So Anna Hazare did a good thing. The old guy fasted for a few days and got the government moving their asses on something that should have been done 40 years ago. Kudos to him. Make no mistakes the man does have balls to stand up to all this corruption. Even though you are a Gandhian, I salute you sir.

And then I read this: Jan Lokpal Bill version 1.9


Whoever drafted this document  needs to be whacked in the head with a baseball bat. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that there is a need to formulate a bill to form a body of ombudsman to check the rampant corruption within our bureaucracy. When I say rampant I mean ridiculously gargantuan scales of rampant. If "rampantness" had a scale it would be blowing its springs by now.

However the spirit of the bill should be appreciated. Institutionalized Corruption within our system has reached unprecedented proportions, and our citizenry is tired of it. The mass rally in support of Anna Hazare's fast is proof of public outrage. No doubt there are errors, and flaws in the draft proposal. But that does not invalidate the need for such a bill. Yes it's a shitty bill but that does not by any way mean that we have to put up with the ongoing corruption and graft in Government and corporate offices. Having said all that, the bill is still what it is draft. Poorly written with too many arbitrary conditions, one sided and naive in its wording.  A boy scouts hand book would have better logic.

My reservations on the draft bill are the following:

Section 6
A selection committee consisting of the following shall be set up:
a.Two senior most judges of Supreme Court
b.Two senior most Chief Justices of High Courts
c.All Nobel Laureates of Indian Origind.Last three Magsaysay Award winners

(Regarding b and c) These awards are just too arbitrary criterions that have no bearing on the individuals ability to choose the right person(s) to be in this committee. And why Nobel Laureates of Indian Origin? Let's see now, I can think of only two  would qualify for this position. These Nobel laureates  may be smart but I have no Idea why these two non-Indians be part of this committe? Are we running out of  qualified Indians to do the job in India that we have to ask retired college profs to do our dirty work?


The bill in its present form gives the possibility for unelected non-indian citizens to be in the selection committee that chooses Chairperson and Members.

Section 12
Lokpal to be a deemed police officer:
(1) For the purposes of section 36 of Criminal Procedure Code,the Chairperson, members of Lokpal and the officers in investigation wing of Lokpal shall be deemed to be police officers
That's interesting because earlier on page 10 we read.
9. Issue of Search Warrant, etc.
(1) Where, in consequence of information in his possession, the Lokpal
may by a search warrant authorize any Police officer not below the rank of an Inspector of Police toconduct a search or carry out an inspection in accordance therewith and in particular to, -(i) enter and search any building or place where he has reason to suspect that such property,document, money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing is kept;(ii) search any person who is reasonably suspected of concealing about his person any articlefor which search should be made;(iii) break open the lock of any door, box, locker safe, almirah or other receptacle forexercising the powers conferred by sub-clause (i) where the keys thereof are not available.

So they are essentially assuming the role of Police. Which also means members of the Lokpal can arbitrarily enter any premises and cease any documents just on a hunch. Not good people, not good at all. That simply is giving too much power in the hands of individuals who are not trained in the management of law and order. And that too in a nation notorious for being corrupt.

Section 27Protection- (1) No suit, prosecution, or other legal proceedings shall lie against the Chairperson

or members or against any officer, employee, agency or person referred to in Section 14(4) in respect 

of anything which is in good faith done while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official 

duties under this Act.

(2) No proceedings of the Lokpal shall be held to be bad for want of form and except on the ground of

jurisdiction, no proceedings or decision of the Lokpal shall be liable to be challenged, reviewed, quashed 

or called in question in any court of ordinary Civil Jurisdiction.

Essentially the chairperson is untouchable. Come on people, do we really want to give so much power to one individual? That too in India !?

Perhaps the chap who wrote all this got carried away, or perhaps he was watching some re-runs of the Mahabharat episodes, or he was just plain smoking some really weird shit.

People lets remember that We the people are the ones who are so fucking corrupt that we don't even have calculators to count the number of zeros in 1,76,000, crores. How can we entrust a bunch of foreign  college professors and novelists to regulate themselves. They are not even under our jurisdiction. If shit happens they would be on the first plane back to where they came from.

We need to really work on our documentation skills. What ever checks and measures we cook up it should never, never ever be at the expense of civil liberties.