A strong Lokpal is part of a larger architecture of political reforms needed to improve governance.
Anna Hazare's most telling comment on the second day of his fast when the government was still dismissing his movement as undemocratic and the Jan Lokpal Bill as utopian was lost in the general tumult. Hazare told the government: We are the maliks, you are the sevaks.
Minister, of course, is Latin for servant. Rahul Gandhi may not share his views with us on most issues but he understands the popular mood. Sensing that the nation was increasingly outraged over corruption and nepotism, Rahul told an election rally: I am your naukar; you are my malik. It could have been Anna Hazare speaking.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi herself established the validity of civil society engaging with the government on equal terms by instituting and heading the National Advisory Council (NAC), packed with just the sort of citizen-activists who wrote the draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill. As the 10-member panel, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and former law minister Shanti Bhushan, met for the first time on April 16 to begin redrafting the Lokpal Bill by the June 30 deadline, four improvements could make it a strong and practical legislation.
First, power. Some cynics fear that a tough, independent Lokpal body will be a law unto itself a super-cop or extra-constitutional prime ministers office. This fear can be allayed by building into the Lokpal Bill a clause for appellate judicial review by the Supreme Court of contested decisions. Removal again by the Supreme Court of any Lokpal member, including the Lokpal himself, on specific charges of wrongdoing, is already part of the draft Jan Lokpal Bill.
Second, size. The proposed Lokpal has 11 members. That would make it unwieldy. It is wise to restrict the number of members to seven, including the chairperson.The draft Bill already includes a provision for a large administrative Lokpal office and staff.
Third, selection. The Jan Lokpal draft Bill suggests advertisements to invite recommendations from the public of candidates of unimpeachable integrity, followed by public feedback, vetting, videotaped interviews and so on. The process of selection must be as transparent and broad-based as possible, but it cannot resemble a tender.The process must be comprehensive but concise.
Fourth, deemed police status. The draft Bill gives the Lokpal the power to issue search warrants. A better way forward would be to depute officers of the anticorruption investigation department of the CBI to work under the Lokpals direct control.
But a strong Lokpal is only part of the larger architecture of political reforms to improve governance. Concurrently, we need to make the CBI autonomous of the executive. The Supreme Court ordered wideranging police reforms through a 2006 directive, which governments at the Centre and in the states have cynically not yet implemented.
The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill will also come up for enactment into legislation in the monsoon session of Parliament. For citizens, once the Bill is passed, justice will be swifter and fairer. Electoral reforms would then be the next milestone. Nearly 25% of MP's in the 15 Lok Sabha have criminal charges against them. Over half of these are serious charges: murder, kidnap and rape. A candidate facing criminal prosecution in a trial court should be barred from standing for election. In order to protect candidates facing politically motivated charges, prosecutions pending for over one year without a hearing or adjournment would not count as a valid ground to debar candidates. This will filter out a majority of rogue candidates but also provide protection against frivolous political charges.
We need to clean up our Parliament, our assemblies and other elected chambers.The modified Jan Lokpal Bill is one instrument to do that. An autonomous CBI is another. A strong, transparent judiciary is a third. A vigilant media and engaged civil society is a fourth. The country has fought long and hard for the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Right to Education (RTE) Act and now the Right to Food (RTF) Act, currently under review. There is one more legislation a mature democracy of, by and for the people rather than of, by and for the privileged needs to enact: the Right to Recall.
In several states in the United States (notably California, since 1903, and most recently Minnesota, since 1996), the right to recall an elected politician before his term ends is a fundamental democratic right. If a petition against an elected lawmaker crosses a specified threshold number of signatures from citizens in his constituency on legally verifiable charges of malfeasance, to prevent misuse of the statute a poll becomes mandatory. If the elected representative secures less than a specified percentage (usually 50%) of votes in the ensuing poll, he is removed from office before the end of his term and a fresh election to the constituency called. In 2003,California governor Gray Davis was recalled over mismanagement of the states budget; 55.4% of the electorate voted to recall him.
The Right to Recall is a critical electoral reform that will complete a quartet of empowering legislations along with the RTI, RTE and RTF to strengthen Indian democracy.The Lokpal is the beginning of real change.
Anna Hazare's most telling comment on the second day of his fast when the government was still dismissing his movement as undemocratic and the Jan Lokpal Bill as utopian was lost in the general tumult. Hazare told the government: We are the maliks, you are the sevaks.
Minister, of course, is Latin for servant. Rahul Gandhi may not share his views with us on most issues but he understands the popular mood. Sensing that the nation was increasingly outraged over corruption and nepotism, Rahul told an election rally: I am your naukar; you are my malik. It could have been Anna Hazare speaking.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi herself established the validity of civil society engaging with the government on equal terms by instituting and heading the National Advisory Council (NAC), packed with just the sort of citizen-activists who wrote the draft of the Jan Lokpal Bill. As the 10-member panel, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and former law minister Shanti Bhushan, met for the first time on April 16 to begin redrafting the Lokpal Bill by the June 30 deadline, four improvements could make it a strong and practical legislation.
First, power. Some cynics fear that a tough, independent Lokpal body will be a law unto itself a super-cop or extra-constitutional prime ministers office. This fear can be allayed by building into the Lokpal Bill a clause for appellate judicial review by the Supreme Court of contested decisions. Removal again by the Supreme Court of any Lokpal member, including the Lokpal himself, on specific charges of wrongdoing, is already part of the draft Jan Lokpal Bill.
Second, size. The proposed Lokpal has 11 members. That would make it unwieldy. It is wise to restrict the number of members to seven, including the chairperson.The draft Bill already includes a provision for a large administrative Lokpal office and staff.
Third, selection. The Jan Lokpal draft Bill suggests advertisements to invite recommendations from the public of candidates of unimpeachable integrity, followed by public feedback, vetting, videotaped interviews and so on. The process of selection must be as transparent and broad-based as possible, but it cannot resemble a tender.The process must be comprehensive but concise.
Fourth, deemed police status. The draft Bill gives the Lokpal the power to issue search warrants. A better way forward would be to depute officers of the anticorruption investigation department of the CBI to work under the Lokpals direct control.
But a strong Lokpal is only part of the larger architecture of political reforms to improve governance. Concurrently, we need to make the CBI autonomous of the executive. The Supreme Court ordered wideranging police reforms through a 2006 directive, which governments at the Centre and in the states have cynically not yet implemented.
The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill will also come up for enactment into legislation in the monsoon session of Parliament. For citizens, once the Bill is passed, justice will be swifter and fairer. Electoral reforms would then be the next milestone. Nearly 25% of MP's in the 15 Lok Sabha have criminal charges against them. Over half of these are serious charges: murder, kidnap and rape. A candidate facing criminal prosecution in a trial court should be barred from standing for election. In order to protect candidates facing politically motivated charges, prosecutions pending for over one year without a hearing or adjournment would not count as a valid ground to debar candidates. This will filter out a majority of rogue candidates but also provide protection against frivolous political charges.
We need to clean up our Parliament, our assemblies and other elected chambers.The modified Jan Lokpal Bill is one instrument to do that. An autonomous CBI is another. A strong, transparent judiciary is a third. A vigilant media and engaged civil society is a fourth. The country has fought long and hard for the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Right to Education (RTE) Act and now the Right to Food (RTF) Act, currently under review. There is one more legislation a mature democracy of, by and for the people rather than of, by and for the privileged needs to enact: the Right to Recall.
In several states in the United States (notably California, since 1903, and most recently Minnesota, since 1996), the right to recall an elected politician before his term ends is a fundamental democratic right. If a petition against an elected lawmaker crosses a specified threshold number of signatures from citizens in his constituency on legally verifiable charges of malfeasance, to prevent misuse of the statute a poll becomes mandatory. If the elected representative secures less than a specified percentage (usually 50%) of votes in the ensuing poll, he is removed from office before the end of his term and a fresh election to the constituency called. In 2003,California governor Gray Davis was recalled over mismanagement of the states budget; 55.4% of the electorate voted to recall him.
The Right to Recall is a critical electoral reform that will complete a quartet of empowering legislations along with the RTI, RTE and RTF to strengthen Indian democracy.The Lokpal is the beginning of real change.
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