Saturday, April 9, 2011

Key faces of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption crusade

http://www.inewsone.com/2011/04/09/key-faces-of-anna-hazares-anti-corruption-crusade/42156

 

Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign, which has captured the imagination of the nation like no other, has some high-profile faces lending it weight and substance. Here are the key faces:

Anna Hazare: Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare, 73, is popularly known as Anna Hazare. The iconic Gandhian is known for his contribution to the development of Ragelan Siddhi, a village in Parner taluka in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district. He was awarded a Padma Bhushan in 1992 for turning it into a model village. On April 5, 2011, the 72-year-old began a fast-unto-death to exert pressure on the government to enact a strong anti-corruption law that will see the appointment of independent ombudsmen at the centre and in the states to deal with cases of corruption. He broke the fast after 97 hours after the government constituted a joint panel of ministers and civil society representatives to draft the law.

Swami Agnivesh: Born as Shyam Vepa Rao on Sep 21, 1939 in Sakti in Chhattisgarh, the saffron-clad activist is best known for his work against bonded labour through the Bonded Labour Liberation Front that he founded in 1981. He is the founder of the World Council of Arya Samaj and is associated with the United Nations Trust Fund on contemporary forms of slavery. A former lecturer at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, he joined the Hindu Reformist Movement in Haryana and became a legislator. He is an also a proponent of the inter-faith dialogue and is a member of the board of the Elijah Interfaith Institute. His entry into the corruption crusade has mobilized mass opinion.

Arvind Kejriwal: The 1958-born is a crusader for greater transparency in the government. The graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur is popularly known as the RTI or the Right to Information Man. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emerging Leadership in 2006 for empowering citizens to fight corruption by holding the government answerable to people. On February 2007, he was named the CNN-IBN Man of the Year. He is associated with a non-profit anti-corruption group, Parivartan.

Kiran Bedi: The 1949-born is India’s first supercop. She is known for her sweeping reforms in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail to rehabilitate inmates and integrate them to the mainstream. She became India’s first woman Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in 1972 and retired from service in 2007. A television presenter, Bedi is also the founder of Navjyoti, for welfare and preventive policing in 1987 and India Vision Foundation for prison reforms. Hazare’s crusade has inspired the former tough cop.

अन्ना हजारे ने छोड़े कई सवाल लोकमंच | लोकमंच

http://hindi.lokmanch.com/2011/04/09/anna-hazare-question-left-behind

 

anna hazare

भारत के लोगों को तो जैसे अपना आक्रोश व्यक्त करने और उल्लास मनाने का कोई अवसर भर चाहिये। पिछले पाँच दिनों से सारा देश जब जंतर मंतर को ट्यूनीशिया और मिस्र की पुनरावृत्ति के एक चौक के रूप में कल्पना कर अपना आक्रोश व्यक्त कर रहा था तो आज उसी स्थान पर लोकतंत्र की विजय का पर्व मनाया जा रहा है। हालाँकि लेखक को अभी तक यह स्पष्ट नहीं हो पाया है कि अन्ना हजारे ने किस बात के लिये अनशन किया और किस बात से संतुष्ट होकर उसे समाप्त भी कर दिया उससे भी बडी उलझन इस बात को लेकर है कि आखिर भारत की जनता के स्वभाव की कैसी व्याख्या की जाये। क्रिकेट विश्वकप को या फिर आई पी एल हो या फिर अन्ना हजारे का अनशन हो आखिर सब कुछ यहाँ तमाशा बन कर क्यों रह जाता है? आखिर जनता अपने आक्रोश या उल्लास को कोई तार्किक परिणाम देने से पहले ही फुस्स क्यों हो जाती है या फिर उसने बहुत कम में संतोष करना क्यों सीख लिया है?

मुम्बई में हुए आतंकवादी आक्रमण के बाद जनता का आक्रोश मोमबत्ती और मशाल के द्वारा निकल गया और उसके बाद जनता जिसका सदस्य मैं भी हूँ यह जानने को भी उत्सुक नहीं हैं कि मुम्बई आक्रमण के दोषियों को सजा दिलाने के लिये हमारी सरकार कितना प्रयास कर पाई। देश की ओर से डोजियर पर डोजियर पाकिस्तान को दिये जा रहे हैं और उसके जबाब में क्या हो रहा है हमें न तो जानने की उत्सुकता है और न ही जिज्ञासा। इसी प्रकार भारत के प्रधानमंत्री ने क्रिकेट विश्व कप के सेमीफाइनल मैच को देखने के लिये पाकिस्तान के प्रधानमन्त्री को बुलावा भेजा तो हमें यह सोचने का अवसर भी नहीं था कि क्रिकेट अपनी जगह है और कूटनीति और राजनीति अपनी जगह। हम इस पर भी ताली बजाने लगे और पाकिस्तान के प्रधानमंत्री और क्रिकेट टीम के स्वागत में लग गये हमें अपनी सरकार और प्रधानमन्त्री से यह पूछने का अवसर ही नहीं था कि आखिर मुम्बई आक्रमणकारियों के बारे में ठोस कदम उठाये बिना पाकिस्तान के प्रधानमन्त्री को किस मुँह से हम देश भ्रमण का निमंत्रण दे रहे हैं। हम जनता के रूप में यह पूछ ही नहीं सकते क्योंकि हमें तो बस ताली बजाने का मौका भर चाहिये।

आक्रोश व्यक्त करने, उल्लास मनाने और ताली बजाने की अपनी व्यग्रता का दर्शन हमें एक बार फिर जन्तर मन्तर पर हुआ जब देश के टेलीविजन ने एक अनशन को रियलिटी शो बनाकर जनता के समक्ष प्रस्तुत किया।

बिना यह जाने कि अनशन क्यों हो रहा है? इस माँग से भ्रष्टाचार के विरुद्ध लडाई को कितनी शक्ति मिलेगी या फिर जो लोग अनशन कर रहे हैं उनकी मंशा या फिर उनकी पृष्ठभूमि क्या है? आरम्भ हो गया एक बार फिर आक्रोश व्यक्त करने और तत्काल उल्लास मनाने का दौर।

अन्ना हजारे द्वारा जंतर मंतर पर जो अनशन किया गया उसमें पूरे पाँच दिन जो घटनाक्रम रहा उसे फिर से याद करना अति आवश्यक है। हमारी उल्लास मनाने , आक्रोश व्यक्त करने और मोमबत्ती के साथ मार्च करने की आदत हमें इतना अस्त व्यस्त कर देती है कि अनेक बातें विस्मृत हो जाती हैं। जिस दिन अन्ना हजारे पहले दिन आमरण अनशन पर बैठे उन्होंने सायंकाल मीडिया से कहा कि उन्होंने अनशन पर बैठने से पूर्व प्रधानमन्त्री मनमोहन सिंह और श्रीमती सोनिया गाँधी को अनेक पत्र लिखे लेकिन उनकी ओर से कोई जवाब नहीं आया और यह बात कहते हुई उनका आक्रोश देखने लायक था । इसके बाद दूसरे दिन जब उनके प्रतिनिधियों और सरकार के मध्य बातचीत आरम्भ हुई तो भी उनकी ओर से कुछ बातें कही गयीं जिनमें से एक प्रमुख बात यह थी कि कैबिनेट के वरिष्ठ सदस्य प्रणव मुखर्जी जनलोकपाल बिल के लिये बनने वाली संयुक्त ड्राफ्ट कमेटी के अध्यक्ष नहीं रहेंगे। दो दिन के अनशन के दौरान न केवल अन्ना हजारे ने वरन उनके सहयोगियों ने भी कैबिनेट के अनेपक सदस्यों के ऊपर भ्रष्टाचार के आरोप लगाये और एक सदस्य को तो कीमत भी चुकानी पडी लेकिन अनशन के तीसरे दिन काँग्रेस की राजमाता द्वारा अन्ना हजारे को लिखे गये पत्र के बाद उनके स्वर पूरी तरह बदले हुए नजर आये। तीन दिन पूर्व जिसके ऊपर सार्वजनिक रूप से आरोप लगाया जा रहा था कि उन्होंने जनलोकपाल बिल के बारे में में लिखे गये उनके पत्रों का उत्तर तक नहीं दिया था उनके प्रति सार्वजनिक रूप से आभार व्यक्त किया जाने लगा। इसके बाद पूरे अभियान में देश में हो रहे घोटालों , घपलों और इन पर सरकार की निष्क्रियता पर चर्चा होनी बंद हो गयी और सारे देश का ध्यान इस बात पर टिका दिया गया कि समिति की घोषणा के लिये सरकारी आदेश की प्रकिया क्या होगी? क्या इसी तकनीकी बात के लिये देश विदेश में लोग अन्ना हजारे के प्रति अपना समर्थन व्यक्त कर रहे थे?

इसके अतिरिक्त कुछ और प्रश्न भी है? यह आंदोलन पिछले पाँच दिनों में जनांदोलन बन गया और अन्ना हजारे ने जनलोकपाल बिल को भ्रष्टाचार के विरुद्ध एक सशक्त अस्त्र बताया तो फिर इस बिल को ड्राफ्ट करने के लिये जो समिति बनी उसमें नागरिकों का प्रतिनिधि करने वाले जो लोग हैं उनमें अध्यक्ष तो पिता और सदस्य पुत्र ही बन गये। यही प्रश्न अत्यंत मह्त्व का है। इसलिये क्योंकि हमारी जनता को तो अपना निरर्थक आक्रोश व्यक्त करने और फिर कम में ही संतोष कर उल्लास मनाने के लिये अवसर भर चाहिये और इस प्रकिया में हम सदैव उन मुद्दों पर ध्यान ही नहीं देते जो वास्तव में हमारे लिये कहीं अधिक मह्त्व के होते हैं और हमारे भविष्य से जुडे होते हैं। आज सबसे बडी बात यह है कि हमने यह सोचना छोड दिया है कि हमारा नेतृत्व जो कर रहा है उसे जवाबदेह बनाने के लिये हम अपनी क्या तैयारी रखें इसके स्थान पर हम अतिभावनाशील होकर अपनी समस्याओं, चुनौतियों और प्रश्नों को किसी और के हाथ में सौंपकर इस विश्वास में जीने लगते हैं कि अब सब कुछ ठीक हो जायेगा और फिर तैयार हो जाते हैं अगली बार कुण्ठित होकर एक नये अवसर की तलाश में जब हम अपना निरर्थक आक्रोश व्यक्त कर उल्लास मना सकें। आज कुछ और प्रश्न उभरे हैं जिनका उत्तर हमें स्वयं से माँगना होगा। इनमें से एक गम्भीर प्रश्न है कि आखिर कब हमारी जनता और समाज गम्भीरता पूर्वक मुद्दों को समझकर सही गलत की पहचान कर सकेगा और सतही आक्रोश और उल्लास के स्थान पर किसी गम्भीर और सार्थक समाधान के लिये सक्रिय हो सकेगा।

आज जिस प्रकार एक सरकारी कागज भर प्राप्त कर जंतर मंतर पर सतही उल्लास का दृश्य प्रस्तुत हुआ है उसने एक बार फिर मुद्दों को गम्भीरतापूर्वक किसी तार्किक परिणति पर ले जा सकने की हमारी क्षमता पर प्रश्नचिन्ह लगा दिया है। इस बात का भय है कि कहीं लोग यह न मान बैठें कि लोकपाल बिल आ जाने भर से भ्रष्टाचार समाप्त हो जायेगा और सरकार इस बिल को पारित कर न केवल अपनी पीठ थपथपा लेगी वरन जनता से अपेक्षा भी करेगी कि इस सरकार में हुए घोटालों के पाप से उसे मुक्त कर दिया जाये। अन्ना हजारे के इस पूरे अभियान में उनकी नीयत पर कोई प्रश्न खडा किये बिना भी कुछ ऐसे प्रश्न अवश्य हैं जो मन में उभर रहे हैं। भ्रष्टाचार के विरुद्ध यह लडाई किसी कानून के बनने तक सीमित नहीं हो सकती इसकी जडें काफी गहरी हैं और उन जडों को खोदकर उनमें मठ्ठा डालना ही पडेगा।

अन्ना हजारे के अनशन के दौरान जिस प्रकार इस अभियान को नेता विरोधी बनाने का प्रयास हुआ और सिविल सोसाइटी के नाम पर बालीवुड और कुछ विशेष मानसिकता के गैर सरकारी संगठनों के लोगों ने इसपर एकाधिकार स्थापित करने का प्रयास किया वह खतरनाक संकेत है। आज देश में प्रधानमन्त्री कार्यालय के समानांतर राष्ट्रीय सलाहकार परिषद को खडा किया गया है और इसके बाद इस परिषद से जुडे गैर सरकारी संगठनों को देश के भाग्यविधाता के रूप में प्रस्तुत करने का प्रयास न केवल खतरनाक वरन दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण है। ऐसी घटनाओं के होने के पीछे सबसे बडा कारण एक असहाय, लुंज पुंज, भ्रमित और नेतृत्वविहीन विपक्ष है जो स्वतंन्त्रता आंदोलन के समय की गोपाल कृष्ण गोखले की काँग्रेस की भाँति देश की जनता के मुद्दों पर राजनीति करने के स्थान पर वकालती पद्धति से राजनीति कर रहा है।

अन्ना हजारे के अनशन के बाद कुछ ऐसे प्रश्न खडे हुए हैं जिनका तत्काल उत्तर हमें ढूँढना होगा। देश के हित में एक सशक्त राजनीतिक नेतृत्व की संस्कृति को अलोकप्रिय होने से रोकना होगा और इसके लिये राजनीतिक दलों को अपने अंदर यथोचित सुधार करना होगा ताकि जनता का उनमें विश्वास बना रहे। देश की राष्ट्रवादी शक्तियों को साथ आकर यथाशीघ्र देश में एक बडा और व्यापक जनांदोलन चलाना होगा ताकि देश की यथास्थितिवादी व्यवस्था में आमूलचूल परिवर्तन हो सके। देश के विभिन्न क्षेत्रों में चल रहे जनाकाँक्षा अभिव्यक्ति के आंदोलनों को एक समान छतरी के नीचे लाकर नयी राष्ट्रीय राजनीतिक संस्कृति विकसित करनी होगी। कुछ राष्ट्रवादी संगठनों को अपना अहंकार और मोह त्याग कर कुछ कडे कदम उठाने होंगे और नवोदित नेतृत्व स्वीकार करना होगा ताकि राष्ट्रधर्म का पालन हो सके। जनता को अधिक गम्भीर , स्थिर और परिपक्व होकर सजग होना होगा ताकि आसुरी माया के छल को परखा जा सके।

Anna Hazare Goes to New Delhi

Anna Hazare Goes to New Delhi: "
Anna Hazare’s indefinite fast for getting the “Jan Lokpal Bill” passed has met with almost universal approval. The media frenzy has caught the Indian public’s attention to an extent that they generally reserve for more important matters such as a cricket match. One could argue that both the public obsession with cricket and the current spectacle of a public fast share a common origin, the deep-seated desire of the people to participate in what they believe are events of great significance. Mob hysteria is awesome to behold but rarely if ever leads to beneficial outcomes.




Hazare is celebrated as a Gandhian, and I believe that he is indeed one to the extent that he’s using an old Gandhian ploy. Gandhi too used fast-unto-death threats effectively and to much popular acclaim. Of all the hypocritical actions that Gandhi indulged in publicly, fasting to death is most definitely the most remarkable. It’s hypocritical because he talked loudly about non-violence and simultaneously took steps that could lead to death. If forcing others to give in to your demands by threatening to kill (suicide is not the same as homicide but it does involve the ultimate violence of the death of a sentient being) is not violence, non-violence is a meaningless concept mouthed by self-serving people.

Even if one is not wedded to the concept non-violence, a moral case can be made against the use of violent blackmail as an instrument of achieving public policy ends. Threatening to kill oneself to get others to do what you want is blackmail that’s impossible to ignore. That is unacceptable in small closed groups such as a family but it becomes infinitely more reprehensible when played out at the national level.

As a means to an end, I am not against violence. Violence is certainly justified in cases where it’s the last means of combating unbearable injustice. But violence has to be the last resort in one’s desperate fight against injustice and only if one’s violent action prevents an even greater violence. What makes me see red is when violence is camouflaged with pious talk of non-violence. Hypocrisy is ethically and morally repulsive.

Violence has no place in a civilized society which is supposed to be ruled by law. People who threaten to kill themselves are no better than those who take to the streets to riot and rampage destroying life and property. It is an unfortunate fact that too often the government gives in to demands — reasonable or not — when sufficient violence is employed. At some point when the nation as a whole, including the government and the citizens, becomes sufficiently mature to play by the rules, and the use of violence as an instrument of forcing public policy becomes verboten. I believe it is high time that India became such.

Hazare’s fasting to death and the public support that he has enlisted shows how immature India is as a nation. Endorsing his and his supporters’ actions in this case is dangerous for the simple reason that its essential consequence is rule by mobs hell bent on having their way by threatening violence. Already India suffers from episodes of mobs forcing the government to restrict personal freedoms such as expression and speech by violent means. Whether Hazare’s action will result in a better ombudsman bill or not is uncertain. But it will certainly reinforce the public perception that if you want your way, instead of taking the hard way of arguing your case, the quickest and most expedient way is to take to violence.

Yes, Hazare and his cohort are fighting for a good cause; yes, we have to collectively and publicly fight public corruption; yes, we have to make heroic efforts to clean the Augean stables which the Indian legislature has predictably become thanks to the Nehru-Gandhi clan’s misrule. But in our haste to do something we could be painting ourselves into a corner.

“We have to do something against corruption; this is something; so therefore we should do this.” It has superficial appeal but however intense our passion for justice, we have to make certain that it is the right thing to do, not merely the most expedient or the most TV news worthy.

My contention is that what Hazare and company are doing is definitely spectacular but is also as certainly the wrong thing.

Bandwagons are spectacular, full of sound and pomp, but the streets revert back to their normal once they pass and the spectators have dispersed. The celebrities — movie actors, cricket players, politicians, news anchors — after they are done riding this one, will jump on the next one to continue to distract the public. Candle sales will drop until the next big thing — perhaps another terrorist attack — comes along for the public to latch on to. Mind you, I like a circus as much as the next guy. I would rather have one in town for entertainment but not if we are entertained into a comatose state.

I have argued why fasting to death is the wrong thing to do. But there’s more. I am convinced that the “Lokpal Bill,” either version is at best a palliative and does not strike at the root cause of corruption. Corruption is a serious matter but in the end, it is only a symptom of a deeper cause. Corruption is the manifestation of a systemic problem. Government power and control forms the foundation on which the massive structure of corruption is built.

I have written about the connection between control, shortage and corruption previously. (See “The Shortage Congested Economy.” April 2010.) I will briefly recapitulate the arguments here. Here’s how it goes. First, the balance of power between the government and the civil society. The government gets control of economic activity and arrogates to itself the power to dictate who does what. Instead of merely being a referee and enforcer of rules in the great economic game, it becomes a player. That gives the people in the government the opportunity to make economic profits (what economists call “rent.”) Rent-seeking opportunities attract the most greedy and the least principled to government positions. Instead of a democracy, it becomes a kakistocracy. Massive public corruption is the necessary and predictable consequence.

Imagine that being the minister for telecommunications affords one the opportunity to make $20 billion through kickbacks. One has to get elected to become a minister. We know that getting elected is a costly business. How much one is willing to spend on elections to become the minister for telecom depends on two things: the opportunity to recover the money spent on the elections and one’s readiness to steal from the public.

Now the larger the opportunity, the more the attraction for the greedy to seek the position. This leads to intense competition among the morally and ethically handicapped. It also weeds out the honest people. Suppose you are really capable of formulating good telecom policy but you have scruples. You don’t want to steal. So if you were to become the telecom minister, you would not even take a wooden nickel from the public till. You can spend at most a few lakhs on your election campaign that you are able to raise from your well-wishers. But what about your thoroughly dishonest competitors? They will make $20 billion if elected and so they can outspend you. You know that and thus keep out of the race.

The license-permit-control-quota raj is at the root of the criminalization of Indian politics. The less scruples one has, the greater the loot; the greater the loot, the more intense the competition to win the position; the more intense the competition, the greater the cost of fighting elections; the greater the cost, the greater the need to recover them; the more greedy and unprincipled people in government, the greater their desire to increase the government’s choke-hold on the economy.

The government controls massive segments of the economy. Food procurement and distribution; education; fuel, aviation; telecommunications; railways; banking and insurance; real estate; . . . the list is endless. The government is in it not because it is good for the country but because it is good for the people running the government. The politicians ride around for free on the government controlled railways and airlines. The government determines who gets the licenses and how restrictive the quotas have to be to extract the most rents. Ministers in charge of handing out mining rights make more money than the annual GDP of many small countries. Some are so rich that they must be counted as the richest men in the world. Raul Vinci aka Rahul Gandhi made it to one such list.

As if that was not enough, multi-billion dollar schemes (all named after Gandhi or the members of the Nehru-Gandhi family) for “social uplift” proliferate. Using taxes — our money — the government buys the loyalty of this or that vote bank. It would have been the most astonishing miracle if given the circumstances India had not been the world’s largest kakistocracy.

India is a corrupt country because the rules — those that give all the power to the government to run a license control permit quota raj — make it inevitable. George F Will was referring to the US government but his words apply with greater force to India when he wrote, “The administration’s central activity — the political allocation of wealth and opportunity — is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption.” [Tincture of Lawlessness. The Washington Post, May 2009.]

The root cause of corruption and the related issue of absolutely abysmal governance is our set of bad rules. India’s persistent deep-rooted poverty is due to that. Douglass C. North noted that “economic history is overwhelmingly a story of economies that failed to produce a set of economic rules of the game (with enforcement) that induce sustained economic growth.” The road out of poverty starts off with people deciding on a different set of rules. The corruption we are suffering today can only be eradicated by redressing the balance of power between the government and the people. The way to do that is to change the rules. But that change has to come from actions that are legitimate and consistent with the principles of a constitutional republic.

But, one may argue, isn’t that what Hazare and company are trying to do: change the rules? Indeed they are but that rule change is palliative and not curative. What they are trying to do is to see that criminals are punished. That’s after the act and it is not likely to be a deterrent because the penalties are paltry relative to the rewards, and the corrupt can buy their way out given that the system — even the courts are not immune to corruption — is corrupt.

Alright, you may say, but what is wrong with doing this first and then taking on the larger matter later? Wouldn’t it improve the situation?

Actually it may make the system worse because it would distract the people long enough for the larger problem to become more acute. It is like giving a painkiller to a person suffering from a gangrenous limb. It reduces the perceived urgency of removing the limb and is therefore ultimately more damaging to the body.

So what should be done? Instead of a hunger-strike, what is a better way of registering protest? Hazare should get his millions of supporters to protest peacefully. A few hundred thousand should go to New Delhi and not allow Pratibha Patil, Manmohan Singh, and their handler the Italian-born Antonia Maino aka Sonia Gandhi to move out of their houses. Do that for a few weeks under the full glare of international media attention — remember all these worthies have foreign connections — and I bet that these people will get the message.

Instead of threatening violence, Hazare should use reason to persuade people to vote for change. In civilized societies, people argue, debate and use reason to make their case and persuade people. Let him take on Manmohan Singh on prime time TV. Let’s all hear what Manmohan Singh has to say for himself. Let the people ask MMS tough questions, instead of a stage-managed bunch of stooges — oops, I mean media personalities — throwing him softballs.

Popular leaders like Hazare should educate themselves first — so that they don’t end up making a bad situation worse. Mere good intentions are no guarantee that one is not seriously mistaken. Too often it is like the monkey trying to save a fish from drowning by putting it up on a tree.

Work to amend the constitution. The set of assumptions made when it was written were probably wrong then, but they are most certainly wrong now. Treating citizens like immature children is one such assumption. The British did leave the building but their rule book is being followed still.

The Jan Lokpal Bills is better than the Lokpal Bill. But that is not saying much. Both bills are dangerous because they focus on what punishment to dole out for crimes, and not on preventing criminals from committing them in the first place. But even if you believe that passing a bill is what you have to do, how you go about doing it matters because of the precedent it sets.

To my mind, the way out of hole that the Nehru-Gandhi clan and the Congress party has buried India in is to elect a competent and incorruptible person to be at the helm of affairs. That’s a tall order but it is not impossible. We can do it because when all is said and done, the citizens of India have the power to elect such a person. No one of us has the power to elect a real prime minister but together we can make it happen.

We have to unite as voters and create our own vote bank that demands a great prime minister. We have to launch a public awareness campaign so that the next election cycle the leader is someone who is serious about governance and not interested in loot. The rules can be changed by a good leader. India has 1.2 billion people and it is impossible that there isn’t one competent and honest person to lead India. The way out is therefore through the ballot box.

Postscript: The hunger strike is off as of 9th of April. The powers that be have assured Hazare that something will be done. The matter will be looked into. A committee will review the changes.

Kapil Sibal said, “We have resolved issues which seemed intractible. Our fight against corrupiton is a fight in which we are the civil society are in the same page.” Yes, indeed they are. As I had argued before, without the civil society being corrupt, it would not be possible for the corrupt to rule the country for so many decades.

Anyway, it’s all about kissing and making up now. Hazare thanked Manmohan Singh and Antonia Maino. All’s just wonderful. Mera Bharat Mahan.

Additional Readings:

Nitin Pai wrote a great piece on the matter: “Against Jan Lok Pal and the politics of hunger strikes”.

The Jan Lok Pal will become another logjammed, politicised and ultimately corrupt institution, for the passionate masses who demand new institutions have a poor record of protecting existing ones. Where were the holders of candles, wearers of Gandhi topis and hunger strikers when the offices of the Chief Election Commissioner, the Central Vigilance Commissioner and even the President of the Republic were handed out to persons with dubious credentials? If you didn’t come out to protest the perversion of these institutions why are you somehow more likely to turn up to protest when a dubious person is sought to be made the Jan Lok Pal?

But this is us. Given this reality, the solution for corruption and malgovernance should be one that does not rely the notoriously apathetic middle classes to come out on the streets. The solution is to take away the powers of discretion, the powers of rent-seeking from the government and restore it back to the people. This is the idea of economic freedom. Societies with greater economic freedom have lower corruption. We have long argued that we are in this mess because we have been denied Reforms 2.0.

Sandhya Jain’s piece is another worth reading very carefully: “Anna Hazare: NGOs for Governance?”

Anna Hazare’s so-called fast-unto-death is questionable for its anti-democratic disdain for elected government and people’s representatives. The timing is equally suspect – right after the adjournment of Parliament after passing the Union Budget. It may be recalled that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was forced to gift Rs. 40,000/- crores to the leaky MREGA project favoured by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her unelected friends in the National Advisory Council; his attempts to curtail this hole in the exchequer enraged her.

As if on cue, Hazare, NAC cronies, Rockefeller Foundation-funded Magsaysay Award winners, and other usual suspects, ganged up against the besieged prime minister. Concerned citizens and analysts have a duty to ask whether the government of a Republic that derives its power from the people should – in the months preceding the monsoon session of Parliament – cave in to blackmail by well-heeled and well-connected NGOs, and accept a legislation drafted by them? If laws are to be adopted and enacted in this manner, do we need either government or Parliament?

. . .

Readers who may regard this critique as harsh should consider that Anna Hazare wants a joint committee comprising government and civil society leaders [read individuals and NGOs favoured by him and his friends] to rework the current draft Lokpal Bill. I am refraining, in this article, from going into the merits of his critique of the Government Draft [I stipulate there will be much merit in it]; in fact, I am not going into the text of his draft at all, nor comparing it with the impugned Government draft.

My point is that he is instigating the middle class intelligentsia that comes to hear him at Jantar Mantar – and neither he nor any of his allies is a grassroots mass leader – to despise and distrust politicians and bureaucrats as a class when these are the constitutional pillars of State. In their place, Hazare moots an unelected oligarchy. This does not bode well for the nation or the society.

While he is within his rights to fiercely criticise the Government draft Lokpal Bill, it is utterly unworthy to say that, “If the government alone drafts the anti-corruption bill, it will be autocratic not democratic, there will be discrepancies.” Here it may be pertinent to note that while Hazare’s charmed inner circle includes some high profile lawyers who have made a mark in the battle against corruption in high places, he has placed NO FAITH in the Judiciary as an institution in rectifying anomalies in the law and its application, and in bringing culprits to justice. This is a strange kind of crusade.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s column “Of the Few, By the Few

Corruption is a challenge. And public agitation is required to shame government. But it is possible to maintain, in reasonable good faith, that the Jan Lokpal Bill is not necessarily the best, or the only solution to the corruption challenge. We should not turn a complex institutional question into a simplistic moral imperative. Many of the people in the movement for the Jan Lokpal Bill have set examples of sacrifice and integrity that lesser mortals can scarcely hope to emulate. But it is the high vantage point of virtue that has occluded from view certain uncomfortable truths about institutions.

The various drafts of the Jan Lokpal Bill are, very frankly, an institutional nightmare. To be fair, the bill is a work in progress. But the general premises that underlie the various drafts border on being daft. They amount to an unparalleled concentration of power in one institution that will literally be able to summon any institution and command any kind of police, judicial and investigative power. Power, divided in a democracy, can often be alibi for evading responsibility. But it is also a guarantee that the system is not at the mercy of a few good men. Having concentrated immense power, it then displays extraordinary faith in the virtue of those who will wield this power. Why do we think this institution will be incorruptible? The answer seems to be that the selection mechanism will somehow ensure a superior quality of guardians. Why? Because the selection committee, in addition to the usual virtuous judges, will have, as one draft very reassuringly put it, two of the “most recent Magsaysay Award Winners”. Then there is no sense of jurisdiction and limits. It is not going to look at corruption only. It can even look into “wasteful” expenditure. They can, potentially usurp all policy prerogatives of democratic governments. So many accountability institutions, in the name of accountability, are not distinguishing between policy issues and corruption. They are perpetuating the myth that government can function without any discretionary judgment.
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India, 2011

महाजाल पर सुरेश चिपलूनकर (Suresh Chiplunkar): पुट्टपर्थी में सेकुलर गिद्ध मंडराने लगे हैं… Satya Sai Baba Trust Puttaparthi, Hindu Temples

http://blog.sureshchiplunkar.com/2011/04/satya-sai-baba-trust-puttaparthi-hindu.html

 

आपने कई बार देखा होगा कि घर में बाप आखिरी साँसें गिन रहा होता है और सबसे नालायक, जुआरी और शराबी बेटा उसके मरने से पहले ही, मिलने वाली सम्पत्ति और बंटवारे के बारे में चिल्लाने लगता है, जुगाड़ फ़िट करने लगता है। कुछ-कुछ ऐसा ही “सेकुलर” गिद्धों से भरी कांग्रेस पार्टी भी कर रही है। तिरुपति देवस्थानम (Tirupati Devasthanam) के ट्रस्टियों में “बाहरी” एवं “सेकुलर” लोगों को भरने तथा तिरुमाला की पवित्र पहाड़ियों पर चर्च निर्माण की अनुमति देकर “सेमुअल” राजशेखर रेड्डी ने जो “रास्ता” दिखाया था, उसी पर चलकर अब कांग्रेस की नीयत, सत्य साईं ट्रस्ट पर भी डोल चुकी है। अब यह तय जानिये कि किसी न किसी बहाने, कोई न कोई कानूनी पेंच फ़ँसाकर इस ट्रस्ट में कांग्रेसी घुसपैठ करके ही दम लेंगे।

आंध्रप्रदेश सरकार का यह तर्क अत्यंत हास्यास्पद और बोदा है कि सरकार सिर्फ़ यह सुनिश्चित करना चाहती है कि साँई बाबा के पश्चात ट्रस्ट का संचालन एवं आर्थिक गतिविधियाँ समुचित ढंग से संचालित हों एवं इसमें कोई गड़बड़ी न हो। सोचने वाली बात है कि सत्य साँई बाबा के भक्तों में ऊँचे दर्जे के बुद्धिजीवी, ऑडिटर्स, चार्टर्ड अकाउंटेंट्स, शिक्षाविद, इंजीनियर एवं डॉक्टर हैं, क्या वह ट्रस्ट साँई बाबा के जाने के बाद अचानक लावारिस हो जायेगा? क्या सत्य साँई बाबा के अधीन काम कर रहे वर्तमान विश्वस्त साथियों ने इस स्थिति के बारे में पहले से कोई योजना अथवा कल्पना करके नहीं रखी होगी? क्या ये लोग इतने निकम्मे हैं? स्वाभाविक है कि कोई न कोई “बैक-अप प्लान” अवश्य ही होगा और वैसे भी आज तक बड़े ही प्रोफ़ेशनल तरीके से सत्य साईं ट्रस्ट का संचालन होता रहा है, कभी कोई समस्या नहीं आई। लेकिन सरकार (यानी कांग्रेस) येन-केन-प्रकारेण सत्य साँई ट्रस्ट में “अपने राजनीतिक लुटेरों” को शामिल करना चाहती है।

 

यहाँ पर स्वाभाविक सा प्रश्न खड़ा होता है, कि जिस समय मदर टेरेसा (Mother Teresa) गम्भीर हालत में थीं और अन्तिम साँसें गिन रही थीं, तब सरकार “मिशनरीज़ ऑफ़ चैरिटी” (Missionaries of Charity) को मिलने वाले अरबों के चन्दे और उस ट्रस्ट के संचालन तथा रखरखाव के बारे में इतनी चिंतित क्यों नहीं थी? ये सारे सवाल साईं बाबा के ट्रस्ट के समय ही क्यों खड़े किये जा रहे हैं? और वह भी निष्ठुरता की इस पराकाष्ठा के साथ, कि अभी सत्य साँई बाबा मरे नहीं हैं, सिर्फ़ गम्भीर हैं। साईं बाबा ट्रस्ट से सम्बन्धित सभी “कांग्रेसी सेकुलर आशंकाएं” उस समय कभी सामने क्यों नहीं आईं, जब बाबा पूर्णतः स्वस्थ थे और उनके कार्यक्रमों में शंकरदयाल शर्मा, टीएन शेषन, अब्दुल कलाम, नरसिंहराव इत्यादि सार्वजनिक रूप से शिरकत करते थे? अब जबकि बाबा अपनी मृत्यु शैया पर हैं तब कांग्रेस को यह याद आ रहा है? साईं बाबा ने हमेशा आध्यात्म और भक्ति-प्रार्थना को ही अपना औज़ार बनाया है, साँई बाबा पर ढोंग करने, पाखण्ड करने सम्बन्धी आरोप लगते रहे हैं और विवाद होते रहे हैं, परन्तु साँई बाबा पर घोर कांग्रेसी भी “साम्प्रदायिकता फ़ैलाने” का आरोप नहीं लगा सकते… परन्तु साँई बाबा द्वारा खड़े किये गये 40,000 करोड़ के साम्राज्य पर “सेकुलर गिद्धों” की बुरी निगाह है, यह बात आईने की तरह साफ़ है। ये बात और है कि केन्द्र सरकार के बाद, पूरे देश में सबसे अधिक जमीनों और रियल एस्टेट पर कब्जा यदि किसी का है तो दूसरे नम्बर पर “चर्च” और मिशनरी ही हैं, लेकिन याद नहीं पड़ता कि कभी कोई सरकार इस बारे कभी चिन्तित हुई हो… क्या उस अकूत सम्पत्ति के अधिग्रहण के बारे में कभी किसी ने विचार किया है? किसी की हिम्मत नहीं है (खासकर सोनिया गाँधी के रहते)।

महाराष्ट्र की कांग्रेस सरकार ने वहाँ के सभी प्रसिद्ध और बड़े मंदिरों के ट्रस्टों का पिछले दरवाजे से अधिग्रहण कर रखा है, मंदिरों में आने वाला भारीभरकम चढ़ावा सरकारों के लिये “दूध देती गाय” के समान है (लेकिन सिर्फ़ और सिर्फ़ हिन्दू मन्दिर ही)। मन्दिरों की दुर्दशा पर किसी का ध्यान नहीं जाता, लेकिन वहाँ से आने वाली 85% कमाई सरकार की जेब में जाती है। हाल ही में महाराष्ट्र सरकार ने हिन्दू, सिख एवं जैन धार्मिक स्थलों के अधिग्रहण हेतु एक प्रस्ताव केन्द्र सरकार को भेजा है, जो कि “उचित माहौल और समय” आने पर पारित कर लिया जायेगा। आम हिन्दू ऐसे मुद्दों पर समर्थन और ठोस कार्रवाई के लिये भाजपा की तरफ़ देखता है, लेकिन उसे निराशा ही हाथ लगती है। भाजपाई, हिन्दुओं के हितो का सिर्फ़ “दिखावा” करते हैं, और तय जानिये कि सेकुलर “दिखाई देने” के चक्कर में, वे न घर के रहेंगे और न घाट के…। विकल्पहीनता के अभाव में फ़िलहाल हिन्दू भाजपा को वोट दे रहे हैं… लेकिन यह स्थिति हमेशा रहेगी, ऐसा नहीं कहा जा सकता…। जब सत्य साँई बाबा और शंकराचार्य जैसे हिन्दुओं के बड़े आस्था पुंज पर अथवा लक्ष्मणानन्द सरस्वती की हत्या से लेकर साध्वी प्रज्ञा को जेल में ठूंसने पर भी भाजपा सिर्फ़ तात्कालिक हो-हल्ला करके चुप्पी साध लेती हो तब तो निश्चित रूप से भविष्य अंधकारमय ही है, हिन्दुओं का भी और भाजपा का भी…

चलते-चलते :- अभी कुछ दिनों पहले गोआ के एक मंत्री को मुम्बई एयरपोर्ट पर एक लाख से अधिक अवैध डॉलर के साथ पकड़ा गया था (Goa Minister Held with Dollars), साफ़ है कि वह पैसा ड्रग्स से कमाया गया था और देश के बाहर ले जाया जा रहा था। लेकिन 65 लाख रुपये के लिये राहत फ़तेह अली खान पर हंगामा करने वाले मीडिया ने भी गोआ के इस “ईसाई मंत्री” के कुकर्म पर आँखें मूंदे रखीं, जबकि कस्टम विभाग ने भी उसे बगैर जाँच के छोड़ दिया है… कहा गया है कि गोवा के मंत्री को छोड़ने का आदेश “ऊपर से” आया था…। यानी लुटेरों(कलमाडी) और डाकुओं (ए राजा) के साथ-साथ, अब दिल्ली में “ड्रग स्मगलरों” की भी सरकार काम कर रही है…

Swami Ram Vs Anna Hazare?

Swami Ram Vs Anna Hazare?: "
This is further to my msg dated 8th April 2011. Anna Hazareji has ended his fast. The Govt. has agreed to form a committee to draft a Jan Lokpal Bill. If one law can solve the problem of corruption, that is well and good.


The media is overenthusiastic in reporting the entire event live. Swami Ram Dev who first started the anti-corruption movement, is visiting each district through out the country, where lakhs of people assemble to listen to him. The same media has never reported his meetings or speeches. What is their enthusiasm in reporting Anna Hazariji’s fast? Is it a Congress managed show?


The Congress is not at all worried as long as there is no threat to it from another political party. Anna Hazare has not uttered a single word against Congress - the fountain head of corruption. He has also announced that he is not interested in politics. And this is exactly what Congress wants.


Contrary to this, Swami Ramdev has decided to form a political party and challenge the Congress. Looking at the public response to his campaign, the Congress became jittery. And in Anna Hazareji, it has found a good safety valve. By driving a wedge between Swami Ram Dev and Anna Hare, the Congress wants to take some winds out of the sails of Swami Ramdev.


Anna Hazareji has not mentioned a single word in support of the Bharat Swbhimaan Andolan of Swami Ram Dev. On the contrary, he has announced that he will form an organisation, taking advantage of the groundswell of support from youngsters. Now what this new organisation will do, as it is not going to enter politics? Will it be complimentary or competitive to BSA?


When Anna Hazare broke his fast, he took Nimbooz by 7Up, a Pepsi product described by Swami Ramdev as 'toilet cleaner'. This will definitely boost the sale of Pepsi, against which Swami Ramdev is carrying on a relentless campaign.


In fact, what Anna Hazareji is doing is exactly fitting in to the scheme of things of the Congress. It has divided the anti-corruption movement - one with Swami Ram and the other with Anna Hazareji, supported by Art of Living and some dubious NGOs having a soft corner for the Congress - two parallel organisations working against corruption, in the process dividing the people (voters) into two. And in the entire episode, the Congress party is the winner! To escape from the fury of revolutionaries, the British Government established the Congress party, as a safety valve. Today, the Congress is propping up Anna Hazareji, to escape from the fury of Swami Ram Dev. History is repeating itself.


P. Deivamuthu Editor, Hindu Voice & National Spirit
"

VivekaJyoti: A very notorious person who openly admits that he wants to look like an Indian sadhu so that he can make people come to him.

http://vivekajyoti.blogspot.com/2011/04/very-notorious-person-who-openly-admits.html

 

Sadhu Chellappa Agni Ministries inculturation example.

from jaikumarvaidyanathan
date Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 12:02 PM
subject    [breakingindia] sadhu chellappa agni ministries inculturation example.


Please listen to this talk especially between 2.40 to 3.5 minutes. He openly admits that he wants to look like an Indian sadhu so that he can make people come to him.

He is a very notorious person.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBSPQvIqYs

कार्टून: सरकार की भी उपवास रखने की पेशकश.

कार्टून: सरकार की भी उपवास रखने की पेशकश.: "anna hajaare cartoon, anna hazaare cartoon, India against corruption, fight against corruption carton, manmohan singh cartoon, indian political cartoon, corruption cartoon, corruption in india
Cartoon by Kirtish Bhatt (www.bamulahija.com)
"

कार्टून: मुंह खोलो मनमोहनसिंह !!

manmohan singh cartoon, janlokpal bill cartoon, corruption cartoon, India against corruption, anna hajaare cartoon, anna hazaare cartoon
Cartoon by Kirtish Bhatt (www.bamulahija.com)
"