Will the relationship between India and Pakistan will ever improve
Corruption is a curse to the Indian social system and is the root cause of many social, moral and economic evils. In 2013 government of India notified a bill called the Lokpal and Lokayuktas bill, 2013. This bill aims to reduce the level of corruption in India.
This bill is a serious step for eradicating corruption. This bill is called ‘serious’ because it brings all categories of public servants under its preview. This includes the Prime Minister’s office though with some safeguards.
This bill provides for a Lokpal at the centre and Lokayuktas at the state level. It provides for a Board with a chairman and 8 members. Out of those 8 members 50% should be judicial members. The members were selected by a committee of the Prime Minister, the speaker of the Lok Sabha, Leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and Chief Justice of India or a judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him. It provides for a time bound disposal of cases.
This bill provides for a Lokayuktas in all the states that have to enact legislation to this effect within 365 days of the publishing Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013.
The Lokpal will have the power to direct CBI in cases referred to it. Without the consent of Lokpal no officer of CBI working on a case referred by the Lokpal shall be transferred.
Lokpal even has the power to investigate cases of private entities who receive funds excessive of 10 Lakh from any foreign source.
In a sense the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill did provide a ray of hope to people of this country. However, the main question remains that whether this bill alone is sufficient for eradicating corruption. The answer is, ‘it depends’. It depends upon various factors like enforcement, education, participation and trial. All these factors have an overbearing influence on success of the Bill.
In Indian legal system there are various laws under which a corrupt can be booked but lack of enforcement let them have a free run. Enforcing the law is the chief duty of police, but a non-trained and under knowledge force cannot implement a law. Weak enforcement makes an act weak.
Educating the mass about this law is also important because majority of cases remains under-reported and a person who tends to benefit from corruption does not report it. This non-reporting of cases increases corruption in the country.
Corruption should be tackled by a multi pronged strategy. The participation of all the stake holders of a society is necessary for eradication of this malaise. People, government, civil society, NGO’s and bureaucracy all need to work hand-in-hand. Participation of all the stake holders of a society is a must for the success of the bill.
This bill provides for time bound trial of corruption related cases. This is a marked deviance from all other laws where no time limit is provided. This is significant provision because it may decreases the hassle of complainants.
This bill is necessary because corruption has invaded us like a virus. This bill provides many sections that may deter corrupt from corruption. This bill along with the above mentioned factors are needed for eradicating corruption in India.
By
Mrinal Malaka
