Dear Friends,
The much discussed Lokpal Bill is based on Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). The ambit of this institution seems to be Corruption (irrespective of Public Body or Private Body).
An excerpt from the facts sheets published by them, which provides the statistics of the people convicted so far by the institution.
Quote:
Investigations and Prosecutions: Of the 104 962 corruption complaints received between 1974 and 2009, the Operations Department carried out 67 848 investigations. Among the 13,421 persons prosecuted within the period, 2 079 were government servants, 3 810 were CIVILIANS INVOLVED IN public sector CORRUPTION CASES, and 392 were from public bodies. The REMAINING 7,140 PERSONS WERE INVOLVED IN PRIVATE SECTOR CASES.
Unquote
Link to the Article: http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/icac.pdf
Corruption is a form of injustice and falls under the domain of Judicial Branch of Government.
Legislature, Executive & Judiciary are three branches of democracy (democracy = Majority), which is a mature and internationally time tested system. By-passing democracy (a rule by majority) and concentrating power in the hands of a small set of people may not be the solution to the disease of Corruption.
Corruption (injustice) has spread because the Judicial Branch has been functioning in the shrouds of secrecy, especially the appointment of Judges (Judges are primarily responsible for delivering justice) were and are still a secret. RTI has to be made applicable to the appointment process of Judges, so that Judicial Branch is up and functioning and delivers to the expectations.
Creating another pillar of democracy by a small set of people is not a time tested method and may turn out to be an immature attempt, which may create a power vaccum and lead to anarchy.
The definition of Corruption is also very immature and obscure. If it is laid down in true sense, then the corruption is wide spread and rampant in the complete civil society (civil society = civil masters + civil servants), that it has become a way of life affecting every walk of life, and so if conviction of corrupt persons is the preamble (objective) behind the Bill, then I envisage that almost a majority of the citizens will qualify as being corrupt and so length and breath of the country will have to defined as a prison to accommodate a such huge number of people from the civil society (civil masters + civil servants) and existing prisons will be the only place where honest (non-corrupt saints - a minority) may have to stay :)
Corruption was always there on the scale that it exists today, it is only because of RTI that these instances of corruption have come out in open. RTI has empowered every single citizen and as the awareness level, that an act called RTI has been enacted is increasing, more and more citizens have started participating in the Governance.
Section 4 = Computerized Government , section 2(j)(i) = makes every citizen an inspector etc have the tremendous potential to combat corruption which is yet to be explored.
RTI is the only solution to combat the disease of Corruption, concentrating power in the hands of a small set of unelected people (may impose their ideology too on legislature), with a vindictive objective of conviction may usher in a age of Totalitarianism & Autocracy.
Regards,
Sunil.
P.S. Transparent Appointment of Information Commissioners in compliance with Article 16(1) (the nomination aspect) is also one of the major issues which can address the issue of Corruption in a major way.
The much discussed Lokpal Bill is based on Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). The ambit of this institution seems to be Corruption (irrespective of Public Body or Private Body).
An excerpt from the facts sheets published by them, which provides the statistics of the people convicted so far by the institution.
Quote:
Investigations and Prosecutions: Of the 104 962 corruption complaints received between 1974 and 2009, the Operations Department carried out 67 848 investigations. Among the 13,421 persons prosecuted within the period, 2 079 were government servants, 3 810 were CIVILIANS INVOLVED IN public sector CORRUPTION CASES, and 392 were from public bodies. The REMAINING 7,140 PERSONS WERE INVOLVED IN PRIVATE SECTOR CASES.
Unquote
Link to the Article: http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/icac.pdf
Corruption is a form of injustice and falls under the domain of Judicial Branch of Government.
Legislature, Executive & Judiciary are three branches of democracy (democracy = Majority), which is a mature and internationally time tested system. By-passing democracy (a rule by majority) and concentrating power in the hands of a small set of people may not be the solution to the disease of Corruption.
Corruption (injustice) has spread because the Judicial Branch has been functioning in the shrouds of secrecy, especially the appointment of Judges (Judges are primarily responsible for delivering justice) were and are still a secret. RTI has to be made applicable to the appointment process of Judges, so that Judicial Branch is up and functioning and delivers to the expectations.
Creating another pillar of democracy by a small set of people is not a time tested method and may turn out to be an immature attempt, which may create a power vaccum and lead to anarchy.
The definition of Corruption is also very immature and obscure. If it is laid down in true sense, then the corruption is wide spread and rampant in the complete civil society (civil society = civil masters + civil servants), that it has become a way of life affecting every walk of life, and so if conviction of corrupt persons is the preamble (objective) behind the Bill, then I envisage that almost a majority of the citizens will qualify as being corrupt and so length and breath of the country will have to defined as a prison to accommodate a such huge number of people from the civil society (civil masters + civil servants) and existing prisons will be the only place where honest (non-corrupt saints - a minority) may have to stay :)
Corruption was always there on the scale that it exists today, it is only because of RTI that these instances of corruption have come out in open. RTI has empowered every single citizen and as the awareness level, that an act called RTI has been enacted is increasing, more and more citizens have started participating in the Governance.
Section 4 = Computerized Government , section 2(j)(i) = makes every citizen an inspector etc have the tremendous potential to combat corruption which is yet to be explored.
RTI is the only solution to combat the disease of Corruption, concentrating power in the hands of a small set of unelected people (may impose their ideology too on legislature), with a vindictive objective of conviction may usher in a age of Totalitarianism & Autocracy.
Regards,
Sunil.
P.S. Transparent Appointment of Information Commissioners in compliance with Article 16(1) (the nomination aspect) is also one of the major issues which can address the issue of Corruption in a major way.
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