and start living restless & meaningless life in greed.

Corruption is Fundamental Crime:
Crimes & killings will be the direct consequences of a society drowned in corruption; this simply being the law of karma that crime begets crime because corruption is a fundamental crime against humanity that causes multi-dimensional social problems.

No true Happiness in Corrupted Society:
In the corrupted society, nobody will be truly happy; fear, insecurity and unhappiness will spread all over and there will be no far sighted visions for future prospects or prosperity and people will become more selfish and narrow minded.

Final Result of Corrupted Society:
Final result of a society drown in corruption is the total degradation of the whole people in the society.

Now, having seen the worst effects of corruption in the society, now, let us find out the ways to root out this social evil:

WAYS TO STOP CORRUPTION
Exercising Spiritual Qualities:
When people realize the benefits of enhancing & exercising their spiritual qualities in daily life and also when they are aware of the serious bad consequences of corruption; then, instead of practicing this selfish & evil social habit called corruption; they will become more loving, sincere, kind, empathic, dutiful and rightful people away from corruption.

Corruption Free Election:
Corruption free election for all public representatives like Members of Parliament [MPs], Members of Legislative Assemblies [MLAs], Members of Municipal Corporations [MMCs], Village Board Members [VBMs], Students Unions [SUs] etc.

Top-Down Approach:
Top-Down approach i.e. leaders at the top like president, Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, State Ministers, Chief Ministers, Other Ministers, Governors, Secretaries, Department Heads, Institute Heads, NGOs etc should be the examples of integrity and clean governance, administration & management by their own actions.

Strict & Clean Law Enforcers:
Police Department & Army should be strictly clean in terms of corruption.

Severe Laws against Corruption:
Severe laws should be in place to punish anyone booked under corruption charges fast.

Anti-Corruption Government Vigilance Department:
Anti-Corruption government vigilance department should be in action to watch & report corruption activities by anyone either in government or private institutes/offices.

Anti-Corruption Police Department Cell :
Anti-Corruption Police Department Cell should be in action to handle corruption charges against anybody for fast booking, charging & punishing by law.

Non Governmental Organizations against Corruption:
Non Governmental Organizations as corruption watch & report bodies with grants from the government & supported by Anti-Corruption Police Department Cell, should be formed & run effectively.

No Corruption in Government Appointments:
No bribery should be allowed in any kind of government appointments for any post by law.

No Corruption in Private Appointments:
No bribery should be allowed in any kind of private appointments for any post by law.

No capitation fees by Institutes:
No capitation fees for students in any field of study at any institute by law.

General Public against Corruption:
General public should stand collectively against corruption.

No Political Interference:
No political interference should be allowed for anyone high or rich who is charged for corruption and anyone found interfering, should be punished by law.

Social Respect for the People of Integrity:
Social encouragement & high respect for the people who practice the spiritual qualities like honesty, dutifulness, sincerity, impartiality, hard work, dignity of labor etc should be the regular norm of the people in society.

We all want to live a peaceful, prosperous & happy life, don't we?
A corruption free society will just provide that to us.
So, let's start making a corruption free society from today onwards, in thoughts, words & deeds.

Happiness for all!

Mudering the Maharaja.

This is a great article.
1. Will help you understand what went so wrong that - Debt before Praful Patel took over as Aviation Minister Rs 27crore(US$ 5.8mil). Current debt Rs 38,500crore(US$ 8.34 bil).
2. The latest CAG controversy.
3. How certain people can sell this country to fill their swiss bank accounts.
4. What can be done now. Now that the damage is done, what is a possible solution to the problem.

Pls note that I am not the author of this article, this is a copy+paste from an article written by a journalist.


MURDERING THE MAHARAJA ! 

As I write this, Air India pilots, or to be more specific, pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, now merged into Air India, are once again on the warpath against what they call a corrupt and inept management that is destroying Air India at the behest of private carriers, specifically Indigo and Kingfisher. The media has gone on a frenzy asking questions, fed to them by PR of competing airlines, on whether Air India should even exist. At this juncture, I would like to take a contrarian position and lend a voice of support to the pilots and staff of the national carrier who are waging a battle for survival against corporate raiders.

At the outset, let me say that It is quite fashionable to bash Air India, and the figures certainly don’t look good for them. Saddled with a debt of over 40,000 crores, badly handled merger adding to the losses and staff who cant seem to pull together even years after the 2 national carriers were merged.
 

Financial loss in 2009-2010 alone was around 5500 crores: the worst in its 80 year old history. But how did it end up this way? And is it right to blame the pilots for demanding answers from the management and the politicians? Time to add a little perspective here!

Rewind back to 2004: Air India was clearly struggling on international routes thanks to a sub-optimal fleet of 747’s and A310’s that hadn’t been renewed in decades because a minister sat on the files.

The domestic carrier, Indian Airlines did relatively better. After floundering for a while, it managed to find its feet under the leadership of Sunil Arora who effected a fantastic turnaround. Perhaps they did a little too well for the liking of the politically well connected owners of the then floundering private carriers. Because from 2004, one saw a systematic attempt being made to cut the wings of the national carriers to benefit the private carriers. Since the private carriers were not flying international at the time, their primary target back then was that thorn in their flesh: Indian Airlines. The minister for civil aviation, Mr.Praful Patel, a close friend and alleged “samdhee” of Vijay Mallya, became quite unpopular for his tendency to call up airline managers at Indian Airlines asking them to withdraw flights from specific sectors or change timings of existing flights so as to benefit Kingfisher which was back then just finding its feet. Infact, such was the zeal with which he pushed that airlines interests, that Praful Patel came to be nicknamed as “Minister for KingFisher” by sections within Indian Airlines. 

In 2009 alone, Air India/Indian Airlines, pulled out of as many as 32 routes which had load factors above 90%, mainly in the Gulf and Singapore sectors. And its no surprise to see that the AI/IC flights have been replaced, one for one, by Kingfisher and Jet, at exactly the same timings as the erstwhile AI/IC flights!
On 12th October 2009, the management sent letters to station managers in Kozhikode, Cochin, Doha, Sharjah and Bahrain informing them of a decision to reduce or cut flights on these sectors. All these sectors saw loads of above 90% and were replaced by flights operated by Jet and Etihad airways. Other routes which saw exactly similar dynamics at work: Chennai-Colombo (just in time for Spicejet to start ops on the route), Kolkata-Bangkok (KingFisher started ops barely a week after IC was made to pull out), Kolkata-Singapore and London-New York! What can explain these decisions? Who was pressurizing the management to do so? And why?

They were also forced to share the hangars and maintenance infrastructure with Kingfisher: their competitor! This ministerial largesse was not extended to everyone ofcourse! It was a very select group that got the cream flowing off the ministers desk! Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher, Dinesh Keskar of Boeing and Rahul Bhatia of Indigo were on this exclusive list of the ministers friends.

A certain Captain Gopinath was too, until Mr.Mallya decided he wanted to get his grubby paws on Deccan and Mr.Patel himself decided to invest in Indigo. Capt Gopinath and his Air Deccan were excess baggage. After which point of course, the good captain found that he just couldn’t get the hangars to park those aircraft he had ordered or those permits he required to fly the Indian skies. Like a good businessman, he saw the writing on the wall and threw in the towel and sold out to Mr.Mallya while the going was still good! Pity! ‘Cos India needed another man who could fight out the system.

I am told that a certain Mr.Wadia had tried similar tactics to force Dhirubhai Ambani to sell out Reliance. Ambani showed the Wadia’s the finger and today, the Reliance group is a 1000 times larger than the Wadia’s! One can only imagine what would have happened if Captain Gopinath had done what Dhirubhai had done 3 decades before him.

Sadly that was not to be! With the demise of Deccan ended one challenger to the ambitions of Bhatia’s and the Mallyas. The other challenger, Indian Airlines that had so stubbornly stuck it out, would take some more effort. And certainly, no effort was spared to murder that competition! And since these fellows couldn’t take them on separately, these criminals decided to tie up these 2 airlines and burn them at the stake: which led to that ill-gotten merger.

One of the most startling policy decisions, and one that has certainly contributed to the mammoth hole that the national carrier finds itself in, was the decision to merge the 2 carriers Air India and Indian Airlines: the argument given was that this would allow an entry into the Star Alliance which it was promised would be the silver bullet to end all of the national carriers problems. No explanation was given on why the Star Alliance alone was chosen of all the options out there. Why not Skyteam? Or OneWorld? The minister ofcourse didn’t answer it then, and we don’t expect Mr.Patel to answer that one now!

One explanation given for the ill-gotten merger makes the most sense: and is the most disturbing. Most bilaterals signed between India and other countries have specific clauses limiting the access to bilateral to 2 carriers on each side. So on a route like Chennai-Singapore, we had Air India and Indian Airlines operating under their separate AOC’s which meant that Jet or KF wouldn’t be able to operate to Singapore even after they became eligible to do so!
But why worry when you have a obliging minister to do the dirty work: merge the 2 carriers so they operate on one AOC, cut the flights operated by AI/IC from 32 to 16 and voila!
Now Jet and KF can suddenly fly to Singapore! And Hong Kong! And Bangkok! and all the other places they couldn’t fly to if Air India and Indian Airlines had existed as separate carriers.

The reduction in flights was explained as “route rationalisation”: never mind if both AI and IC had loads in excess of 80% on these flights! What this route rationalization has done is to reduce the utilization of aircraft from 16 hours a day before to just over 8 hours a day today. What this does to profitability of the airline is anybody’s guess!

Indian Airlines and Air India were 2 very different airlines: with different work cultures, and different approaches to operations and route structures. The airlines did not merge out of their choice: this was a choice forced from above by a minister hand in glove with private carriers.

And the result is out there for everyone to see: Before the merger in 2007, Indian Airlines had a net loss of 280 crores and was on the verge of coming out into full profitability, having already stabilized operational profits on over 90% of its route network. The other airline, Air India, had a loss of around 400 crores: this meant a combined loss of around 680 crores, with the situation rapidly improving for both. Within three years of the merger however, the losses of the combined carrier have ZOOMED to 16000 crores, mainly on account of debt servicing of loans taken to pay for a fleet that they didn’t ask for: which is another can of worms altogether.


Fleet acquisition scam: Air India had made a request for 24 aircraft in the MCLR category (Medium Capacity Long Range) and even initially selected the Airbus A340-300. Indian Airlines on the other hand, had wanted a total 43 new AirBuses to replace the existing fleet of AirBuses they already operated: that’s a total of 67 aircraft. The minister, for reasons best known to him (and his friend Dinesh Keskar of Boeing), decided that number just wasn’t enough. So the actual order placed was for a whopping 111 aircraft, including 68 aircraft for Air India, instead of the 24 they had wanted.

Many of us following the process back then were stumped by how an airline with a turnover of a little over 7000 crores could place orders for aircraft costing over 32000 crores: the interest burden per year alone would come to 6000 crores! Infact the airline is shelling out over 8 crores PER DAY in interest payments alone!

Another stupefying factor was the complete lack of transparency in the order process. Rules were being bent and changed to benefit one manufacturer (Boeing) for reasons that are still not entirely clear. To give just one example, overnight the RFP’s were changed to ask for an aircraft that could seat 9-across, which effectively ruled Airbus out of the competition. And they weren’t even given time to respond to the revised RFP before the order was announced in favor of Boeing.

The Parliamentary Committee setup to examine the aircraft deal said this (I quote): “Reasons for going ahead with huge purchases by the civil aviation ministry despite Air India and Indian Airlines not having the capacity to support it, remain unknown to the Committee. It, therefore, recommends that this aspect needs to be further probed to fix the responsibility for taking such an ambitious decision that has become a big financial liability.”
Airbus had back then clearly said that the order for aircraft was taken “for reasons other than technical or commercial”. You read between the lines!


Call Center and other conflicts of interest: Until 2009, the call center for Indian Airlines was being run by a firm called Omnia International. In 2009 however, a decision was taken, at the ministers behest, to award the contract to run the call center to, hold your breath, Interglobe Technologies, a company that later went on to setup Indigo airlines: the main competitor to Indian Airlines!! Imagine this: outsourcing your call center operations to be run by a competitor?

In the light of the Radia tapes, where Niira Radia talks of Patel having a stake in Indigo, this raises some disturbing questions indeed!

This is by no means the only instance where the door was thrown open to the wolves. A management consultancy was hired at a price of 90 crores to advise Air India on how they should restructure their operations. The contract was awarded to, hold your breath, Accenture Consulting: a company with close links to the UB and USL Groups which own Kingfisher, and which had previously worked on the acquisition of Air Deccan by KingFisher!

And as we speak, the pilots of Kingfisher are being called in to deal with the pilots strike at Air india! Truly the theatre of the absurd!


Bilaterals scam: The most deadly blow to Air India and Indian Airlines came from Praful Patel’s decision to parcel out bilateral rights to select foreign carriers like Emirates and Lufthansa whose business models depended a large part on passengers being flown via their hubs in Frankfurt and Dubai at cut-rate fares. No country on earth does this kind of free-fall parceling out of bilateral rights in the manner that Mr.Patel did. Was there a quid pro-quo? Is there a connection between Emirates getting rights and investments being made in Patels’ group companies? Is there a connection between Lufthansa getting rights and their investments in the MIHANS projects around Nagpur? Guess it will take some brilliant journalism to get at the route of this! Or perhaps just HONEST journalism!


I remember attending a party in Mumbai back in 2009, attended among others by my friends from the media. It was one of those parties, where all channels had
kept their breaking-news competition on hold to enjoy themselves and let their hair down. The day was eventful as far as aviation went: a Kingfisher aircraft had just gone off the runway in Mumbai. One giggly journo I ran into, a correspondent with a major newspaper, was on the phone chatting, or rather part talking, part flirting, with someone on the other side. “To kya likhu bolna?” (Tell me what I should write then?). Turns out the person at the other end of the line was the PR executive for a spirits company! Needless to say, there was very little coverage of the incident in the media the next day. And there certainly wasn’t the kind of criticism that we have come to expect, if say the accident had happened to Air India. I believe the media fellows have even coined a phrase for this whoring: “winging it”! Apt choice of words indeed!

The very next day, a baggage cart (owned by a rival airline) banged into an Air India aircraft preparing to leave for Delhi resulting in a delay till the replacement aircraft could be found. The media reporting of this incident was of a very different tone indeed! Imagine this, an aircraft coming in to land, crashlands resulting in a total writeoff of the aircraft and the media reporting of the incident is virtually nil. In contrast, a baggage cart brushing the door of an air india aircraft prompts a television presenter from a major TV news channel to question whether Air India should continue to exist!

Air India has clearly been losing the media battle. PR’s of private airlines ensure that journalists get their share of goodies: free upgrades at the check in counters, invites to mad parties with no shortage of liquor (not too difficult when the airline is owned by a liquor manufacturer?), gifts at all major festivals etc etc. In return all they have to do is ensure favorable coverage for the airline and the competition is dissed. After all, all that Air India has in the form of PRO’s are executives who will read out press releases, parcel out chai-nashta and tata-bye bye! The media has been loyal indeed!

Lets take some incidents that happened to one private airline known for its “sexy” image and the media coverage of these incidents:

ATR coming into land at Mumbai goes off the runway. DGCA report blames the pilot and also pulls up the airhostesses for failing to perform their safety duties. Media coverage? ZERO! Similar incidents with ATR’s in Kolhapur, Indore, Pathankot. Again ZERO media coverage!

Airbus A319 taxing for takeoff strikes an ATC tower at Agartala. 2 passengers injured in evacuation. Media coverage: ZERO.

The same airline found carrying excess passengers by the simple act of making children, some as old as 12 years old, sit on laps of parents! Again no media coverage!

3 times in a week, Airbus A320 aircraft departing out of Hyderabad return to airport because of fire alarms in the cargo hold. Reason: carrying illegal chemicals in the cargo hold of the aircraft. Turns out this happened dozens of times with the SAME airline in Hyderabad. Media coverage: ZERO!

Another ATR coming in to land at Bangalore, looses it nosewheel and goes off the runway. Brand new aircraft, completely written off. Media Coverage: ZERO!

Contrast this with the coverage given to far less serious incidents at Air india. On one occasion, a major TV channel was running feeds from a passengers mobile from inside an Air India aircraft as “Breaking News”. “Passengers protest delay in Air India flight” not forgetting to add the question “Should Air india exist?” at the end!

All incidents concerning private airlines mentioned earlier happened with the SAME airline. That SAME airline in question, has, as I speak 18 aircraft lying grounded at various stations across the country in various states of disrepair. Some with engines. Many without. Some with missing noses, others with missing wings!

How many media houses have covered the truth of the murky, underhanded and shady manner in which Kingfisher Airlines is being run? How many media houses have
covered the shoddy maintenance practices at this airline which continues to fly poorly maintained planes with impunity? Lives are at stake here, and clever PR is being used to mask shady maintenance practices. And the media is becoming ally to them?


Solution:
There is no option but to disinvest the Govt stake in the airline. But like a shrewd businessman, it should do so at a time when valuations are the highest, not the other way around. Right now valuation of the airline is at its lowest and vultures like Vijay Mallya, whose cronies played a big role in destroying this proud carrier, are itching to get their hands on this airline for cheap in the same manner as he did with Air Deccan. There is no way, the Govt will be allowed to sell off our national assets to corporate schmuck like the Vijay Mallya’s of the world.

The routes that Air India/Indian Airlines were forced to withdraw from and hand over to the Private carriers must be restored forthwith. The Govt must help restructure the crippling loans that the carrier has been saddled with due to the corruption of the previous minister Mr.Praful Patel.

And last but not the least: A CBI investigation must be ordered into corrupt and underhand dealings of Mr.Praful Patel and his cronies, namely Dinesh Keskar of Boeing, Rahul Bhatia of Interglobe Technologies and other promoters of Indigo, Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher and others including directors of Air India to get to the root of this crime.
The leads provided by 2G scamster, Niira Radia who alleged that Praful Patel had stakes in Kingfisher and Indigo need to be investigated thoroughly: especially since the decisions that Patel took to destroy Air India, benefitted these 2 airlines the most. There is a clear quid-pro-quo that can be established.
The case against Praful Patel:
1. Merger of airlines on flimsy reasons to benefit private carriers,
2. Placing aircraft orders far in excess of needs, in a non-transparent framework to benefit one manufacturer (Boeing),
3. Credit Terms for Aircraft purchase at inflated rates leaving airline with inflated interest servicing burdens directly contributing to loss,
4. Forcing airline to give up lucrative routes to enable takeover of these routes by private carriers,
5. Corruption in outsourcing contracts to competing airlines which also raises questions of conflict of interest.
Meanwhile my complete sympathy and support is with the pilots and staff of the national carrier, who haven’t even been receiving their salaries on time, even as the management led by the corrupt Arvind Jadhav and the ministers have been murdering the maharaja.

You go boys! We are with you in this fight!

I would request all of you in the airline industry to come out into the open and speak out against this rampant corruption in the ministry. A movement against corruption cannot be fought with shadows. I would request you to make your voices heard through this blog. This blog is an opportunity for all of you out there to speak up without fear!

--

-- Paulose.K.Mathew
Chairman- TAFI- Kerala

Member National Industrial & Legal Council

Janlokpal Bill - criticism & beyond..

If you are a true Indian - whether in favor or not in favor of Jan Lokpal - please read.

Critics of lokpal are saying things like – it is a Frankenstein monster, threat to democracy, parallel government, unconstitutional etc. Some are saying that the manner in which Anna is fasting and holding the Govt to ransom is not right, if he were so sure about the cause, he should have done things the 'right' way.

When I heard these things first, I started having doubts. But I then wondered, if it were all so wrong, how come the educated & young thinking minds of this country – IITs, IIMs are supporting it? How come the 29 yr old VP of Morgan Stanley, Hong Kong takes an unpaid leave and flies to Delhi to support it? How come honest, educated, people of simple living standards, those who have dedicated their lives to serve the nation (like Kiran Bedi, Shanti Bhushan, Anna Hazare, Kejriwal) backing it , and the corrupt MPs & MLAs are against it? Even the methods  that have been adopted -  strengthening participatory democracy by spreading awareness, encouraging people to voice their opinion and forcing govt. to consider public opinion - these methods tell us that they are doing something that is right.

Therefore I read and researched about it, and have put down my opinion on every point of debate. You must also read it because –

1.       If you are a critique of Anna Hazare/his methods/Janlokpal bill you must read it, because more important than sticking to our original point of views, more important than winning an argument, more important than our egos, is the future of a nation, our future, future of the coming generations. Read it with an open mind.

2.       If you are favouring Janlokpal, then also read it, because to achieve what this movement is set to achieve we have to be very clear about why we are supporting it. A lot of confusion & doubt is being created by our corrupt ministers about lokpal to break our unity – because they are scared.  Only if we can fully understand what we are fighting for can we sustain it – or once the initial euphoria dies, television channels start showing other news – we will also forget it and move on.

1. Critics say 'Why do we need lokpal?'

Current System

Despite so much evidence of corruption of so many people out in public domain, there is no chance of anyone being punished. Our entire anti corruption system is rotten – flawed – is serving no purpose.

a.       CBI – before filing any case has to take permission from minister of that department – same person accused in the case.  CBI has the powers to penalize the corrupt – but is not independent.

b.      Then we have CVC – it is advisory in nature, it can only make a recommendation to the Government – cannot take an action. In last 5 yrs, whenever they recommended any officer has to go to jail, not a single officer was sent. When they said an officer needed to be dismissed – he/she was let off with a warning.

Nobody in this country feels scared of being corrupt, because they think that in this country, corruption is a high profit, 0 risk business – they can never get caught. There is a multiplicity of agencies, but not even a single agency, empowered & independent of the Govt.

Therefore we need Lokpal. 

        
2. Critics say why was the ‘right’ method not adopted.

The idea was always to do things the ‘right’ way.

a.        Copy of Janlokpal Bill was first sent to the PM & Mrs. Sonia Gandhi on 1^st Dec’ 2010. It was  signed by Shri Shri Ravi Shankar, Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Baba Ramdev amongst others – there was no response or acknowledgement to it.

b.      From 1^st dec to 31^st march – letters were written repeatedly to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to request a meeting – no response.

c.       Almost all big including ministers - Advani,Sushma Swaraj, Pranab Mukherjee, Arun Jaitley, Chidambram, Moily,D Raja,Chandrababu Naidu, Deve Gawda were approached with a plea– there is so much corruption – please do something – no response.
 For that matter, the matter of Lokpal has been pending since 40 yrs - no Governement has taken interest in it.

That’s when Mr. Anna Hazare realized that there was no other  option – on 5^th April – he sat on a fast – and lakhs came – not because of his fast (there are several such fasts happening in the country) – but because people realized that the cause being fought for, the demands of these fighters were right. People realised Anna Hazare gets nothing out of this, he is a 74 yr old man, with no family. People realised he is staying hungry at his age, edengering his life, - selflessly, for them.

3. Critics say it is a 5-people bill.

a.       The 5 people who made the initial draft of the lokpal bill – they are highly educated, experienced, have worked inside the system, very honest, totally uncorrupt, very transparent, and have very modest living standards. They could have had plush jobs, made a lot of money, but gave it all up for social work, for upliftment of society. These vs. the Government of India – in which more than 150 MPs have serious corruption charges against them.

b.      Lokpal has been formed after months of research & study– rough drafts are available for anyone who wants to see.  Best practices of India and many countries have been taken into account.

c.       Series of public consultations have been taken in forming it – 14 versions came out. All good suggestions have been incorporated  –and are available on website.
d.    It is the Government that requested Mr. Anna Hazare to give 5 names to be put on joint committee and he gave names of the people who had made the initial draft of Jan Lokpal Bill. They never claimed to be civil society reps – they just claim to be ordinary citizens – they just feel they are being looted – they only ask that they dared to raise their voice, is it a crime?
e.  These ‘5 people’ always wanted to be very transparent – to spread public awareness – they requested the Joint Committee meeting to be shown live, Government refused. They wanted proceedings to be recorded and shown to the public, they were refused. They wrote a letter to Pranab Mukherjii  (available of Internet)– that lets debate on a public platform  – refused. Why? Because inside only one sided dialogue was going on. The pleaded ministers on every point – just denied – without explanations. 

It is not a 5-people bill, it is a 120 crore people bill (less all the corrupt netas)

4. Critics say Government has come out with a Lokpal Bill, what is wrong with that?

The government made a lame, impotent bill of its own which covered only 0.5% of the government's officers, and disincentivised whistleblowers. The government hoped that with half of India illiterate, and most of the other half ignorant, nobody would know the difference.

a. No Coverage : It practically does not cover any corruption. Panchayat, NREGA – out of purview of the lokpal. Public Distribution System – 80% of 30,000 crore subsidy is siphoned off in PDS – it is out of purview, medicines in public hospitals, roads in city & villages, municipal corruption, adarsh housing scam, common wealth games, reddy brothers scam, fodder scam, mining scam, taj corrider scam, cash for vote scam, Yamuna expressway scam – all out of govt’s lokpal bill’s purview, MPs, MLA, Surpunches, municipal councellors, all state govt employees across the country, all groups B & C & D employees – all out of purview of the lokpal bill (ONLY Group A Govt Employees Included).

Government defends itself by saying there are 1.25 cr Govt employees – need a huge force to control their corruption – does not mean you let them free to loot everybody else. What logic is this, bcoz there are so many ppl, we cannot do anything about it. Systems should be put in place.

b. Demotivating for Whistle Blowers: Government’s lokpal bill says, if any person makes a complaint to the lokpal and there isn’t sufficient evidence in the complaint, then there is 2 yrs of minimum imprisonment against complainant. That is within the purview of Government Lokpal. The officer against whom it has been made can immediately file a case of a false complaint. Corrupt officer provided free advocate by the Government.

If the complainant is not able to prove the complaint – he gets 2 yrs imprisonment; if he proves – there is 6 months for the corrupt officer. It is targeting the people fighting against corruption – those who dare raise their voice against corruption.  

c. In last 1 yr – 13 RTI activists were murdered. In jan lokpal – there is protection of whistle blowers – not accepted by Government.

d. There are many other points, for example, one of them is, if someone does a Rs. 1000 cr scam. As per the current system or Govt Lokpal, if convicted he is sent to jail. He comes out of jail after 2-3 yrs, and can enjoy his 1000 crore. Jan lokpal says, he has to return the 1000 Cr to the government, and go to jail as well.

e. Selection of lokpal – 9 member committee of which 5 are going to be from the Government.

f. Removal of lokpal. In Jan Lokpal Bill any citizen can file a case to the Supreme Court – if corruption is found in it, lokpal can be removed. Investigation against any complaint of a lokpal officer being corrupt has to be completed and justice has to be provided within a month.  As per Government bill – only Govt. can do it. So they have control over selection of lokpal & removal & budget, & functioning – it is puppet in hands of govt.

5. Critics say Lokpal will be a Parallel Government, it is a monster, will have too much power.

a. Anything not in the control of govt is not parallel govt. There are 3 types bodies in the country - judiciary, legislature, executive – executive have all the powers – to keep a check, there is a judiciary – which checks the arbitrariness, corruption, injustice. It is independent of Executive, and it is not a parallel Government. CAG, NHRC, CVC, CIC - so many other agencies – independent of govt – are they parallel govt?

b. An ordinary IT officer – of group D has the power to examine the IT return of Manmohan Singh, Chief Justice of India, all ministers – and penalize them. Does he sit on everyone’s head? Jan Lokpal – will only investigate the allegation of corruption –does not even have the power of imposing penalties – it has less power than an IT officer – power to receive complaints, examine them and take the matter to the court. 

6.       Critics say it is unconstitutional, a threat to democracy.

Yes, there is a system, a constitution, a way of doing things. But the purpose or the main goal of this system is to achieve & maintain democracy. 120 crore Indians (less the Netas) want this Lokpal bill to be passed – want corruption to be removed. If the system is becoming a deterrent in it being passed, then the system is defying Democracy. A change is required in the system/constitution - otherwise we r defeating the very purpose for which this system was established in the first place some 61 yrs back.

They keep citing the constitution. Do they notice the cover page has an emblem, below which it says "Truth shall prevail"

7. How will rallying on roads help?

If the Government passes an anti-corruption law, half of them may end up in jail – and corruption will no more be a ‘0 risk’ business. So the Government is bound to do anything it can to not let it pass.

But if every Indian comes down on the roads, they will have to honour the right to democracy of the people. And every person counts.



I will just give Hong Kong example here. In 1970 there was immense corruption in Hong Kong, so much so, that there was collusion between the police & the Mafia. Lakhs of students came out, and independent body was made – ICAC, HK – very similar to lokpal (jan lokpal) (please google for details). They were given complete powers, independence,  and resources. The first step was that out of 180 middle level officers, 120 were sacked, and a message went out, corruption will not be tolerated. And today HK is one of the most honest places.

But if we fail this time, who knows, we will probably not get a chance again before another 60 yrs.

If you are looking to do something for your countrymen (that includes you and your family), please take notice – THIS IS THE MOMENT !! If you want to be a part of History, this is your moment. You go to work, watch TV, party, talk to your friends everyday. Do something for your country, do something for what you believe in, do something that you will be proud of, do something you will remember for the rest of your life. Go out on the streets, take Indian Flag and  tell everyone that you have had enough, you will not tolerate any more corruption, you will not tolerate being looted anymore.