In response to DNA's front page analysis of the Lokpal Bill <<http://epaper.dnaindia.com/newsview.aspx?eddate=4%2F7%2F2011&pageno=1&edition=9&prntid=138070&bxid=30505460&pgno=1>>:
Dear Mr. Rao,
In your "analysis" of the current situation regarding the Lokpal Bill, you correctly state that "corruption thrives in the country because there is little or no implementation of the existing laws" and yet you go on to discredit the very bill that aims to ensure implementation.
You proceed to write "It is naive and even stupid to believe that laws can make men honest...But you need honest and good people to make them effective". I agree that we need honest and good people in “the right places” but the reality is that we cannot always guarantee it. Rising food prices and tuition fees alone can make the most honest men go askew in search of a worthy life. And hence, to use your own words, we need more accountable laws to act as a “deterrent”. Even our constitution addresses the plague of corruption and the opposition is empowered to keep a check on the governing party: a reason why seemingly honest politicians and businessmen have been uncovered in serious scams.
Your qualifications far exceed mine but I hope I can take the liberty to point out that your remark on honest people is unfitting of the debate on the Lokpal Bill. I believe I am an honest citizen. I would be enthralled to be part of shaping modern India but it is not going into the masses and winning them over that deters me, but the fear of having to sacrifice my morals en-route. Even the Pandavas had to reduce themselves to deceit and treachery to compete against the corrupt practices of the Kauravas to win the war.
While I agree with you that the Lokpal bill undermines the ability of the current democratic channels, the system of checks that the Lokpal bill proposes far transcends the needs with which the current democratic institutions were built. The Ombudsan system inspired Lokpal bill is a new and emerging need where I, as a citizen, can demand to know why the newly constructed road in Worli feels six monsoons old and have it addressed as a part of a larger issue of tax payer money not being used effectively.
I do think that the Lokpal bill needs certain reforms to ensure corruption-free and transparent functioning like other independent bodies, the Supreme Court and the Election Commission, that it seeks to mimic. But I think it is a fine step to take to mobilize the nation to think actively on this issue just as Gandhi’s movement stirred up a nationwide quest for independence and that too for a nation that till that point had never been independent. Anna Hazare is making the masses aware of what they can ask for and then helping them achieve it. I believe that’s exactly what Gandhi did.
By proposing, “If Anna Hazare and his band are willing to pick up the gauntlet and challenge corrupt politicians in elections, people will vote with their feet.” you are essentially proposing another political party instead of cleaning the ones that already exist. It could be a next step but the one he has chosen is extremely shrewd. It asks for a more sustainable solution that may hold in a world in which he may not exist.
I hope you will extend the Lokpal Bill your constructive criticism from which it may benefit but not undermine the efforts of a man, however small it may be, to effect change.
Sincerely,
Priyanka Agarwal
Dear Mr. Rao,
In your "analysis" of the current situation regarding the Lokpal Bill, you correctly state that "corruption thrives in the country because there is little or no implementation of the existing laws" and yet you go on to discredit the very bill that aims to ensure implementation.
You proceed to write "It is naive and even stupid to believe that laws can make men honest...But you need honest and good people to make them effective". I agree that we need honest and good people in “the right places” but the reality is that we cannot always guarantee it. Rising food prices and tuition fees alone can make the most honest men go askew in search of a worthy life. And hence, to use your own words, we need more accountable laws to act as a “deterrent”. Even our constitution addresses the plague of corruption and the opposition is empowered to keep a check on the governing party: a reason why seemingly honest politicians and businessmen have been uncovered in serious scams.
Your qualifications far exceed mine but I hope I can take the liberty to point out that your remark on honest people is unfitting of the debate on the Lokpal Bill. I believe I am an honest citizen. I would be enthralled to be part of shaping modern India but it is not going into the masses and winning them over that deters me, but the fear of having to sacrifice my morals en-route. Even the Pandavas had to reduce themselves to deceit and treachery to compete against the corrupt practices of the Kauravas to win the war.
While I agree with you that the Lokpal bill undermines the ability of the current democratic channels, the system of checks that the Lokpal bill proposes far transcends the needs with which the current democratic institutions were built. The Ombudsan system inspired Lokpal bill is a new and emerging need where I, as a citizen, can demand to know why the newly constructed road in Worli feels six monsoons old and have it addressed as a part of a larger issue of tax payer money not being used effectively.
I do think that the Lokpal bill needs certain reforms to ensure corruption-free and transparent functioning like other independent bodies, the Supreme Court and the Election Commission, that it seeks to mimic. But I think it is a fine step to take to mobilize the nation to think actively on this issue just as Gandhi’s movement stirred up a nationwide quest for independence and that too for a nation that till that point had never been independent. Anna Hazare is making the masses aware of what they can ask for and then helping them achieve it. I believe that’s exactly what Gandhi did.
By proposing, “If Anna Hazare and his band are willing to pick up the gauntlet and challenge corrupt politicians in elections, people will vote with their feet.” you are essentially proposing another political party instead of cleaning the ones that already exist. It could be a next step but the one he has chosen is extremely shrewd. It asks for a more sustainable solution that may hold in a world in which he may not exist.
I hope you will extend the Lokpal Bill your constructive criticism from which it may benefit but not undermine the efforts of a man, however small it may be, to effect change.
Sincerely,
Priyanka Agarwal
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