Do you think that the New Telecom Policy being formulated by the Ministry of Telecommunications and IT help in fighting corruption? Do you feel that the Women's Reservation Bill, if passed by the Parliament and enacted by the President of India, will help you lodge an FIR in the police station without any of the current hassles? Also, do you think that, if passed, the Government Services (Declaration of Assets and Investigation) Bill will help those below poverty line get their full share of ration food and fuel from the neighbourhood PDS shop?
If your answer to all these above questions is "yes", consider yourself in the elite company of Shri Kapil Sibal, the Minister for Human Resources and Development, as well as the Minister for Telecommunication and IT. In the video shown below, the honourable (and highly educated; he is a lawyer in the Delhi High Court) minister states that the Lokpal bill (either in current form or that proposed by Anna Hazare and others) will not provide education to the poor children, nor will it stop policemen from taking bribe, nor will it provide for basic infrastructural facilities. And he is the same person who went on record saying that the arbitrary 2G spectrum sale hasn't caused any loss to the government. Why, Mr. Sibal? Is it because the government employees as well as politicians will stop working for they cannot take a bribe, fearing the wrath of the Lokpal? Will a government employee say, "I cannot take a bribe, because the Lokpal might prosecute me and I cannot work if I do not take a bribe"? If so, our system really needs to be dumped into the sea and a new fresh start is needed. Yes, Lokpal bill will not be able to provide these things. But then, it will ensure that the development funds are actually spent on development. Prince Rahul's father, Rajiv, once famously said "Less than 15 paise out of every rupee actually reaches those it is meant for". The Lokpal bill is supposed to increase this amount from 15 paise, to ideally the entire rupee. Only then, will the poor children receive education, the people will get good infrastructural facilities. The Lokpal bill won't cure you of a heart attack or a simple cold too, but it will see that someone who needs these medicines, gets them on time and in the right quantities.
Towards the end of his talk, he urges the common man to take up cudgels against corruption as they are the only ones who can fight it. Yes, Mr. Sibal, we will fight it. But, all we need from our government (remember, we voted for your return) is a strong legal backing to nail the culprits, without fearing for our or our family's safety. Remember, we are not yet a banana republic, else we could have dealt with some of the corrupt in accordance with the laws(?) of a banana republic. So, do not connect unrelated issues.
I liked this post and I have a suggestion. Would you consider changing the reaction tabs? Funny, interesting and cool does not always apply, as in this case.
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Lokpal bill if can't eradicate corruption than at least can definitely reduce corruption, but Sibbal and his political father don't want this bill to get enacted because it will block their way to dump money in Swiss bank accounts hence they are trying to sabotage the Lokpal movement.
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