India's Congress refuses stronger anti-corruption Jan LokPal Bill despite fast by Hazare – Not a Surprise after presiding over a Zillion Scams

India has been rocked by a number of scams and scandals in which the ruling Congress Party members have invariably involved.The Adarsh Housing Scam,Commenwealth Games Scam,2G Telecom Scandal etc. the list of corruption goes on and on.Despite this the ruling Congress Party does not want a stringent anit-corruption bill to be passed.Note the party in its party plenary has passed a resolution that they would crack down against corruption.However it seems like most of the promises of reforms in the country that was a lot of air.The new LokPal Bill does not have enough teeth to go after powerful politicians and bureaucrats and would lead to the same state of affairs.Note in a slap to the government,the Supreme Court has taken over the investigation of the 2G Telecom Scam as it does not feel confident in the ability of the ruling party to take action against the guilty.India’s top investigation agences CBI and ED are hopelessly compromised and are repeatedly castigated by the courts for being criminally lenient towards powerful and rich like Hasan Ali.

Anna Hazare one of the few remaining respected public figures has gone on a fast to highlight the government’s reluctance against passing a stringent anti-corruption bill.Making a mockery of the fast,the Congress spokesperson dismissed the fast as the free action of a democratic citizen.Its time the Prime Minister who appears helpless in the face of rampant corruption in his administration takes up the corruption issue.The guilty are far from being punished in any of the scams (note Chavan,Kalmadi and others are going scot free,so are the other politicians,admirals,general and bureaucrats).It is the lack of fear of punishment and jail time that has emboldened the politicians to flagrantly violate the law like assualting an election official,bribing voters with cash etc.Time for India’s Civil Society to bring pressure on the government to move against Corruption.

What is so funny is that the Minister involved in most of the Scams,Sharad Pawar is the chairman of the committee responsible for drafting the bill.No wonder the LokPal Bill contents have been diluted to make it more or less toothless against the corrupt.

Hazare announces fast unto death till Jan Lokpal Bill enacted

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare today said he will observe fast unto death from tomorrow till the government enacts a comprehensive law like the Jan Lokpal Bill to tackle the menace.
“My fast unto death begins tomorrow. I was saddened when the Prime Minister rejected the demand by leading civil society members to include them and senior ministers in the joint committee to draft the Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen”s ombudsman Bill),” 72-year-old Hazare told a press conference here.
He said that a Group of Ministers headed by Sharad Pawar is looking into the contents of the proposed anti-corruption bill and civil society members would be consulted later.
Retired IPS officer Kiran Bedi and social reformist Swami Agnivesh were also present and pledged their support to Hazare.
Hazare lamented that the views of eminent persons like Justice (Retd) Santosh Hegde, advocate Prashant Bhushan and Agnivesh were not considered important by the government and “a minister like Sharad Pawar, who is known for possessing large amounts of land in Maharashtra, is heading a committee that will draft the bill.”
Swami Agnivesh said he attended the meeting this morning of the sub-group on transparency of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi.
He said a ”Jan Lokpal” should be set up at the Centre and a ”Jan Lokayukta” appointed in each state to handle corruption cases, probe them and ensure prosecution.