Rough ride ahead for Lokpal bill in parliament

The government submitted two key bills to parliament yesterday, including anti-corruption legislation that risks triggering a repeat of mass protests that rocked the country in August. The proposed law would create a powerful new ombudsman, or “Lokpal”, tasked with probing and prosecuting senior politicians and civil servants suspected of graft. An original draft - deemed too weak by its critics – saw millions of people take to the streets of cities across India four months ago to denounce the corruption that permeates all levels of Indian society. The protests were spearheaded by veteran activist Anna Hazare, who held a public hunger strike in New Delhi that galvanised public opinion and forced the government to redraft the bill. Leaders of the Hazare campaign slammed the new version tabled yesterday, saying it was even weaker than the previous effort. “The bill seeks to promote corruption and protect the corrupt,” said top Hazare aide, Arvind Kejriwal. The main points of contention focus on the ambit of the ombudsman’s office and its powers of investigation. The government bill offers only limited jurisdiction over the prime minister and requires the Lokpal to put any criminal probes in the hands of the government-controlled Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Hazare and a number of opposition parties want the ombudsman to control any CBI investigations. “Under this bill, the Lokpal will be a puppet of the government. The government should recall the bill and redraft it,” Kejriwal said. Opposition parties are also insisting on a number of amendments. According to the bill, 50% of Lokpal members shall be from tribes, Dalits, Other Backward Classes (OBC), minorities and women. The government appeared to have done a flip-flop on the inclusion of minorities - a point opposed bitterly by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but which many smaller parties demanded.The government hurriedly brought a corrigendum to the bill to include the provision for minorities, leading to more protests in the parliament. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the bill violated “federal principles” as it amounted to dictating states to establish Lokayuktas.“We are disappointed. This is unconstitutional,” she said of the demand for more than 50% quota in Lokpal and Lokayuktas.Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee dismissed the allegations levelled by many MPs, including Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), that the government was bringing the bill under duress and for the fear of agitation by Hazare.The new version was approved by the cabinet on Tuesday and Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress Party, has vowed to steer its passage through parliament. “I will fight for the Lokpal Bill,” she told a meeting of Congress Party members. “I cannot see any reason for us to be defeatist.” Gandhi hit out at what she called the “obstructionist” tactics of the opposition and accused the Hazare team of “malicious” criticism. The 74-year-old Hazare - feted by his supporters as a latter-day Mahatma Gandhi - plans to conduct a three-day hunger strike against the bill in Mumbai from December 27. Although yesterday marked the end of the current winter session of parliament, an extension has been agreed for December 27-29 to allow enough time to debate the legislation. Another bill submitted yesterday aims to provide subsidised food to hundreds of millions of people - a populist but hugely costly project that will strain treasury finances. The Food Security Bill guarantees monthly supplies of cheap rice, wheat and millet to 64% of India’s 1.2bn population - or around 770mn people. The programme would increase the government’s annual food subsidy bill by nearly Rs280bn ($5.3bn) to Rs950bn - a sum critics say India can ill afford given slowing economic growth, near double-digit inflation and a yawning budget deficit.