Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and his activists will have a busy winter as they fight for their version of the Lokpal Bill to be made a law. Salman Khurshid, the Law Minister, said today that the anti-corruption bill will be introduced in the winter session of parliament.
Team Anna had warned that if the bill is not passed in this session, it will campaign against the Congress in states like Uttar Pradesh that vote soon.
That's not an empty threat. Team Anna controversially asked voters to spurn the Congress in the Lok Sabha election held recently in Hissar in Haryana. The Congress candidate, never a front-runner, lost his deposit. Amid much criticism for singling out one party, Anna has flip-flopped over whether he will name the Congress in future campaigns against politicians. He concluded that will have to be the case because as the main party in the UPA coalition, it is the Congress' responsibility to steer the Lokpal Bill through parliament.
Lokpal refers to an ombudsman agency that will be set up to investigate complaints of graft among government servants. The extent of the Lokpal's powers and who they should apply to is at the heart of the deep divide between the activists and the government.
In August, Anna went on an epic fast to demand that his group's vision of the Bill, referred to as the Jan Lokpal bill - be introduced in parliament.
After intense negotiations, Anna ended his fast when the Prime Minister promised in a letter that parliament would debate the three must-have features that Anna wanted the Lokpal to be born with. A Standing Committee of parliament that combines members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is now readying a draft of the Lokpal Bill. Once it finishes its deliberations, this bill will be introduced in parliament for debate.
Consensus on key issues has yet to be reached. For example, the committee's members are divided over whether the Prime Minister's Office can be investigated by the Lokpal.
Another sticking point is whether senior judges and junior bureaucrats should be accountable to the Lokpal. Team Anna says that unless all rungs of bureaucrats are covered by the Lokpal, the average Indian will continue to battle corruption in daily life -while trying to get a ration card, for example, or for villagers who want jobs under the National Employment Guarantee Scheme.
The Standing Committee also has to indicate whether the CBI should make its anti-corruption officers part of the Lokpal's machinery to investigate graft.