Will the recently passed Lok Pal Bill end Corruption in India?

The lokpal bill is a anti-corruption act which will have the power to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without government permission. The lokpal bill is designed to create an effective anticorruption and grievance redressal system and to assure that an effective deterrent is created against corruption and to provide effective protection to whistleblowers.

The salient features of Lokpal bill are:

• An institution called Lokpal at the centre and Lokayukta in each state will be set up.
• Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.
• Cases against corrupt people will not go on for years. The investigation of each has to be completed within a year.
• The loss occurred to the government due to corrupt practices would be recovered at the time of conviction.
• If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.

The question may arise what happens if the government appoints corrupt people as lokpal members? That won't be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and authorities through a completely transparent process.

Another question, what if some lokpal members become corrupt? That won't be possible because the entire functioning of the lokpal will be transparent.

It is very strange that this bill has been pending for over 42 years? The creation of the lokpal is historic event and is expected that it will certainly fight corruption and maladministration.

We have to be positive and hope and pray that the Lokpal bill passed controls the unbridled corruption at the earliest.

Gandhiji once said, "To check corruption we require a high code of morals, extreme vigilance on the part of those, who are free from the corrupt practices."

The Rigveda says that only ethically pure and intellectually capable persons should be allowed to administer the country.

The Atharvaveda consider it, the duty of the citizens to see, that only the competent are at the helm and that those in power remain ethical and conscientious.

Corruption can be checked when the rulers themselves set an example for the common men to follow. How can we expect the lower rungs of the society to tread path of righteousness, when the higher echelons are totally tainted?

William Shakespeare says, "Lilies that fester shell for worse than weeds." If the so called leaders, the persons sitting in the position of authority are fully sunk in the ocean of corruption, then who can save the nation.

To fight the demon of corruption, it is first the common man who has to change. Then only can the lokpal bill or any such activity against corruption can bore fruit.

Vaishnavi jha

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