The Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare, and Baba Ramdev

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 26 Apr 2011 18:04

http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?271560

FAQ
Three Smears
A lot of mud was thrown at the Bhushans in the hope that at least some of it would stick — that an impression would remain that they were not as clean as people thought them to be. Here are the facts about various questions raised
CAMPAIGN FOR JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REFORMS

Shortly after the notification of the joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill, a smear campaign against the Bhushans was unleashed. A fabricated CD was circulated to select media organizations. Allegations were made about stamp duty evasion with regard to the purchase of a property in Allahabad. Aspersions were cast on the allotment of two farm land plots in NOIDA to Mr Shanti Bhushan and Mr Jayant Bhushan. A lot of misinformation was spread through innuendos by sections of the media. A campaign was mounted to get the Bhushans to resign from the drafting committee. In the swirl of allegations and innuendos the hope of those who carried out this campaign along with their spin doctors in the media was that the facts would not be examined by the people and an impression would remain that the Bhushans were not as clean as people thought them to be. It is therefore important to examine the facts in order to unravel the smear campaign

.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 26 Apr 2011 23:29

Good move by Baba Ramdev. By keeping to sidelines while Anna Hazare and his fake civli society warriors got the limelight and got discredited he bided his time to retake the anti-corruption drive.

Either the charges against AH team will get dropped in a jiffy or Baba Ramdev gets his team.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 27 Apr 2011 09:43

I'm not convinced that the Lokpal bill is compatible with Westminster style democracy and indirect elections. If the PM comes under Lokpal, will it then start to investigate corruption in the selection or appointment of the PM itself?

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 27 Apr 2011 10:10

ramana wrote:Good move by Baba Ramdev. By keeping to sidelines while Anna Hazare and his fake civli society warriors got the limelight and got discredited he bided his time to retake the anti-corruption drive.

Either the charges against AH team will get dropped in a jiffy or Baba Ramdev gets his team.

IIRC, Civil society tried to hijack and pre-empt moves of Ramdev. And civil societies intentions = dal me kala.

The same AH/Kiran Bedi/Kejirvals used Ramdevs camps and stage. In rally at Ramlila maidan, Ramdev brought these guys together and personally brought AH to the dias and showering praises on him and his work.

The movement of Ramdev is not a recent one, he is relentlessly pursuing this purpose, tolerating all kind of abuses and insults by Psecs, DIEs and political parties since 2009. He has got his eyes fixed.

Ramdev was the first to call spade a spade, educating people about corruption, international finances, wealth of india being looted in systematic way etc in his all camps and visits. He had the gut to call these people Harmakhor, Gaddar, Lootere Aur Nalayak sitting in parliament. As a part of his compain highlights how DIEs and Nehruvians had brought disgrace to motherland without fail. Carries Transfer of Power Agreement - and says to people - ye raha nehru ka paap.

He has decided to travel 2 lac kilometers in desh to spread this message of Bharat Swabhiman and has already clocked approx 70,000 kms so far.

AH and Civil societiy guys are actually standing on shoulders of Ramdev.

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 27 Apr 2011 19:57

Indian Express, NDTV & the “scoop” that wasn’t

http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2011/ ... hat-wasnt/

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 27 Apr 2011 23:14

Murugan wrote:
He has decided to travel 2 lac kilometers in desh to spread this message of Bharat Swabhiman and has already clocked approx 70,000 kms so far.

AH and Civil societiy guys are actually standing on shoulders of Ramdev.

Local news - he is visiting most places. Heard from family members who are receiving him in the small town
Huge welcome celebrations for him and contributions to the cause

ShyamSP · Post by **ShyamSP** » 27 Apr 2011 23:49

Acharya wrote:
Murugan wrote:
He has decided to travel 2 lac kilometers in desh to spread this message of Bharat Swabhiman and has already clocked approx 70,000 kms so far.

AH and Civil societiy guys are actually standing on shoulders of Ramdev.
Local news - he is visiting most places. Heard from family members who are receiving him in the small town
Huge welcome celebrations for him and contributions to the cause

Good that he saw through Civil society aka Congress society tactics and is continuing his own yatra.

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 27 Apr 2011 23:54

The ox calling the donkey horned: Il bue che dà del cornuto all’asino

http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisp ... px?id=1750

partha · Post by **partha** » 30 Apr 2011 13:00

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/post1 ... n/783774/#

What was initially showcased as an anti-politician front against corruption seemed to blur into an anti-economic liberalisation coalition as activists gathered today to show solidarity with lawyer Prashant Bhushan, a member of the joint committee to draft the Lokpal Bill.

Bhushan led the charge attacking the government’s economic policies since 1991, describing them as “precisely the reason” why corruption had become so pervasive in the country.

Deviating from the anti-politician and ostensibly moral discourse that the Anna Hazare-led campaign has so far maintained, Bhushan, a prominent figure of that campaign, claimed that the process of privatisation had created a “corporate mafia” in the country. He drew a parallel with the situation prevailing in Russia which, he said, had been described by a Russian journalist as a “mafia state.”

Bhushan’s comments were in sync with the views expressed by many, including writer-activist Arundhati Roy, at the meeting that was organised under the banner of Coalition of Democratic Movements.

So it is now clear. Anna Hazare was used by the "civil society" to make a backdoor entry into the govt and implement their agenda. A Roy was no where in the picture till now. Now that govt conceded to the blackmail, people like A Roy are using the opportunity to further their agenda. I will not be surprised if she starts using the lokpal platform for Maoist propaganda in the coming days. Thankfully I was sitting on the fence and carefully watching the arguments of both sides. Now I know whom to support.

Yogesh · Post by **Yogesh** » 30 Apr 2011 18:14

I do not know whether to post it here but I don't see any other forums more relevant than this to post. Here is an interview of mr Vishwabandhu Gupta (Income tax AAyukta )..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhU7MZgf2RA

A very slow paced video but must watch...the man almost cried by the end of the interviews and so I...truly sad state of affairs..

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 30 Apr 2011 19:21

partha wrote: So it is now clear. Anna Hazare was used by the "civil society" to make a backdoor entry into the govt and implement their agenda. A Roy was no where in the picture till now. Now that govt conceded to the blackmail, people like A Roy are using the opportunity to further their agenda. I will not be surprised if she starts using the lokpal platform for Maoist propaganda in the coming days. Thankfully I was sitting on the fence and carefully watching the arguments of both sides. Now I know whom to support.

What Bhushan is saying is not wrong - think of the Bellary Reddy's for example. Non-transparency of MOUs, contracts etc is a big problem.

partha · Post by **partha** » 30 Apr 2011 23:56

Pranavji,

Non transparency of MoUs, contracts surely is a problem. But the cause is not liberalization and privatization. Take Air India for example. A sick unit run by the GoI. How transparent are its contracts and MoUs?

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 01 May 2011 01:37

The Congress leaders are dejected. They have run out of ideas on how to build a positive image of the party. Almost every day the Congress spokesperson announces that the party and the Government have taken steps against corruption. It started with Kalmadi’s arrest and the CBI’s chargesheet against Kanimozhi. But nobody has come out and praised the good work done by either Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi.

In fact, just the opposite has happened. Many questions are being raised — why no action has been taken against Dayalu Amma? Why have Sheila Dikshit and Tejendra Khanna not resigned?

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi want to wipeout corruption. That is the reason why through Harsh Mander and Aruna Roy an agreement was reached between Hazare and Kejriwal’s Lokpal Bill. Unfortunately, the party and the Government was not in the loop. So, Digvijay Singh with support from Amar Singh attacked Hazare’s team. When the situation almost went out of control, Sonia Gandhi called a meeting of the party’s core committee where Digvijay Singh was instructed to keep silent. After the meeting Pranab Mukherjee issued a written statement that the controversy regarding the members had no bearing on the drafting committee’s working.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/335460/Cong ... ation.html

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 03 May 2011 19:09

Kedar Suman of blg Easteren Horizon at the rate wordpress has written in Wall Street Journal on Corruption

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011 ... orruption/

Gurus remember him as the person who wrote a great peace on 27 years war which I have posted link in historical battles thead. His views are interesting here.

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 04 May 2011 21:26

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 04 May 2011 21:28

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 04 May 2011 21:31

Chinmayanand · Post by **Chinmayanand** » 04 May 2011 21:34

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 10 May 2011 01:59

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?721347

Ministers, MPs and bureaucrats seem set to come under the purview of the proposed Lokpal with government and civil society members of the drafting committee expressing unanimity on their inclusion.

However, there is disagreement over bringing the Prime Minister and the judiciary under its ambit.

During the third meeting of the Joint Drafting Committee to prepare a stronger Lokpal bill here last week, the members were unanimous that the ombudsman would not have to seek permission to either investigate or initiate prosecution against public servants.

The move to give powers to Lokpal to initiate investigations on its own would require amendments in certain existing laws. These may include the Prevention of Corruption Act, CrPC and the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act - a law which governs the functioning of the CBI.

While there were basic principles on having an effective Lokpal among the members, there were certain areas which have an impact on existing laws and constitutional provisions which need more discussion, the meeting decided.

As of now, the sanction to prosecute a minister comes from the Prime Minister. In case of an MP, the sanctioning authority is the Lok Sabha Speaker or Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

However, inclusion of Prime Minister and judiciary under the ambit of the Lokpal was a sticking point and the issue was flagged for broader discussion at the next meeting scheduled for May 23.

ankitash · Post by **ankitash** » 10 May 2011 14:18

This is getting ridiculous...

news.outlookindia.com | ISRO & Arms Deals to be Covered Under Jan Lokpal

Organisations like Indian Space Research Organisation and arms deals would also be brought under the ambit of the proposed Lokpal bill, Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde said today.

"We propose to cover organisations like ISRO and arms deals under the purview of Jan Lokpal as they are important from internal security angle, besides the Prime Minister above all who will come under its jurisdiction", Hegde, part of the 10-member Joint Drafting Committee on Lokpal Bill, told reporters here.

Responding to a query, he said till date three meetings of the committee, comprising representatives of government and civil society, had been held.

"In the first meeting, we just discussed the procedures to be followed, in the second, we discussed about the things we need to focus and in the third meeting the government gave its response", he said.

Two more meetings are scheduled for May 23 and May 30. "However, these two meetings will not be conclusive and we may need a couple of more meetings to draft bill", Hegde said.

To another question, he said "the Jan Lokpal, when constituted, will consist of Chief Lokpal and 10 other Lokpal members who will work under him".

FILED ON: MAY 09, 2011 19:32 IST

Pratyush · Post by **Pratyush** » 10 May 2011 17:10

^^^

Now, you can forget about any defence purchase from overseas. In the past it took one CBI director to file an unsigned / undated affidavit on a blank piece of paper. Because one Renuka Chaudhary was shouting from the roof top that there was curruption in 155 MM purchase. Resulting in black listing of the firm, no other piece of evidence was offered or available with any one.

Sab maya hai.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 20 May 2011 03:12

http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?271903

'Worried Whether We Will Be Able To Meet Our Deadline'
The civil society panel's co-chairperson writes to the chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee on the Lokpal bill asking for meetings at least thrice a week if not daily
SHANTI BHUSHAN

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 23 May 2011 18:36

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 535007.cms

A meeting of the joint drafting committee on the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill held on Monday decided to speed up consultations to keep the deadline of June 30, human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal said.

Sibal told reporters after the three-hour meeting that the draft Lokpal Bill would be ready for introduction in the monsoon session of parliament as announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He said there was agreement on several basic subjects of the Bill during the discussions.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 24 May 2011 04:16

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 541811.cms

Things going in the right direction so far... Aspects of the US RICO Act coming into play.

Activists against graft have often pointed out that even the threat of jail hardly serves as a deterrent for a corrupt person, as he can enjoy his ill-gotten gains after he completes his sentence. Now, that could be set to change. Assets amassed through corrupt means by a public servant will be frozen during investigation and liquidated on his being proved guilty, if the proposed Lokpal bill comes through.

The drafting committee on Monday agreed that assets obtained through corrupt means will be confiscated to make good any loss to the exchequer.

Sources said that in case of a complaint of corruption, the Lokpal can order an "interdiction", that is an order preventing the public servant from transferring any asset. At the conclusion of the investigation, if the person is convicted for corruption, the court will have to decide what is the loss caused to the government and allocate that loss to the guilty party. Civil society sources said that the government in principle had agreed to this proposal but modalities needed to be worked out and there were still certain reservations on the timing of this "confiscation" of property.

The committee hammering out the anti-corruption legislation also agreed that any assets owned by a public servant that have not been declared but found later, will be considered obtained through corrupt means. The onus will be then on the individual to prove otherwise.

Government sources said, "We have agreed that if a public servant has amassed wealth through corrupt means and it is proved so, then the assets will be confiscated." The Lokpal will have powers to give appropriate directions to prevent destruction of records during investigations and prevent the public servant from secreting assets allegedly acquired by him through corrupt means.

Issues like whether to include judiciary and the Prime Minister's Office ( PMO) in the ambit of the law were, however, not discussed and could come up in the meeting on May 30.

The Lokpal committee also agreed that the Lokpal will have the power to verify assets declared by elected political representatives with his declared source of income in his tax returns.

Speaking about the meeting HRD minister Kapil Sibal said the committee also decided to meet more frequently -- at least once a week, with more meetings if required.

The minister said that there was also an agreement in the meeting that the Lokpal will have power to look into any matter of corruption against public servants.

Prominent lawyer Prashant Bhushan said there was agreement on many issues raised by the civil society members and on some other issues the government had conveyed its "in-principle" acceptance but wanted more discussions on finer aspects. He said though the basic principles of the powers of Lokpal bill were "non-negotiable", the civil society members were "open for discussion" on details of the Bill.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 24 May 2011 15:12

NCP chief Sharad Pawar upset over Congress' drive against corruption
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story ... 39083.html

Virupaksha · Post by **Virupaksha** » 24 May 2011 21:39

joshvajohn wrote:NCP chief Sharad Pawar upset over Congress' drive against corruption
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story ... 39083.html

Dynasty trying to throw a gladiator show to appease the masses and hide themself and their loot, with the gladiators consisting of its allies

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 25 May 2011 14:38

Corruption and terrorism are cousins!!

Shiv Sena's Rege to Headley: I control projects worth Rs 10k cr
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/shiv- ... cr/795215/

"If anybody from USA or any country wants a venture or invest in India I am the ideal person for them. Projects worth Rs 10,000 crores sanctioned by government are with me. Are you getting my point????" Rege wrote in an email to Headley on May 19, 2008, according to a copy of the email produced in the court by federal prosecutors.

Rege went ahead to lure Headley to get him big contacts in India because of his strong political connections.

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 27 May 2011 00:55

Right to left, on Hazare’s Ahmedabad visit

Anna Hazare’s rally in Ahmedabad was near flop show as only 1000-1500 people attended it. The rally was organized on narrow foot path of Sardar garden. Most of the people present in the rally were people displaced from Sabarmati river front.

About 50 minute long boring speech of Agnivesh had only one good halt when his mike didn’t work for a while and one person taking benefit of this stood up just near the stage and asked Agnivesh, “what are you talking against corruption, this Mallik Sarabhai sitting on the stage is herself corrupt. My father is poor mill worker and Sarabhai doesn’t give us our Rupees for last two and half decades.” Agnivesh heard this but as soon as his mike was working again, he started speaking on ‘wider web of corruption.’

When the rally(was it a rally?) was in its departing phase, one poor Muslim lady said, “we are displaced people of Sarbamati river front, we have no house to live at present, but Mallika Sarabhai and others collected fifty rupees from us and promised that our problem would be solved. But here in this rally, there’s nothing for us. We think we are called in this rally only to show some presence of public.”

The lady was right as most of the people in this poor rally were slum dwellers of nearby river front.

Anna Hazare’s today’s visit to Ahmedabad was completely arranged and organized by people who are known as leftists and socialists in Ahmedabad. It’s very small group with masks ranging from ‘Gandhians’ to ‘Activists’.

This small vocal group known for their forever anti-Modi stand, first drove Anna directly from airport to Sabarmati river front site where illegal slums are removed by civic authority. This group then arranged a public hearing programme at Gujarat Vidyapith in presence of Anna Hazare. Leftist and socialist ‘NGO’ workers from different parts of Gujarat came and talked about various issues, mostly targeting the state government. Now in any state you can find 100 people who are affected due to state’s policy or action. This show was arranged to make an impression on Anna against the state govt that Anna had praised some time back.

It was this event only in which Anna said, “I find ghotala and ghotala here.”

If Anna was referring to ghotalas of those who invited him with an anti-Modi agenda rather than anti-corruption agenda, he could be right, but it was not so.

We don’t know whether Anna’s RSS friends called Anna over phone and alerted him or not. But in later part of his visit, Anna was mum about Gujarat govt.

From Vidyapith, Anna was taken to the house of Mallika Sarabhai in Usmanpura. Here his press meet was scheduled. However Hazare avoided press for a long time. He was sitting in a live telecast of Gujarati channel for a brief time. Mallika told media persons that Hazare was resting.

In live telecast, when asked about ‘gotalas’ he was referring to in his statement earlier in day, Anna said he would look into the documents given to him about ‘gotalas’ during morning session at Vidyapith. Anna however categorically criticized the poor implementation of liquor prohibition in the state, but that too after a group of ladies was put before him (with defame Modi govt agenda) complaining about liquor availability in the state even after prohibition. Anna shockingly stated that he saw a country liquor shop with long queue a day before in Gujarat. Now the fact is that while liquor is available in Gujarat and it is known fact, there’s no such shop or queue. We wonder where Anna saw such shop and queue? We Gujaratis living here from birth are curious about his this statement!

Anna Hazare was mum on Gujarat or Modi during his rally in the evening. However in his this public meeting Agnivesh spit venom against Modi and Gujarat. So the rally was not apolitical. Agnivesh is known for his bias on several things including Modi.

Hazare in his speech, spoke most of the time the repeated things, that we heard earlier. One thing to note was that Hazare spoke like a self obsessed person. He was narrating how he took wicket of six ministers, how he lives simply in mandir, how the government of Maharashtra was forced by the public to free him from jail etc.

Hazare’s event could be arranged in Air conditioned hall, or a good ground with presence of elite people and youths, but this could happen if his visit could be organized through a group of publicly accepted local people.

In Surat, Hazare’s meet was planned by one Mathurbhai Sawani and others who work apolitically in the area of community development and water recharging. However as soon as some people complained Anna that his meeting was supported by supporters of right ideology, Anna reportedly canceled his Surat visit.

It should be mentioned that Anna’s movement has been led in Gujarat by dancer Mallika Sarabhai.

Sarabhai had in past faced writ in Gujarat High Court for allegedly unfairly receiving planning commission’s TV series on Doordarshan. A case of ‘Kabutarbaji’ was also filed against Sarabhai in past. Mallika stood against Advani in last Loksabha election with support of left party, however she lost deposit. When Anna was sitting on fast in Delhi, Mallika was busy presenting herself before this channel’s camera and that Chennai/Delhi based correspondent, however not dozen people gathered to support Hazare in Ahmedabad with Sarabhai.

Hazare is kind person. In haste of building nationwide network and influence, he is taking support without filtration. Another thing worth noticing is that Hazare fears from anti-RSS dominated media, and therefore publicly doesn’t mix with right people. But as media has no problem with activists kinds of left people, Hazare is comfortable accepting support of them.

Ambitions pollute a man. Hazare’s ambition to spread network and influence nationwide needs people. But then Medha Patkars, Sarabhais and Agnivesh of this world would rather harm Anna’s ambition rather than adding force to it.

http://deshgujarat.com/2011/05/26/right ... bad-visit/

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 27 May 2011 00:56

The Gandhians present a very curious case. They claim to have inherited the message of the Mahatma. But the only people with whom they feel at home are Hindu-baiters. They avoid all those who are not ashamed of being Hindus or who take pride in Hindu history and heritage. They suspect that "Hindu communalism" has been and remains India's major malady.

Sri Sitaram Goel

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 27 May 2011 01:01

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 27 May 2011 07:40

Hah. So, Drami uglywaste gets a drubbing, seems like. Both literal and figurative. Well-deserved and long overdue.

Sure the Drami will try to milk martyr-dom value out of it. A beach-slap remains one, however. Good, good.

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 29 May 2011 04:58

From anti-corruption to anti-development, Anna & Zolawalas

http://deshgujarat.com/2011/05/28/from- ... ahmedabad/

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 29 May 2011 05:13

Sushupti wrote:From anti-corruption to anti-development, Anna & Zolawalas

http://deshgujarat.com/2011/05/28/from- ... ahmedabad/

from kaments

Vande mata rome ..!!!
by desi aatma on Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 4:09pm

conversation between Anna Hazare and .. patrakar

patrakar: Sir you just said …. Gujarat main ghotala hi ghotala hai … !!… can you please explain .. !!!

Anna: Narendra Modi kharab hai … !!

patrakar: But, I heard …. he is doing good job like .. Jyotigram, Ladli yojana, 108, Krishi mahotsav, business and industries are doing gr8 … can you show me where is “Ghotala” in this ..!!

Anna: Narendta Modi communal hai …

patrakar: han sir chalo man lete hain ki Modi thik nahi hai lekin .. please give me proof …!!

Anna: Narendra Modi .. ko visa nahi mila USa ka see.. this is a proof

patrakar: But he doesn’t need it … He is doing gr8 in Guajrat .. he does n’t need any visa or award … !!!

Anna: arey tum bhi kharab ho modi ke supporter ho … mera picha chodo .. use award nahi chahiye lekin muje chahiye ..!!!

patrakar: arey sir aap to naraj ho gaye …

Anna: arey tum najdik aao muje tumhare kan main kuch kahena hai ..!!

Patrakar (najdik jake) : han bolo Anna ji …!!

Anna : arey kyon piche pade ho … meri script main to aisa hi likha hai .. ki gujarat main ghotala chal raha hai .. if you want proof go to Delhi and ask Sonia ….

Patrakar: Lekin Soniya khud ghotalo main shamil hai .. 2G, CWG and many more ..!!

Anna: shut up …. no one questions Mahadevi Soniya .. SHe is above … law .. BTW .. she is law … and law must be protected ..

Patrakar … WTF

… and Anna ji thinks … I shall get Padma vibhushan for my service to her .. Vande Mata Rome ..

Atri · Post by **Atri** » 30 May 2011 09:10

What has snapped between Vshwabandhu Gupta and Baba RD? Was it Rajiv Dixit's passing?

Vikas · Post by **Vikas** » 30 May 2011 09:44

Why is AH passing certificate of character to MMS ? Obviously all this corruption is not happening in some parallel universe. Why blame Pawar and Raja and Kalmadi and declare MMS as the paragon of virtue. Anyways AH has fizzled out as expected (Hardly any people in his meeting in Bangalore) and Kangress govt can sit with ease as AH has helped Kangress party get a breather.
On Angnivesh, Anyone who associates with this fraud seriously needs to get the space between his ears checked.

pradeepe · Post by **pradeepe** » 30 May 2011 09:58

VikasRaina wrote:Why is AH passing certificate of character to MMS ? Obviously all this corruption is not happening in some parallel universe. Why blame Pawar and Raja and Kalmadi and declare MMS as the paragon of virtue. Anyways AH has fizzled out as expected (Hardly any people in his meeting in Bangalore) and Kangress govt can sit with ease as AH has helped Kangress party get a breather.
On Angnivesh, Anyone who associates with this fraud seriously needs to get the space between his ears checked.

IMHO AH has lost it. The moment he got into the certification business, was when my tubelight started flickering. Of course many were onto it much earlier. I cant make up my mind if the whole thing got to his head or something more sinister. Matters not one wit now anyways.

joshvajohn · Post by **joshvajohn** » 30 May 2011 17:04

Black money: Legitimise it by paying 15% tax, park it in India
http://articles.economictimes.indiatime ... y-transfer

Of corruption and contortions
By: Utkarsha Kotian
The titan of tensile, yoga guru Baba Ramdev was in the city, talking about black money, Swiss banks and why yoga needs to be part of mainstream education
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/may/05 ... a-guru.htm

There is a need for mass movement against corruption. Politicians and some of our rich folks should be held accountable for hiding their money abroad. If they do not bring the money into an investment in India or pay for some development programmes they should also be treated like thiefs. The present government has been supporting those people with black money. But no political party is pure as everyone receives money from those who are engaged in such black money business.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 30 May 2011 17:13

nice find krisna.. a+

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 30 May 2011 18:57

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 647734.cms

Sharp differences came to the surface at a meeting of the drafting committee for Lokpal Bill on Monday with the government strongly opposing proposals for inclusion of Prime Minister, higher judiciary and acts MPs inside Parliament under its purview.

Anna Hazare, one of the members of the committee, who is spearheading the campaign for a strong and effective Lokpal Bill, said that he was not hopeful of the government meeting its deadline of June 30 for preparing the bill.
Arvind Kejriwal and Prasahant Bhushan, both civil society members of the committee, said except on one issue of keeping citizen charter and public grievances under the jurisdiction of lokpal, the government opposed the demands for bringing the Prime Minister, higher judiciary and the corrupt acts of MPs inside Parliament under the ambit of the lokpal.

They said the government's proposals on Monday were "worse" than what it had proposed in its first bill, which had been "condemned and rejected".

Kejriwal said even the latest bill of the government had kept Prime Minister under the purview of lokpal but the government has gone back on it.

As no agreement could be reached between them on Monday, the government has decided to write to states and political parties to seek their opinion on these "issues of divergence" and get back to them at the next meeting on June 6.

Sibal said there was need to take the view of the states since lokayukts have to be appointed there.

Bhushan said the government representatives told them that bringing the Prime Minister under lokpal's purview would make him 'dysfunctional'.

He pointed out that the government's bill itself had a provision for bringing Prime Minister under the lokpal and even now he was not beyond the purview of investigation on corruption issues.

"We only wanted that he comes under the purview of an independent agency instead of the agencies that come under the government which results in conflict of interest," Bhushan said.

Kejriwal also rued "Prime Minister wants to be investigated by an agency like CBI, which is under him but not by an independent agency."

On the issue of investigating corruption cases against the MPs, the government said that it has no objection to the lokpal investigating corruption issues involving them outside Parliament but opposed the proposal to allow lokpal to investigate the acts of corruption by the MPs inside Parliament.

The government also wanted that the defence personnel should be kept out of the purview of the bill, Kejriwal said.

He added that the government also held the view that the offices of Chief Vigilance Commissioner and CBI should not be merged with lokpal.

The civil society members, however, rejected the government's contentions and expressed dismay at its response.

"There were too many fundamental differences on the bill today," said Kejriwal adding the government wanted "self regulation" to take care of the issue of corruption in higher judiciary and the acts of MPs inside Parliament.

"We told them that self regulation has not worked in the last sixty years."

Bhushan said "the response of the government was not very reasonable on all the issues. We were a bit disappointed by the response of the ministers. This whole concept of self-regulation does not work."

Asked what will be the guiding principle of the government in drafting the bill amid so much differences, Sibal stressed "the guiding principle is that the Constitution is supreme. Any lokpall bill must be consistent with the provisions of the Constitution."

Kejriwal, however, said if keeping everything like judiciary, PM and MPs violate the Constitution then what will come under the lokpal's ambit.

He said that a decision has now been taken to seek public opinion on these contentious issues on website and seek their suggestions.

It was decided that the joint drafting committee will meet twice on June 6 and 10.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 31 May 2011 03:56

http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?272027

Quoting the minutes in full... showing the government's stonewalling and malafide intent. Look forward to some tense times in the coming week...

What Is The Purpose Of Creating Such A Lokpal?
"Prime Minister should not be covered under Lokpal." “Judiciary would be out of Lokpal." Definitely government’s intentions are suspect.

Today’s meeting [The Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee meeting between the government and civil society members] was quite disastrous. It started with Anna demanding more frequent meetings as the progress had been quite slow till now. Anna also said that the government had been postponing discussions on even simple issues so far. This way, the meetings would continue indefinitely.

Broadly, the government disagreed on almost everything. Following are the minutes of the meeting:

1. Government said – "Prime Minister should not be covered under Lokpal." We were shocked to hear that because in the draft bill prepared by the government in January this year, PM was covered, though with some exceptions. Today, they wanted PM to be completely out of Lokpal’s investigations. This was shocking for us. They said that if any enquiry starts against the PM, the PM would lose all authority to govern and take decisions. Prashant Bhushan reminded that in Bofors case also, the then PM was under scanner. But that did not deter him from taking decisions. Mr Chidambaram said that the PM’s position would be weakened if there were allegations against him every other day. He was reminded that an unsubstantiated complaint would not be entertained. A seven member bench of Lokpal would first hear that complaint and decide whether there was an adequate prima facie evidence against the PM. If there were none, the complaint would be dismissed. However, government did not agree.

2. Government said – "Judiciary would be out of Lokpal." We reminded them that all that we were asking for was power to a seven member bench of Lokpal to decide whether an FIR should be registered against a judge or not. Today, only Chief Justice of India has the power to give that permission. And despite so much evidence against so many judges in public domain, permission had been given only in one case in the last 20 years. In the meeting held on 7th May, Prashant Bhushan had even told Mr Chidambaram how Mr Chidambaram himself had sought permission to register FIR against Justice Sen Gupta of Kolkatta High Court. Permission was sought from the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Venkatachaliah, who is very well known for his integrity. However, even Justice Venkatachaliah did not give permission. Was the evidence against Justice Sen Gupta strong enough? The strength of the evidence can be gauged from the fact that Justice Sen Gupta was raided and arrested soon after he retired because after retirement, permission of CJI was not required.

3. However, the government did not agree saying it would compromise the independence of judiciary. We said that the independence of judiciary was compromised under the present system which was encouraging corruption. Government said that judiciary should be dealt under Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, which was pending in Parliament. We told them that the said Bill was very bad and would end up protecting corrupt judges rather than punishing them. Also, interestingly, the said Bill does not even talk of punishing and prosecuting "corruption" of judges. It only talks of enquiring against their "Misbehaviour". The government said that they would include corruption also in the said bill. Then we said, if you want to include judiciary’s corruption in that bill, let this committee decide on drafting that Bill also. To that they refused. They said – you give your suggestions and we will recommend them to the Standing committee. This means that the government wants to include judiciary in a weak and ineffective Bill and does not want their corruption to be dealt through a strong and effective mechanism.

4. MPs bribery inside Parliament will not be covered – If a MP takes bribe to vote or ask questions in Parliament, which would not be covered under Lokpal. Only his conduct outside will be covered. What does an MP do outside Parliament? Just recommend projects out of his Constituency fund. There too, he merely recommends and the project is executed by the officers. Therefore, effectively, all MPs would be outside the purview of Lokpal. Purchase and sale of MPs is endangering the very foundations of our democracy. They may be purchased not just by other parties but could be purchased by other countries or corporates. Therefore, in order to save our democracy, it is extremely important that this is covered under Lokpal. However, the Government said that the Parliament should be allowed to do "self regulation". We told them that this self regulation had not worked and their corruption should be investigated by some independent body. They simply refused.

5. All officers will not be covered under Lokpal: Only Joint Secretary and above will be covered. Who will deal with corruption at levels below that? They said that the existing system would continue. But the existing system was not working. They had no answers. We said that the common man wants an answer to corruption in his day to day life – bad roads, corruption in PDS etc. Who will deal with it? We said that the whole country had risen against corruption to seek solutions to corruption at all levels.

6. CBI, CVC and departmental vigilance will not be merged in Lokpal: Government said that let all these agencies continue. Let Lokpal have its own machinery. But why does the government want to keep a CBI under its own control? It appears that the Prime Minister does not want to be investigated by an independent body but will get himself investigated by CBI, which is directly under his own control. Also, CBI has been misused by every successive government to arm twist politically inconvenient opponents. Government perhaps wants to continue doing that.

7. Public Grievances: Government agreed to the concept of citizens charter and that violation of citizens charter would be deemed to be corruption at some stage of upscaling of a grievance.

Justice Santosh Hegde asked the government – "Then who is covered under Lokpal? And what is the purpose of creating such a Lokpal?"

Effectively, the Lokpal would have jurisdiction only on Joint Secretary and above officers but not on PM. There would be around 2000 such odd officers in Government of India. Are we creating Lokpal for investigating corruption of such a few officers? Was this the purpose of such a big anti-corruption movement in India?

Definitely government’s intentions are suspect. Please prepare yourself for the next huge movement in the country. We will go to government meetings in the next few meetings. We will try our best, till the last moment, to persuade the government to agree to a strong and effective Lokpal Bill. But if the government disagrees, we should be ready for taking to streets.