Lokpal – A political DRAMA

Lokpal – A political DRAMA

   Lokpal means an ‘ombudsman’ in India. The concept of Lokpal has been drawn up to root out the corruption at all levels in the prevailing Indian polity. The basic idea of the Lokpal is borrowed from the Scandinavian and other nations where it has played an effective role in checking corruption.

     In early 1960s, mounting corruption in public administration set the winds blowing in favour of an Ombudsman in India too.

The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) set up in 1966 recommended the constitution of two-tier machinery - of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta in the states.

   The Lokpal Bill is a proposed anticorruption law designed to effectively stop corruption, redress grievances and protect whistleblowers. The law would create an ombudsman called the Lokpal. This would be an independent body with the power to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without prior government permission.

  For 42 years, the government-drafted bill has failed to pass the Rajya Sabha.The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha, in 1969 but stalled in the Rajya Sabha. Subsequent Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008 but all failed to pass.

  The present scenario of this much awaited Lokpal Bill is - The Lokpal Bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha but again it is lying on the tables of the Rajya Sabha.

  Observing the developments that took place for the last few days, it can be assured that no politician or political party wants Lokpal. The politicians are just acting to please the electorates (people) of India. After seeing the success of anti-corruption movement leaded by Anna Hazare and his team, the politicians came to know that large population of India is against the growing corruption in the country. And the politicians wanted to show that they are working for the welfare of the people, so they decided to utilize the present moment as their political strategy. The ruling UPA govt decided to draft the Lokpal Bill with the civil society members to please the people and on the other hand the opposition parties started blaming the UPA govt for drafting a weak Lokpal Bill. All the actions of the parties were done with an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections in the 5 states, mainly Uttar Pradesh.

  So it is no longer about the Lokpal or fighting corruption. It is all about POLITICS.

  The Congress wants to get the credit for passing the Bill in Lok Sabha and blame the opposition, especially BJP, for not voting in favour of the Bill. The BJP does not want the Congress to take the credit of passing the Lokpal Bill.

  So, one thing is sure, that no party wants the Lokpal. It is for the simple reason that the prevailing corruption today is at large scale in politicians. So they don’t want to get them jailed by themselves. Even if setting of Lokpal becomes true, it will NOT be a Strong one to punish the politicians.   

   According to me, the 2 main drawbacks of the present Lokpal Bill which is passed by Lok Sabha are:

(1)            The Selection Committee Composition

                  The Selection Committee of the Lokpal consists of 5 members – the PM, the Speaker of Lok Sabha, an eminent jurist appointed by the President, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and CJI or a Supreme Court judge nominated by CJI.

     From the 5 members of the above, the majority is with the ruling govt i.e, first 3 out of 5 will be of ruling party and thus it is not suitable to select a Lokpal who is unbiased. The ruling govt may select the Lokpal of its choice.

(2)             Investigation of cases

     The present Bill denies the investigative role of the Lokpal. The Lokpal has to refer its cases to CBI for investigation and we know there exists the political control of the govt over CBI. Thus the investigation of the cases may be controlled by the govt.

 Keeping aside all these, let us HOPE for a STRONG and INDEPENDENT  LOKPAL.

Need For Nuclear Power In INDIA

     INDIA is growing rapidly. In recent years its economy has increased at more than 7 percent per year, and many analysts believe that India will grow even faster in the coming decade. India is presently ascending the ladder of development. India is a still a ‘Developing’ country and a lot is to be done before India has to become a ‘Developed’ country. There is a relation between the Energy consumption of a country and the Development of that country. Every step into progress comes with the increase in demand for the energy. So ‘Energy’ is the most needed for the development of the country. Once the country reaches a relative degree of development, then the demand for energy becomes more stable.

  Many developed nations consume larger quantity of energy. In USA, the per capita energy consumption is 15 times that in India. In this sense India needs to increase its energy production at the earliest. The main way to improve its energy production is with nuclear power generation.

  Many are of conclusion that nuclear power generation is dangerous as they think it has adverse effects on environment and people living in the vicinity of the nuclear plant. Now let us see some details about thermal plant in India - India is spending about $100 billion annually on import of coal and petroleum, besides this huge amount of spending we are indirectly importing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. These gases are hazardous to the environment and the human health. If we rely only on thermal production of energy then it is estimated that the import of coal and petroleum will increase exponentially, thus leading to more spending of money as well as causing the reason for the hazardous effects caused by the greenhouse gases. According to WHO the pollution caused by thermal power generations and climatic changes associated with it are directly or indirectly responsible for death of about a million of people every year across the world. Moreover the fossil fuels are depleting at a faster rate and they are in scarcity. So it is meaningless to completely depend on coal and petroleum as a source for energy production.

  Nuclear power is superior in its energy density and economic benefits. The energy that can be generated by 10000 tonnes of coal can be generated by using 500 kg of uranium. Now let us see the comparison between a Coal plant and a Nuclear plant -

 In the past some nuclear accidents have taken place, but the major accidents were only four- the Kyshtym accident in 1957, the Three Mile Island meltdown, the Chernobyl accident in 1986 and the most recent Fukushima incident (Japan) in 2011.

If we examine the reasons for these accidents then, the first incident was due to lack of technology and the next two are due to more of human error. But the Fukushima incident is due to natural forces in action- earthquake and tsunami. The above incidents show that the technology has to be better and the plant design has to be more stable. But a failure of four plants in six decades should not be viewed as a complete ban on nuclear power. Instead we should learn from the past and evolve to minimize such accidents in the future – ‘Improvement should be our next step and not Escapism’.

Now let’s see some good and bad about Nuclear power-

How is nuclear energy good?
1. Fission is the most energy for the least fuel with current technology.
2. Less fuel means less waste, and the waste is all accounted for, not released into the atmosphere to become someone else's problem.
3. Uranium is readily available, very common in the earth's crust.

4. Economical - operating cost about the same as coal, fuel cost is a much    smaller percentage of the total, therefore less susceptible to price fluctuations.
5. Reliable - Nuclear power plants have very high capacity factors.
6. No combustion, no Co, CO2 or SO2 released.
7. Creates high paying, skilled jobs.
8. Reduce dependence on foreign oil/ fuel.
9. High temperature reactors could produce Hydrogen as well as electricity.

How is it bad?
1. Irrational fear of all things nuclear.
2. High cost to build and license, large initial investment for long term pay        back.
3. Publicly accepted high level storage facility not domestically available.
4. Reprocessing facility not domestically available.
5. Security concerns

So, whether the Nuclear Power is safe are not? This statement is debatable, but one thing is sure, with the ‘present day technology’ the risks arising from nuclear accidents can be minimized to a greater extent. And also as a need for more Energy in the country, India should go for Nuclear Power Generation as it has left with no alternatives that can replace the nuclear power completely.