1. Find out about the draft of LOKPAL BILL. How far do u think it would be useful for checking corruption?
Lok Pal Bill which is an anti corruption bill and provides for an independent body to investigate corruption related cases within a stipulated time. The Bill seeks to provide for the office of Lok Pal at the Centre and Lokayukta at the state level who will prosecute corruption tainted politicians and bureaucrats. Some of its provisions are:
a. Lokpal shall consists of a chairperson and a maximum of eight members, of which 50 % shall be judicial members.
b. 50 % of members of Lokpal shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women.
c. The selection of chairperson and members of Lokpal shall be through a selection committee consisting of Prime Minister, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India or a sitting Supreme Court judge nominated by CJI, eminent jurist to be nominated by the President of India on the basis of recommendations of the first four members of the selection committee.
d. Lokpal’s jurisdiction will cover all categories of public servants, the office of Prime Minister has been brought under the purview of the Lokpal
Lok Pal is an attempt to make our system more responsive to the needs of the people. It seeks to make our system more transparent in its functioning and more accountable. We need an independent investigative agency to keep an eye on the government which is free from government influence. It seeks to serve the following purposes:
a. Lok pal will deal with corruption related cases.
b. It provides for investigation within a time frame.
c. It is an effort to clean the system, to omit corruption,
d. To make government transparent .
e. To ensure participation of the people in the system.
f. To strive for good governance.
It is the money of the exchequer which is used for providing services, and it is this money only which is accumulated by the politicians and the bureaucrats, to make sure that our money is being used in the right direction and in providing utilities we have to keep an eye on the system, Lok pal is one such endeavour.