In the past four decades the nation has attempted eight times to get an anti-corruption bill passed, only to fail the test every time
In the past four decades the nation has attempted eight times to get an anti-corruption bill passed, only to fail the test every timeu00a0
India's effort to have an anti-graft ombudsman in the form of a Lokpal institution may have caught national attention only now. But Parliament, which plans to debate the Jan Lokpal Bill today, has made eight attempts since 1968 to pass a Lokpal bill -- a different version each time -- all in vain. The bill was first brought before the fourth Lok Sabha in 1968 and passed in 1969. However, the house was dissolved, resulting in the first death of the bill.
Anna effect: Parliament is likely to debate the Jan Lokpal Bill today.
Pic/AFP
Revivals and deaths
The legislation was revived in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, and 2001, but never survived.
In September 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government would lose no time in enacting the bill, but seven years have passed since.
It finally took a mass mobilisation by Anna Hazare and his associates in April this year to get the government to work on the Lokpal bill and bring it to Parliament. The issue has gathered momentum with Hazare's ongoing fast, which entered its eleventh day yesterday.
August date for bill?
The latest Lokpal bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 4 is the ninth version of the legislation before Parliament. It is has been referred to a parliamentary standing committee, which will decide its fate. From 1968 to 2011, the bill has come before Parliament under seven prime ministers beginning with Indira Gandhi.
Of them, only V P Singh, H D Deve Gowda and Atal Bihari Vajpayee agreed to have prime ministers under the law's purview. However, none of these eight bills had the judiciary under its purview. "The idea of an ombudsman first came up in parliament during a discussion on budget allocation for the law ministry in 1963.
The first administrative reforms committee in 1966 recommended the setting up of two independent authorities at the central and state level to look into complaints against public functionaries, including MPs," according to PRS Legislative Research.
The first time Parliament heard about Lokpal was in May 1968 when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 1968, did not have either the Prime Minister or MPs under its purview.
Passed to fail
The bill, passed in 1969, never became law, as it lapsed after the fourth Lok Sabha was dissolved.
Indira Gandhi was still the Prime Minister in August 1971 when the bill was again introduced in Parliament.
The 1971 legislation was never referred to any committee and it lapsed after the fifth Lok Sabha was dissolved.
The third attempt was made by the Janata Party under Morarji Desai. The bill presented to Parliament in July 1977 did not include the Prime Minister but allowed for MPs to be brought under its purview.
A joint select committee considered the bill and made recommendations, but the sixth Lok Sabha was dissolved soon after.
Under Rajiv Gandhi, the Lok Sabha took up the bill once again in 1985 and it was referred to a joint select committee. Later, the bill was withdrawn by the government. The government under VP Singh was the next to bring a Lokpal bill in the ninth Lok Sabha and it was sent to a parliamentary standing committee in 1989. But the bill lapsed due to dissolution of the lower house.
Again, the Third Front government under Deve Gowda introduced the bill in 1996 and the parliamentary standing committee submitted its recommendations in 1997 suggesting amendments to it. The bill again lapsed after the Lok Sabha was dissolved.
Vajpayee's National Democratic Alliance government introduced the bill twice, once during the 12th Lok Sabha and again in the 13th Lok Sabha.
Kiran Bedi's 'theatrics' on Ramlila stage
Even as there were frantic moves by the government and political parties to end Anna Hazare's fast, the theatrics of former Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi on stage gave a distasteful turn to the discourse and led many to wonder about the "real motives" of the anti-corruption campaigners. After a furious bout of flag-waving, Bedi, a leading light of Team Anna known as a no-nonsense and upright officer who was miffed at not being made Delhi police commissioner, decided to vent her ire on an MP who'd come to Ramlila Maidan.
"Ask him what he is going to do," she asked the crowd.
"They (the MPs) say one thing inside (Parliament) and another thing outside." And then, raising her pitch, she said, "They (the MPs) wear masks!" Then Bedi, to the great amusement of the crowd, proceeded to pull a scarf from the neck of a young activist on stage, wrapped her head with it like a 'ghunghat' (veil) and proceeded to mock MPs and their "double-faced utterances".
Chronology
1968: Lokpal bill was first presented before Parliament by the Indira Gandhi government,u00a0 but the House was dissolved soon after
1971: It was introduced by the Indira Gandhi government, but it met the same fate
1977: The bill was presented before Lok Sabha by the Murarji Desai government, but again the same thing happened
1985: The Rajiv Gandhi government brought the bill before Parliament. But he himself withdrew it later
1989: Prime Minister V P Singh also tried to pass the jinxed bill, his government also fell
1996: Deve Gowda governmentu00a0 brought it up only to see failure
1996-2009: The two BJP-led governments introduced the bill twice during its rule, but failed to get it passed
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