a rare moment of bi-partisanship, the entire Indian Parliament joined hands to condemn Team Anna for its attack

on the political class. Interestingly, Sushma Swaraj of the BJP, unwittingly highlighted the irony of the predicament when she said, If MPs were looters, corrupt and rapists, then why did Team Anna send three of its demands to be incorporated in a resolution passed by Parliament. The answer to this question says it all. The civil society has no other option but to beg and plead before an institution which is home to many who have serious cases against them and would be directly affected should Lokpal become a reality. Arguing about the who said what and whether it was appropriate would be case of not seeing the forest for the tress. Clearly, this Parliament vs. Team Anna struggle has wider implications for Indias future. If you disregard for a moment the individual players in this struggle, their motivations and their allegiances, it does raise some very important issues that warrant significant public debate. Over the last sixteen months, the anti-corruption movement has been a major part of the publics pre-occupation and a primary cause for an overall sense of dissatisfaction. Despite this, thanks to coalition politics, lack of leadership, and political will, virtually nothing has been accomplished to address these legitimate concerns of the people. Sadly, cases of corruption continue to be unearthed, the most recent being the one involving our Army. On the law and order front, RTI activists have been routinely killed over the years and most recently, Narendra Singh, an IPS officer, was crushed to death supposedly by the mining mafia in MP. Our Parliament has little to show in terms of concrete action on any of these fronts. The question arises as to where the country goes from here. What is the solution to this legislative paralysis? Clearly, the UPA-2 is struggling to deliver at the center. At the state level over the last few years in Tamil Nadu, the corrupt Karunanidhi dynasty is out, while Jayalilitha is back despite her checkered past. In UP, SPs goondagiri is in, Mayawatis megalomania is out. In Kerala, the fractious CPI(M)-led LDF is out, the precarious UDF is in. If this trend continues, the Congress could be out, to be replaced by the BJP at the center in 2014. Karnataka, home to Indias Silicon Valley, is a perfect example to illustrate that Indias major opposition party is no different from the ruling Congress. Former CM Yeddyurappa, who was forced to resign after the Lokayuktha report, is now on a serious comeback trail. When he was forced to resign, Mr. Yeddyurappa first claimed health issues to escape arrest and then he turned around with a Terminator-like Ill be back pronouncement. True to his word, he is back with full gusto. Now a free man with renewed zeal to return to power, Mr. Yeddyurappa managed to whisk away MLAs in a despicable show of strength, thereby causing grave uneasiness for the top BJP leadership. On the one hand, the BJP wants to portray a clean image in the hope of riding the prevalent anti-corruption sentiments of the people, while on the other, its ranks are replete with the likes of Mr. Yeddyurappa, much like the Congress. In short, swapping the Congress for the BJP at the center in 2014 is a replay of state-level politics at the national stage. It simply isnt going to help. If you disregard the Gandhi dynasty and throw in some saffron toppings, you cant really tell the difference between the two major parties. In light of this, will installing the BJP in place of the equally incompetent and corrupt Congress really help the countrys cause? Havent we seen this movie before? We have exercised our electoral choices to throw out those in power once every five years. But has that helped resolve our most pressing issues? Kerala, our most literate state, has for the last several state elections spanning decades, routinely thrown out the incumbent party in favor of the opposition. Has this helped Kerala in the long run? A relative of mine in her 80s put this in perspective when she said, These parties are all the same. There are good people, there are corrupt people. Might as well give them all an equal chance! While surely insightful and filled with wisdom, one cant help but sense more than a degree of abject defeatism in this mindset. Albert Einstein said, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We have been there, done it for sixty-plus years and its apparent that our current systems are badly flawed. It is time to re-think and reform the very institutions that make up our democracy. Our parliamentarians must quit whining, stop playing victim, and get on with the business of passing effective laws, and let their accomplishments speak for themselves.

a rare moment of bi-partisanship, the entire Indian Parliament joined hands to condemn Team Anna for its attack on the political class. Interestingly, Sushma Swaraj of the BJP, unwittingly highlighted the irony of the predicament when she said, If MPs were looters, corrupt and rapists, then why did Team Anna send three of its demands to be incorporated in a resolution passed by Parliament. The answer to this question says it all. The civil society has no other option but to beg and plead before an institution which is home to many who have serious cases against them and would be directly affected should Lokpal become a reality. Arguing about the who said what and whether it was appropriate would be case of not seeing the forest for the tress. Clearly, this Parliament vs. Team Anna struggle has wider implications for Indias future. If you disregard for a moment the individual players in this struggle, their motivations and their allegiances, it does raise some very important issues that warrant significant public debate. Over the last sixteen months, the anti-corruption movement has been a major part of the publics pre-occupation and a primary cause for an overall sense of dissatisfaction. Despite this, thanks to coalition politics, lack of leadership, and political will, virtually nothing has been accomplished to address these legitimate concerns of the people. Sadly, cases of corruption continue to be unearthed, the most recent being the one involving our Army. On the law and order front, RTI activists have been routinely killed over the years and most recently, Narendra Singh, an IPS officer, was crushed to death supposedly by the mining mafia in MP. Our Parliament has little to show in terms of concrete action on any of these fronts. The question arises as to where the country goes from here. What is the solution to this legislative paralysis? Clearly, the UPA-2 is struggling to deliver at the center. At the state level over the last few years in Tamil Nadu, the corrupt Karunanidhi dynasty is out, while Jayalilitha is back despite her checkered past. In UP, SPs goondagiri is in, Mayawatis megalomania is out. In Kerala, the fractious CPI(M)-led LDF is out, the precarious UDF is in. If this trend continues, the Congress could be out, to be replaced by the BJP at the center in 2014.

Karnataka, home to Indias Silicon Valley, is a perfect example to illustrate that Indias major opposition party is no different from the ruling Congress. Former CM Yeddyurappa, who was forced to resign after the Lokayuktha report, is now on a serious comeback trail. When he was forced to resign, Mr. Yeddyurappa first claimed health issues to escape arrest and then he turned around with a Terminator-like Ill be back pronouncement. True to his word, he is back with full gusto. Now a free man with renewed zeal to return to power, Mr. Yeddyurappa managed to whisk away MLAs in a despicable show of strength, thereby causing grave uneasiness for the top BJP leadership. On the one hand, the BJP wants to portray a clean image in the hope of riding the prevalent anti-corruption sentiments of the people, while on the other, its ranks are replete with the likes of Mr. Yeddyurappa, much like the Congress. In short, swapping the Congress for the BJP at the center in 2014 is a replay of state-level politics at the national stage. It simply isnt going to help. If you disregard the Gandhi dynasty and throw in some saffron toppings, you cant really tell the difference between the two major parties. In light of this, will installing the BJP in place of the equally incompetent and corrupt Congress really help the countrys cause? Havent we seen this movie before? We have exercised our electoral choices to throw out those in power once every five years. But has that helped resolve our most pressing issues? Kerala, our most literate state, has for the last several state elections spanning decades, routinely thrown out the incumbent party in favor of the opposition. Has this helped Kerala in the long run? A relative of mine in her 80s put this in perspective when she said, These parties are all the same. There are good people, there are corrupt people. Might as well give them all an equal chance! While surely insightful and filled with wisdom, one cant help but sense more than a degree of abject defeatism in this mindset. Albert Einstein said, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We have been there, done it for sixty-plus years and its apparent that our current systems are badly flawed. It is time to re-think and reform the very institutions that make up our democracy. Our parliamentarians must quit whining, stop playing victim, and get on with the business of passing effective laws, and let their accomplishments speak for themselves.

fter all the fire and brimstone in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday against Arvind Kejriwals uncharitable comments on criminal MPs, parliament adopted a mild censure motion. The NDAs Sharad Yadav (JD-U) led the assault on Team Anna along with the BJPs Sushma Swaraj while Congress MPs sat back in delight at this unique exhibition of parliamentary solidarity. Why only a gentle reprimand, not the stern privilege motion we were promised? Because MPs know better than anyone else how deeply tainted nearly a third of its flock in the Lok Sabha really is. If too much public attention is drawn to the facts underpinning Team Annas comments, it may open up a Pandoras box whose lid MPs across party lines want to keep tightly shut. What are the facts? Fact 1: 162 out of 543 MPs in the Lok Sabha do have criminal cases pending against them. No one not even a single Lok Sabha MP has ever disputed this fact. Fact 2: 75 of these 162 MPs have serious criminal charges against them murder, rape, extortion, kidnapping. No one again not a single Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha MP has disputed this fact. Fact 3: Some of these charges may be politically motivated. But the serious cases pending against 75 Lok Sabha MPs are not politically motivated. They are all based on court-framed chargesheets. This implies application of judicial mind. A magistrate has found enough prima facie evidence against these MPs to frame charges and allow the case to go to trial. Fact 4: Of the 75 Lok Sabha MPs facing serious criminal charges, nearly half belong to the countrys two principal political parties the Congress (with 13 criminally-charged MPs) and the BJP (with 19 criminally-charged MPs). Fact 5: Over 1,175 MLAs, cutting across party lines in state assemblies around the country, also have criminal charges against them. In the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly election, the four major parties (the Congress, BJP, BSP and SP) gave tickets to known criminals to contest from dozens of constituencies. In several UP assembly constituencies, the voter was confronted with a choice between four criminal candidates one each from the Congress, BJP, BSP and SP. A voter in these constituencies was left with no choice but to vote for a candidate with a criminal record (details here). All the data cited above is in the public domain. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), which works under ADRs aegis, have been compiling this data for years. Team Annas Arvind Kejriwal has simply restated ADRs painstakingly researched facts which ADR has over the years consistently and openly used to campaign for a cleaner parliament. It was ADR, founded in 1999 by a group of outstanding IIT/IIM alumni, whose PIL in the Supreme Court led to the apex court in 2003 ordering all political parties to disclose the financial assets and educational qualifications of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha candidates and reveal any criminal cases pending against them. Parliament should laud the work of organisations like ADR and Team Anna who want to clean up parliament. Instead what do we have? A censure motion against Arvind Kejriwal and other Team Anna members for simply restating ADRs data, which is available to all just a click away here, rather than urging party leaders to clean up parliament, the fulcrum of our democracy.

We may not all agree with Team Annas Jan Lokpal Bill. There are alternative models of governance we should consider which span electoral, judicial, police and administrative reforms (about which I wrote on the edit page of The Times of India on February 18, 2012, here). But between Annas anti-corruption crusade and the governments corruption-tainted record, there is little doubt on whose side every right thinking Indian should be. Our MPs are over-sensitive to criticism. They shouldnt be. They are servants of the people and yet are a pampered lot. Most live in bungalows in Lutyens Delhi. The average price of a bungalow in Lodhi Estate or on Tughlaq Road (where incidentally Rahul Gandhi lives) is between Rs. 250 crore and Rs. 500 crore. The 890 MPs collectively in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha therefore clearly cost you and me who elect them, pay them and bear the cost of their accommodation through our taxes a large amount. How large? Consider only the value of the real estate they occupy and discount for the moment the free cars, travel, constituency allowance and other perks of office. These 890 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs cost us, at a lowish average of Rs. 150 crore per bungalow, well over Rs. 1.3 lakh crore in terms of real estate foregone. Thats nearly equal to the annual personal income tax paid by 3.5 crore individual taxpayers in India or, putting it another way, just a bit lower than our entire annual defence budget for 2012-13. Instead of censuring Team Anna for telling the truth, MPs should censure their own political party leaders for giving criminals tickets to

http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/headon/entry/why-parliament-softenedits-censure-of-team-anna
contest elections.

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday censured Team Anna for describing parliamentarians as 'robbers, thieves and rapists,' after parties on both sides of the political aisle expressed ire over the derogatory remarks. "Honourable members of this House undergo rigorous scrutiny by the Election Commission under the provisions of Representation of People Act, Model Code of Conduct and other legal requirements while filing their nomination for election. After meticulously assessing their conduct and performance, the people of India, in their wisdom, elect them. The Parliament therefore reflects the collective will of the people of our country. Any remark lowering the dignity and esteem of the House is unwarranted and unacceptable," Speaker Meira Kumar said after a short debate on the issue. The Speaker made the observation following demands from members that the Chair should take initiative to "restore the dignity of the House". The civil society activist escaped with a minor rap, and not with a harsher treatment as BJP and Congress opted to take a restrained line to avoid a confrontation with them. Parties such as JD(U), Samajwadi Party and DMK, on the other hand, wanted Anna's team to be summoned for privilege for denigrating Parliament. NDA convenor and JD-U leader Sharad Yadav, who initiated the discussion after finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's reply to the debate on the demands for grants for the budget, said if people lost faith in Parliament, it could have serious ramifications. "A trend has started in the country to denigrate the politicians. Yes, the public has a right to be angry at us. But there should be a limit to it," he said. While accepting that people had the right to attack, he said a line needed to be drawn somewhere. "You don't remember those who have lived honestly? I do not object to the attack by Team Anna at us but no one should attack the institution of democracy," he said. Yadav suggested that the Speaker take the lead in ensuring that the "faith and dignity" of Parliament was restored. "I accept that some people who should not have been elected have found their entry into Parliament. But don't forget that this institution has fought corruption,'' he added. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, while participating in the discussion, felt Kejriwal's remarks constituted

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/lok-sabhacensures-team-anna-over-derogatory-remarks-againstparliamentarians/articleshow/12434643.cms
a privilege issue.

After having railed at Team Annafor slandering MPs, Lok Sabha on Tuesday mildly reprimanded the activists campaigning for a Lokpal with Speaker Meira Kumar reading out a statement saying any comment that lowered the dignity of Parliament was "unwarranted and unacceptable". The tepid response came after leaders lashed out at Hazare group members for saying "rapists and murderers" were sitting in Parliament and demanding that FIRs be lodged against 14 ministers and despite calls for stern action during a short discussion in Lok Sabha. With the political class not known to take any assault on its privileges lightly, the tap on the knuckles seems to indicate a wariness in confronting Gandhian leader Anna Hazare, who despite his last protest in Mumbai fizzling out, seems to enjoy considerable public support. The Speaker's statement, although conveying the anger of the House, did not reflect the sentiments of leaders like Janata Dal (U)'s Sharad Yadav, who were smarting under Hazare's latest tongue lashing at a rally here last Sunday. Despite the demand of regional satraps like SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, DMK's T K S Elangovan, Shiv Sena and Sharad Yadav that the Team Anna be called to Parliament for breach of privilege and made to apologize, the House settled for a soft protest. While BJP was at the forefront of protests against Team Anna on Monday, the party kept a conspicuously low profile on Tuesday. This seems to have followed internal discussions over aligning against the activists and so "bailing out" the government that is the prime target of Team Anna's ire. Parliament stepped back from a confrontation with the civil society with leaders privately arguing that politicians ought not to rise to the bait with regard to the Anna camp's repeated provocations that seem intended to achieve "martyrdom". There were few who swum against the tide and advocated tolerance to the transgressions while expressing distaste for the "overreaction" among politicians. RJD MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said while he was appalled at the recent criticism by "some crazy" people, what was the need to hype it up. "We need to show tolerance," he said. The ruling camp settled for the middle way out, giving MPs the chance to vent their feelings against the tirade from Hazare bloc while ensuring the privileges is not invoked. However, a senior Congress leader said it may be a different case if there was another provocation from the civil society. The short-duration discussion on Anna's attack on Parliament's dignity was agreed upon after Lok Sabha took up the denigration of MPs on Monday. With leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj joining the attack on Lokpal lobby on Monday, after being soft on Congress-focused Anna camp for months, Congress was relieved that taking on the Gandhian leader may not be a partisan issue any more. UPA has been chafing at Anna targeting Congress, while BJP chose to tap the resultant benefits by backing him. Raghuvansh Singh cautioned that instead of angry reactions, parliamentarians needed to look inwards. "We passed a three-point resolution for Lokpal bill but when it came to the law, we started talking about it violating the federal structure. What will people say outside (about MPs going back on their own commitment in a resolution)," the RJD leader said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lok-

Sabha-Speaker-mildly-reprimands-Lokpal-activists/articleshow/12434490.cms

Deficiencies in the present anti-corruption systems Central Government level:

At central Government level, there is Central Vigilance Commission, Departmental vigilance and CBI. CVC and Departmental vigilance deal with vigilance (disciplinary proceedings) aspect of a corruption case and CBI deals with criminal aspect of that case. Central Vigilance Commission: CVC is the apex body for all vigilance cases in Government of India.

However, it does not have adequate resources commensurate with the large number of complaints that it

receives. CVC is a very small set up with a staff strength less than 200. It is supposed to check corruption in more than 1500 central government departments and ministries, some of them being as big as Central Excise, Railways, Income Tax etc. Therefore, it has to depend on the vigilance wings of respective departments and forwards most of the complaints for inquiry and report to them. While it monitors the progress of these complaints, there is delay and the complainants are often disturbed by this. It directly enquires into a few complaints on its own, especially when it suspects motivated delays or where senior officials could be implicated. But given the constraints of manpower, such number is really small.

CVC is merely an advisory body. Central Government Departments seek CVCs advice on various

corruption cases. However, they are free to accept or reject CVCs advice. Even in those cases, which are directly enquired into by the CVC, it can only advise government. CVC mentions these cases of non-acceptance in its monthly reports and the Annual Report to Parliament. But these are not much in focus in Parliamentary debates or by the media.

Experience shows that CVCs advice to initiate prosecution is rarely accepted and whenever CVC advised

major penalty, it was reduced to minor penalty. Therefore, CVC can hardly be treated as an effective deterrent against corruption.

CVC cannot direct CBI to initiate enquiries against any officer of the level of Joint Secretary and above on its

own. The CBI has to seek the permission of that department, which obviously would not be granted if the senior officers of that department are involved and they could delay the case or see to it that permission would not be granted.

CVC does not have powers to register criminal case. It deals only with vigilance or disciplinary matters. It does not have powers over politicians. If there is an involvement of a politician in any case, CVC could at

best bring it to the notice of the Government. There are several cases of serious corruption in which officials and political executive are involved together.

It does not have any direct powers over departmental vigilance wings. Often it is seen that CVC forwards a

complaint to a department and then keeps sending reminders to them to enquire and send report. Many a times, the departments just do not comply. CVC does not have any really effective powers over them to seek compliance of its orders.

CVC does not have administrative control over officials in vigilance wings of various central government

departments to which it forwards corruption complaints. Though the government does consult CVC before appointing the Chief Vigilance Officers of various departments, however, the final decision lies with the

government. Also, the officials below CVO are appointed/transferred by that department only. Only in exceptional cases, if the CVO chooses to bring it to the notice of CVC, CVC could bring pressure on the Department to revoke orders but again such recommendations are not binding.

Appointments to CVC are directly under the control of ruling political party, though the leader of the

Opposition is a member of the Committee to select CVC and VCs. But the Committee only considers names put up before it and that is decided by the Government. The appointments are opaque.

CVC Act gives supervisory powers to CVC over CBI. However, these supervisory powers have remained

ineffective. CVC does not have the power to call for any file from CBI or to direct them to do any case in a particular manner. Besides, CBI is under administrative control of DOPT rather than CVC.

Therefore, though CVC is relatively independent in its functioning, it neither has resources nor powers to

enquire and take action on complaints of corruption in a manner that meets the expectations of people or act as an effective deterrence against corruption.
Departmental Vigilance Wings: Each Department has a vigilance wing, which is manned by officials from the same department (barring a few which have an outsider as Chief Vigilance Officer. However, all the officers under him belong to the same department).

Since the officers in the vigilance wing of a department are from the same department and they can be

posted to any position in that department anytime, it is practically impossible for them to be independent and objective while inquiring into complaints against their colleagues and seniors. If a complaint is received against a senior officer, it is impossible to enquire into that complaint because an officer who is in vigilance today might get posted under that senior officer some time in future.

In some departments, especially in the Ministries , some officials double up as vigilance officials. It means

that an existing official is given additional duty of vigilance also. So, if some citizen complaints against that officer, the complaint is expected to be enquired into by the same officer. Even if someone complaints against that officer to the CVC or to the Head of that Department or to any other authority, the complaint is forwarded by all these agencies and it finally lands up in his own lap to enquire against himself. Even if he recuses himself from such inquiries , still they have to be handled by those who otherwise report to him. There are indeed examples of such absurdity.

There have been instances of the officials posted in vigilance wing by that department having had a very

corrupt past. While in vigilance, they try to scuttle all cases against themselves. They also turn vigilance wing into a hub of corruption, where cases are closed for consideration.

Departmental vigilance does not investigate into criminal aspect of any case. It does not have the powers to

register an FIR. They also do not have any powers against politicians. Since the vigilance wing is directly under the control of the Head of that Department, it is practically

impossible for them to enquire against senior officials of that department. Therefore, , the vigilance wing of any department is seen to softpedal on genuine complaints or used to

enquire against " inconvenient" officers.

CBI: CBI has powers of a police station to investigate and register FIR. It can investigate any case related to a Central Government department on its own or any case referred to it by any state government or any court.

CBI is overburdened and does not accept cases even where amount of defalcation is alleged to be around

Rs 1 crore. CBI is directly under the administrative control of Central Government. So, if a complaint pertains to any minister or politician who is part of a ruling coalition or a bureaucrat who is

close to them, CBI's credibility has suffered and there is increasing public perception that it cannot do a fair investigation and that it is influenced to to scuttle these cases.

Again, because CBI is directly under the control of Central Government, CBI is perceived to have been often

used to settle scores against inconvenient politicians.

Therefore, if a citizen wants to make a complaint about corruption by a politician or an official in the Central Government, there isnt a single anti-corruption agency which is effective and independent of the government, whose wrongdoings are sought to be investigated. CBI has powers but it is not independent. CVC is independent but it does not have sufficient powers or resources.

http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/lokpal.html

Hang us if you feel we are tainted, but bring Lokpal Bill

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The HinduArvind

Kejriwal. File photo

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Even as the trustee-cum-travel agent who handled Team Anna member Kiran Bedi's travel account quit her NGO washing his hands off the controversy over inflated bills, activist Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday alleged that the government had mounted a smear campaign against them to divert attention from the Lokpal Bill. Probe us, hang us if you feel we are tainted, but bring the Lokpal Bill,'' he said speaking to journalists here. To take stock of the situation, the core committee will meet here on Saturday. It is not clear yet, if activist Anna Hazare will come out of his self-imposed vow of silence to chair the meeting. On the agenda will be issues like Ms. Bedi's demeanour in charging inflated travel bills from her hosts, lawyer Prashant Bhushan's remarks on plebiscite in Kashmir, the notices from the Income Tax department to Mr. Kejriwal for dues and disassociation of two members from the anti-Congress campaign before the winter session of Parliament when the amended Lokpal Bill is expected to be tabled. Seeking to defend the members of Team Anna, Mr. Kejriwal bemoaned that first there was mud-slinging against them and then fingers were pointed at them to say that they were tainted.''

On activist Swami Agnivesh's charge that India Against Corruption (IAC) donations were deposited in Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF) run by him and were un-audited still, Mr. Kejriwal said the IAS was a movement'' not an institution. It is well-known that PCRF was working as a secretariat for IAC. All accounts had been audited till March, 2011. For the rest, auditors found it difficult to audit accounts for six months, even so, to maintain transparency they are working on it and audited accounts will be out by October 31.'' Alleging that core committee members were being targeted'' by the government, he said, Income tax authorities collected Ms. Bedi's travel documents and fed information to the Indian Express. Is the IT department's only job, to pull out files against Team Anna and leak them to the media? And, in a population of 120 crore people, can only saints and sadhus raise a voice against corruption?'' Questioned about the moral high ground assumed by Team Anna in its fight against corruption, he lashed out, Whether Kiran Bedi has paid bills or not has become a national issue. If Kiran Bedi has committed a crime, hang her, send her to jail but talk about the Lokpal Bill. What has the mud-slinging on us as individuals got to do with the Lokpal Bill? The government must understand that their ways and methods are increasing the anger amongst people. If this continues then the next movement will be 10 times bigger [than Ramlila ground].'' Asked about Congress leader Digvijay Singh's allegation that the Anna movement was close to RSS, Mr. Kejriwal declined to comment on Mr. Singh. Meanwhile, the Congress dismissed Mr. Hazare's charges that those in the government were behind the campaign against his team and expressed hurt at the use of phrase gang of four in the government by him. Law Minister Salman Khursheed, however, said there should be no encouragement for discord between civil society and the government. Keywords: Team Anna, India against Corruption, anti-corruption movement, Kiran Bedi controversy, Arvind Kejriwal controversy, inflated travel bills issue, Lokpal bill

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2571614.ece

I'd rather not be Anna

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If what we're watching on TV is indeed a revolution, then it has to be one of the more embarrassing and unintelligible ones of recent times. For now, whatever questions you may have about the Jan Lokpal Bill, here are the answers you're likely to get: tick the box (a) Vande Mataram (b) Bharat Mata ki Jai (c) India is Anna, Anna is India (d) Jai Hind. For completely different reasons, and in completely different ways, you could say that the Maoists and the Jan Lokpal Bill have one thing in common they both seek the overthrow of the Indian State. One working from the bottom up, by means of an armed struggle, waged by a largely adivasi army, made up of the poorest of the poor. The other, from the top down, by means of a bloodless Gandhian coup, led by a freshly minted saint, and an army of largely urban, and certainly better off people. (In this one, the Government collaborates by doing everything it possibly can to overthrow itself.)

In April 2011, a few days into Anna Hazare's first fast unto death, searching for some way of distracting attention from the massive corruption scams which had battered its credibility, the Government invited Team Anna, the brand name chosen by this civil society group, to be part of a joint drafting committee for a new anticorruption law. A few months down the line it abandoned that effort and tabled its own bill in Parliament, a bill so flawed that it was impossible to take seriously. Then, on August 16th, the morning of his second fast unto death, before he had begun his fast or committed any legal offence, Anna Hazare was arrested and jailed. The struggle for the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill now coalesced into a struggle for the right to protest, the struggle for democracy itself. Within hours of this Second Freedom Struggle,' Anna was released. Cannily, he refused to leave prison, but remained in Tihar jail as an honoured guest, where he began a fast, demanding the right to fast in a public place. For three days, while crowds and television vans gathered outside, members of Team Anna whizzed in and out of the high security prison, carrying out his video messages, to be broadcast on national TV on all channels. (Which other person would be granted this luxury?) Meanwhile 250 employees of the Municipal Commission of Delhi, 15 trucks, and six earth movers worked around the clock to ready the slushy Ramlila grounds for the grand weekend spectacle. Now, waited upon hand and foot, watched over by chanting crowds and crane-mounted cameras, attended to by India's most expensive doctors, the third phase of Anna's fast to the death has begun. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India is One, the TV anchors tell us. While his means may be Gandhian, Anna Hazare's demands are certainly not. Contrary to Gandhiji's ideas about the decentralisation of power, the Jan Lokpal Bill is a draconian, anti-corruption law, in which a panel of carefully chosen people will administer a giant bureaucracy, with thousands of employees, with the power to police everybody from the Prime Minister, the judiciary, members of Parliament, and all of the bureaucracy, down to the lowest government official. The Lokpal will have the powers of investigation, surveillance, and prosecution. Except for the fact that it won't have its own prisons, it will function as an independent administration, meant to counter the bloated, unaccountable, corrupt one that we already have. Two oligarchies, instead of just one. Whether it works or not depends on how we view corruption. Is corruption just a matter of legality, of financial irregularity and bribery, or is it the currency of a social transaction in an egregiously unequal society, in which power continues to be concentrated in the hands of a smaller and smaller minority? Imagine, for example, a city of shopping malls, on whose streets hawking has been banned. A hawker pays the local beat cop and the man from the municipality a small bribe to break the law and sell her wares to those who cannot afford the prices in the malls. Is that such a terrible thing? In future will she have to pay the Lokpal representative too? Does the solution to the problems faced by ordinary people lie in addressing the structural inequality, or in creating yet another power structure that people will have to defer to? Meanwhile the props and the choreography, the aggressive nationalism and flag waving of Anna's Revolution are all borrowed, from the anti-reservation protests, the world-cup victory parade, and the celebration of the nuclear tests. They signal to us that if we do not support The Fast, we are not true Indians.' The 24-hour channels have decided that there is no other news in the country worth reporting. The Fast' of course doesn't mean Irom Sharmila's fast that has lasted for more than ten years (she's being force fed now) against the AFSPA, which allows soldiers in Manipur to kill merely on suspicion. It does not mean the relay hunger fast that is going on right now by ten thousand villagers in Koodankulam protesting against the nuclear power plant. The People' does not mean the Manipuris who support Irom Sharmila's fast. Nor does it mean the thousands who are facing down armed policemen and mining mafias in Jagatsinghpur, or Kalinganagar, or Niyamgiri, or Bastar, or Jaitapur. Nor do we mean the victims of the Bhopal gas leak, or the people displaced by dams in the Narmada Valley. Nor do we mean the farmers in NOIDA, or Pune or Haryana or elsewhere in the country, resisting the takeover of the land. The People' only means the audience that has gathered to watch the spectacle of a 74-year-old man threatening to starve himself to death if his Jan Lokpal Bill is not tabled and passed by Parliament. The People' are the tens of

thousands who have been miraculously multiplied into millions by our TV channels, like Christ multiplied the fishes and loaves to feed the hungry. A billion voices have spoken, we're told. India is Anna. Who is he really, this new saint, this Voice of the People? Oddly enough we've heard him say nothing about things of urgent concern. Nothing about the farmer's suicides in his neighbourhood, or about Operation Green Hunt further away. Nothing about Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh, nothing about Posco, about farmer's agitations or the blight of SEZs. He doesn't seem to have a view about the Government's plans to deploy the Indian Army in the forests of Central India. He does however support Raj Thackeray's Marathi Manoos xenophobia and has praised the development model' of Gujarat's Chief Minister who oversaw the 2002 pogrom against Muslims. (Anna withdrew that statement after a public outcry, but presumably not his admiration.) Despite the din, sober journalists have gone about doing what journalists do. We now have the back-story about Anna's old relationship with the RSS. We have heard from Mukul Sharma who has studied Anna's village community in Ralegan Siddhi, where there have been no Gram Panchayat or Co-operative society elections in the last 25 years. We know about Anna's attitude to harijans': It was Mahatma Gandhi's vision that every village should have one chamar, one sunar, one kumhar and so on. They should all do their work according to their role and occupation, and in this way, a village will be self-dependant. This is what we are practicing in Ralegan Siddhi. Is it surprising that members of Team Anna have also been associated with Youth for Equality, the antireservation (pro-merit) movement? The campaign is being handled by people who run a clutch of generously funded NGOs whose donors include Coca-Cola and the Lehman Brothers. Kabir, run by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, key figures in Team Anna, has received $400,000 from the Ford Foundation in the last three years. Among contributors to the India Against Corruption campaign there are Indian companies and foundations that own aluminum plants, build ports and SEZs, and run Real Estate businesses and are closely connected to politicians who run financial empires that run into thousands of crores of rupees. Some of them are currently being investigated for corruption and other crimes. Why are they all so enthusiastic? Remember the campaign for the Jan Lokpal Bill gathered steam around the same time as embarrassing revelations by Wikileaks and a series of scams, including the 2G spectrum scam, broke, in which major corporations, senior journalists, and government ministers and politicians from the Congress as well as the BJP seem to have colluded in various ways as hundreds of thousands of crores of rupees were being siphoned off from the public exchequer. For the first time in years, journalist-lobbyists were disgraced and it seemed as if some major Captains of Corporate India could actually end up in prison. Perfect timing for a people's anti-corruption agitation. Or was it? At a time when the State is withdrawing from its traditional duties and Corporations and NGOs are taking over government functions (water supply, electricity, transport, telecommunication, mining, health, education); at a time when the terrifying power and reach of the corporate owned media is trying to control the public imagination, one would think that these institutions the corporations, the media, and NGOs would be included in the jurisdiction of a Lokpal bill. Instead, the proposed bill leaves them out completely. Now, by shouting louder than everyone else, by pushing a campaign that is hammering away at the theme of evil politicians and government corruption, they have very cleverly let themselves off the hook. Worse, by demonising only the Government they have built themselves a pulpit from which to call for the further withdrawal of the State from the public sphere and for a second round of reforms more privatisation, more access to public infrastructure and India's natural resources. It may not be long before Corporate Corruption is made legal and renamed a Lobbying Fee. August 22, 2011

Will the 830 million people living on Rs.20 a day really benefit from the strengthening of a set of policies that is impoverishing them and driving this country to civil war? This awful crisis has been forged out of the utter failure of India's representative democracy, in which the legislatures are made up of criminals and millionaire politicians who have ceased to represent its people. In which not a single democratic institution is accessible to ordinary people. Do not be fooled by the flag waving. We're watching India being carved up in war for suzerainty that is as deadly as any battle being waged by the warlords of Afghanistan, only with much, much more at stake. While his means maybe Gandhian, his demands are certainly not.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/article2380789.ece
New Delhi, Aug 31: RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal has admitted that the NGO Kabir he runs along with Manish Sisodia, did receive funds from the New York-based Ford Foundation, but pointed out that it had stopped about two years ago. In an interview to Sreelatha Menon Of Business Standard, Kejriwal dubbed as baseless the questions being raised about interests of US bankrolling the anti-corruption agitation led by Anna Hazare. While admitting that Kabir received funds from Ford Foundation two years ago, Kejriwal asked: How can you linked that to what is being done now? If Ford Foundation is bad, then ban it, he said. It was preposterous to say Magsaysay awardees will further any American agenda just because the Magsaysay Foundation has US funding. I dont know who funds Magsaysay. If every beneficiary of the Ford Foundation fund was furthering a US interest, then IIM Bangalore dean Trilochan Shastri who started Association for Democratic Reforms with IIM alumni too must be doing that, he added, cynically. Ford Foundation India too denied allegations that it was propping the anti-graft movement. Its representative, Steven Solnick, said the Foundations last instalment to Kabir was in 2010. Our first grant to the NGO was of $1,72,000 in 2005 ; the second was in 2008 of $1,97,000, he told Business Standard. Both were exclusively for work on Right to Information Act and on training people how to use it, he said. The Foundation had agreed to give the NGO a grant this year. But they told us that they have not been able to begin any work. Hence, the money was not given. Solnick said it was not correct to say that Ford Foundation was trying to influence Magsaysay awardees even indirectly. Our grant to Magsaysay Foundation was as early as 15 years ago. It was for a specific purpose. That both Kiran Bedi (of Team Anna) and Kejriwal are awardees is a coincidence. He denied the notion that the Magsaysay awards, funded by the 1936-founded Ford Foundation, is like an extension of the US government. It is as wrong to say so as to say that the Nobel prize is an extension of the explosives industry of Alfred Nobel, he added. The $11 -billion-dollar charity of the foundation is for separate organisations including research organisations. That does not mean we are trying to manipulate research in India, he noted.

http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/India/Kejriwal_Admits_His_NGO_Took_Money_From _Ford_Foundatio_-10340.html

Uncivil service
Government must restore discipline to its ranks
Business Standard / New Delhi Oct 25, 2011, 00:39 IST
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PolicyBazaar.com/Term-Plan When bright young Indians write the civil services examination they opt for security of tenure and an assured pension that comes with the requirement that they observe service discipline, respect the principle of seniority and remain self-effacing till retirement. For years that is how the Indian Administrative, Foreign, Police and other Services (IAS, IFS, IPS, etc) functioned. Over the years the principle of seniority has become so much of a mantra that governments are increasingly scared of using competence as the measure for promotion, shying away from deep selection and sticking to the rule book. However, for their part, civil servants are neither adhering to established practices of service discipline nor are they any longer self-effacing, seeking publicity for themselves every which way. The recent controversies surrounding the retired police officer Kiran Bedi and a former income tax officer Arvind Kejriwal were waiting to erupt, given that both of them flouted rules in service and, at the same time, sought personal glory and publicity for themselves. But theirs is the more high-profile example for understandable reasons. On a routine and regular basis many civil servants happily flout rules and norms and go scot free as long as they remain on the right side of the powers that be. Thus, IFS officers refuse to take up postings they do not like, IAS officers appear on television, write columns and give interviews as if their personal views matter for anything, and IPS officers bend rules and curry favour, ingratiating themselves with politicians of dubious repute. The willingness of some civil servants to kneel when asked to bend enables politicians to subvert established systems and become democratic despots. Where a chief minister has become a despot, as is the case in so many states in India (Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, to name a few), officers routinely flout civil services procedure to genuflect and do the bidding of their political masters. This type of conduct is, however, the more visible example of flouting bureaucratic norms. What about the routine stuff, the kind that has invited disciplinary proceedings against Mr Kejriwal?
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Government officials becoming non-government activists is a new form of civil service indiscipline. It ranges all the way from government officials running NGOs in the name of a spouse or relative and siphoning off public money to them, to government officials using the media to exert pressure on their superiors and project their own personality. Even as the government becomes more liberal, offering civil servants the space and freedom to express their creativity and talent, mixing the principle of seniority with that of competence and performance to reward good officers, it must also become stricter in ensuring that officers adhere to services discipline. Corruption is not the only affliction of Indian bureaucracy. Indiscipline, on the one side, a rigid adherence to seniority, on the other, and partisan favouritism on the third have all combined to make a mockery of the so-called steel frame.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/uncivil-service/453551/

Didnt violate any service rule: Kejriwal

Says its political vendetta against Jan Lokpal campaigners
Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 2

Anna Hazares key aide Arvind Kejriwal today questioned the income tax notice served on him for payment of Rs 9 lakh as outstanding dues pertaining to the period while he was in government service, terming it a clear case of political vendetta against those involved in the Jan Lokpal campaign. In my opinion, there is no role of the Income Tax Departmentthey are doing it under political pressure, he said, responding to the August 5 IT notice served on him. Government sources, however, maintained that the notice had been served long back and the Anna group was only raking it up now to gain public sympathy and score brownie points. Kejriwal said he remained in the government service from 1995 to 2006 and took study leave between November 2000 and October 2002. He said he rejoined and took a leave without pay from 2004 before resigning in February 2006 to devote full time to his NGO Parivartan. The activist rejected the view that he had violated government service and bond rules or that he owed money to the government. He said if at all he owed money, the government could take it from his outstanding General Provident Fund dues. I have been repeatedly writing to them to adjust it against my GPF amount, which is believed to be a few lakhs. However, this has not been done so far, he said. He said the government was interpreting the bond in a wrong way to suit itself. No employee can work without taking a single break. I have not violated the bond condition. The government should return the GPF amount. I would donate the entire amount for the movement against corruption, he added. Supporting Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan said the notice showed the government has not yet taken any lesson. It is still using its dirty tricks department to target the group.

Anna: Chidambaram a mischief-maker

Ralegan Siddhi, September 2 In his first public rally after breaking his 12-day fast, Anna Hazare today attacked the UPA government of not being serious in bringing a strong Lokpal and said the ruling dispensation consists of cunning persons and a Home Minister who was mischievous. This government consists of a mob of labaad (cunning) people. They did not allow me to fast and issued prohibitory orders at all the maidans in Delhi. When they gave permission for the J P Park, there were a lot of pre-conditions, he said. After 64 years of Independence from the British rule, nothing has changed in this country. The whites have been replaced by black, he said. PTI

A TRIBUNE SPECIAL

Kejriwal not likely to get waiver on govt dues

Man Mohan/Roving Editor New Delhi, September 2 The government is now wary of accepting Arvind Kejriwal as the face of the Jan Lokpal campaign for negotiating the contents of the Bill which is pending before the

Standing Committee of Parliament. The news that Team Anna core group member Arvind Kejriwals resignation as an Indian Revenue Service officer in February 2006 had been put on hold pending his non-payment of over Rs 9 lakh dues and the lack of this knowledge even within government circles has left many red faces on both sides. The Tribune on September 1 broke the story about Kejriwal being a government servant all through the Jan Lokpal Bill campaign. A 1992 batch IRS officer, Kejriwal -- now holding the rank of Additional Commissioner -- had called it a day from the Income Tax Department in February 2006 -- the year (in August) he got his Ramon Magsaysay award for his work in bringing the Right to Information Act. But the government is holding on to him and is yet to accept his resignation as he is yet to clear dues totalling to Rs 9,27,787 to the government. The government says Kejriwals being on leave in 2004 without pay for subsequent two years does not constitute compliance with the requirement of the bond that he had signed while availing himself of study leave from November 1, 2000, to October 31, 2002, namely that he would serve the government for three years on return from leave, failing which the salary drawn by him for the period will be paid back or recovered by the government. Another thorny issue is Kerjiwals failure to pay back Rs 80,000 loan taken by him from the government in 1998 to purchase a computer which is recovered in instalments of Rs 550 per month spread over a long period. Since he had sought to resign from the government service, the I-T Department wanted him to pay back the loan in one lump sum. The interest free loan for computer purchase consequently became payable with interest, totalling Rs 1,04,925. The government says the amount could not have been adjusted from the Provident Fund dues as sought to be presented by Kejriwal since the PF is administered separately by a different entity and not the I-T Department. Kejriwals request for waiver of his dues has met with derision among the IRS circles as it is well known that the government does not waive such dues unless some extreme situation arises, certainly not in a case where the officer has won $50,000 as part of the Ramon Magsaysay award. Kejriwal argues that even if he had violated the bond conditions, the I-T Department should waive the dues as I have been working in public interest. Not many government ministers who sat through the Jan Lokpal Bill crisis for 15 days may agree with him. The Department of Personnel, the nodal ministry that handles all training-related issues, has already ruled against such a waiver.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110903/nation.htm#1

Controversial CD on Team Anna member Shanti Bhushan genuine: Delhi Police

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Agencies : New Delhi, Tue Aug 30 2011, 12:51 hrs

The controversial compact disc containing purported conversations between noted lawyer Shanti Bhushan and political leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh is not not doctored or tampered with, the Delhi police told a court here. The Special Cell of Delhi Police has said the opinions of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) suggest there was no editing or tampering with the CD. The police also said during interrogation, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh had confirmed the part about his conversation with Mulayam Singh Yadav was genuine. Since the opinions given by CFSL Delhi and CERT-In are similar and the CERT-In, having expertise in information technology, confirms/corroborates the opinion of CFSL Delhi, there is no reason to disbelieve these two reports. Amar Singh, MP Rajya Sabha has also confirmed the conversation did take place between him and Mulayam Singh Yadav. Hence, it is established during the investigation carried out so far, that the CD in question is not doctored/tampered with, the police said in a report placed before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav. The Delhi Police sought permission to close the case filed on the complaint by Bhushan saying there was no substantive evidence to prove the offence of forgery as alleged by him. Reacting to the Delhi Police report, Bhushan's son Prashant said: We are seeing repeated campaigns to try and discredit members of civil society to show divisions within Anna Hazare's team. All these tactics appear to have been adopted by sections of the ruling establishment and the government. ... contd.

Controversial CD on Team Anna member Shanti Bhushan genuine: Delhi Police

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Agencies : New Delhi, Tue Aug 30 2011, 12:51 hrs

In its nine-page report, the police said: From the evidence collected during the course of investigation, there is neither substantial nor corroborative evidence to prove the commission of offence, within the meaning of section 469 (forgery for the purpose of harming the reputation of any person) IPC. It is, therefore prayed that the case may please be cancelled. Bhushan had filed a complaint at the I P Estate police station here on April 14, 2011 alleging that the CD, containing his conversations with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, was fabricated and had denied having any conversation with them. He had alleged that the CD was a cut and paste job to discredit the campaign, involved in drafting of the Lokpal Bill. In the CD, Bhushan is allegedly heard telling Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh that his son Prashant can manage a judge. The police said the CD, which Bhushan handed over to them, was examined at CFSL, Delhi, and report said the recorded conversation in the CD could not have been tampered with. On April 21, the case was transferred to the Special Cell and the CD also sent to CFSL, Chandigarh, for a second opinion. CFSL, Chandigarh, gave its findings in a report on May 2 saying the recording present in the CD was not original and was a post-production edited version the police said, adding, as both CFSLs gave different opinions the CD was then sent to CERT-In. The CERT-In, in its report on May 28, said the audio file containing the conversation was continuous with no sign of abrupt changes or editing marks, the police said. ... contd. The agency said the CD, which was sent to the office of the Chief Justice of India by a leading daily after it received it at its office on April 13 by some unknown sender, was also got examined by the CFSL New Delhi.

The CFSL here opined in its report that the recorded conversation in the CD could not have been tampered with, it said.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/controversial-cd-on-team-anna-member-shantibhushan-genuine-delhi-police/839210/3

Shanti Bhushan fined Rs 27 lakh

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times

Allahabad, January 06, 2012

Email to Author First Published: 16:22 IST(6/1/2012) Last Updated: 11:19 IST(7/1/2012)

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Shanti Bhushan, former law minister and a key member of Team Anna, was fined Rs27 lakh for allegedly evading a Rs1.34-crore stamp duty while buying a plot in Allahabad. He has been given a month to deposit the fine along with the stamp duty. The property was purchased in the name of Shanti Bhushan and his family members in November 2010 for Rs19.23 crore. Bhushan is the third member of Team Anna to have been involved in controversies after Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal. Earlier, Bhushan was involved in a controversy concerning a CD in which he was reportedly requesting a politician to intervene in a court case. The amount of stamp duty in Bhushans case was assessed by the assistant registrar. But as Bhushan defaulted on the payment, the issue went to the office of the IG, registration. Later, though Bhushan argued for lowering the amount, the IG favoured the original assessment. Bhushan termed the order illegal and said he would challenge it. This order has been clearly made under political pressure and contrary to the law clearly laid down by the Supreme Court, he said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Blow-after-blow-for-Team-AnnaShanti-Bhushan-fined/Article1-792194.aspx

eema Mustafa

It seems as if the movement against corruption is in disarray. The volleys fired against some of its key members by the Congress and its supporters appear to be taking its toll, says Seema Mustafa.

Social activist Anna Hazare himself has gone on a maun vrat as he says he is feeling 'weak' but probably
more out of the realisation that he has been speaking too much, and in doing so, has created and deepened fissures within the team. Instead of giving shape to the movement, and analysing hasty decisions like that of campaigning for political candidates, the committee seems to be of the view that it should expand the numbers, and dissolve the core segment altogether. Perhaps this will work, but currently the problem does not seem to be the core nature of the committee but the inability of the members to strategise the movement.

For instance, the decision to campaign for non-Congress candidates at Hissar, regardless of whether they were corrupt or not has not done Hazare and his team well, and till date they have not been able to offer a convincing explanation. The charge of being with the Bharatiya Janata Party has thus found new supporters, with Hazare unable to completely shrug this off.

The team members are from different walks of lives, with differing ideologies. The attempt to isolate
corruption from other burning issues was thus bound to run into trouble, particularly as corruption itself cannot be confined to the fiscal, and includes corruption of action and ideology as well. Hazare's initial clean chit to Narendra Modi as a good administrator created a storm of protest, and had him scrambling to disassociate himself from the Gujarat chief minister. He succeeded to an extent, but not totally with Muslim organisations staying away from the campaign altogether. Similarly, Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan's comments on Kashmir had Hazare rushing to disassociate himself with the support for a referendum if necessary, going to the extent of saying that action would be taken against Bhushan if so required. Clearly, the intention to keep the team isolated from issues other than corruption insofar as the movement itself was concerned, cannot work on the ground. The media and those feeling the heat from Hazare's movement are not going to allow the de-linking and every comment from prominent members of the team will be highlighted, debated and criticisised. It is thus, difficult to see what will be the advantages of having a larger team, as this could actually make the current chaos anarchic.

And will provide more masala for the Congress and the government to chew into, as judging from the
recent disclosures about former cop Kiran Bedi's fiscal manipulations, the government sleuths are digging deep into the files of those who have made their movement against corruption a mission. Hazare himself has not attended the core committee meeting, and two key members such as Medha Patkar and Santosh Hegde have stayed away. Since the last meeting of the core committee, considerable water has flown under the bridge. Relations between the members are strained, and the tensions will further obstruct the formulation of a proper, far thinking strategy to take the movement forward. For now, it seems to be going backwards, in that the campaign has been stalled by the ferocious attack from all quarters, and the activists who really thought the worst was over, are finding out that it has all really just begun. There is urgent need for them to be at least two steps ahead, and that can only be if one, there are no more skeletons in their cupboards; and two, they are able to strategise the movement, their responses, and their views on issues other than corruption.

After the disastrous experiment at the Hissar by-polls, one would expect the core committee to decide against campaigning for political candidates. Or if it does, then the party should not be the consideration at all, just the honesty and cleanliness of the candidates.

At the same time, the movement should rid itself of religious and jingoistic nationalist symbols, and in the
process move away from the ultra right wing forces that are perceived to be calling the shots. One cannot say that all this will work because success in one field invariably leads to demands for intervention in other areas. Secularism, human rights and other issues cannot be ignored in the long run, and clearly the team members have different views on these. And if articulated, these will create controversies fanned by an extra enthusiastic media. At the same time, if these are not articulated then persons such as Prashant Bhushan will be compromising the many causes they are speaking for and this will be a heavy and unacceptable price to pay. It now remains to be seen whether the team can lead itself, core or expanded, and get out of the mess that currently seems to be drowning the movement. Instead of expanding the movement to cover corruption as a larger issue, the members seem to have got caught in exchanging words with the Congress, and defending themselves against the various charges being hurled against them. All are undeniably shaky, and cannot get away from the fact that whatever they have done in the past -- like Bedi's (non) payment of dues -- will become a national issue in the current climate. Those fighting corruption are expected to be squeaky clean, and apolitical -- at least publicly. Somehow, both these requirements seem to have been transgressed.

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-will-team-anna-survive-thecontroversy-storm/20111102.htm
Will Team Anna survive the controversy storm?
ongress leader Digvijay Singh today demanded a probe into the allegation made by Swami Agnivesh against Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal that he had diverted funds collected for the Jan Lokpal Bill agitation to his own NGO.

"Agnivesh's statement that funds collected for the Jan Lokpal Bill agitation was diverted to a private NGO of Arvind Kejriwal with which no member of the Team Anna is associated is a serious allegation and should be looked into," he said. Allegations were being levelled against all members of core Team Anna including Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi, the Congress general secretary said. "All the contents of Jan Lokpal legislation are in the official bill and the government is committed on this issue. We too are of the opinion that a strong Lokpal bill should come," he said. The Congress general secretary also accused Team Anna of misleading the people. Claiming that a "straight-forward and simple" man like Anna Hazare was surrounded by politically ambitious people, Singh said Team Anna members, Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi, need to look inwards instead of just terming politicians as criminals. "These are people who call politicians criminals. My point is politicians may be criminals but look inwards too," Singh told 'Seedhi Baat' programme on 'Aajtak'. On Bedi, he said she took concessional tickets for travelling but charged business class tickets from organizers who invited her. He alleged Bedi misused the quota system to get her daughter a seat in a medical college when she was posted in Mizoram. Singh said Hazare was a "straight-forward, simple man but was surrounded by politically ambitious people like Arvind Kejriwal. "Kerjriwal's political aspirations are coming out. Why doesn't he fight elections then. If they are so popular..as they seem to make out with opinion polls, why not enter the electoral fray," he said.

He said he had never been pulled up by the party for his outspokenness and on his attacks on Hazare. "I have never received a notice. Janardan Dwivedi has never called me up. Yes, Sonia did once tell me that I should not have called Chidambaram intellectually arrogant," he said.
Last updated on: November 2, 2011 12:08 IS

Diverted funds: 'Probe Agnivesh's allegation against Kejriwal'

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Agencies : Lucknow, Mon Oct 24 2011, 09:33 hrs

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/diverted-funds-probe-agniveshs-allegationagainst-kejriwal/864696/0