CAN THIS GOVERNMENT REALLY ENACT A GENUINE LOK PAL ACT?

Manmohan Singh’s Government is facing a real difficult situation. It is bewildered, ans clueless. Sandwiched between the public pressure generated by Anna Hazare and others on the one hand and its compulsions to protect the business and corporate interests on the other it is compelled to take a stand on Lok Pal Bill. It can not say no to enactment of the bill. But it can not enact a really effective bill.
Since the initiation of the policy of globalization and liberalization we have seen successive governments both at the Center and the state levels have overtly promoted the interests of business and corporate houses at the cost of common Indian people. The interests of business and corporate houses are also linked with corruption in India. There is hardly any MNC in the country who does not take recourse to corrupt practices. We know that Union Carbide in Bhopal was flouting all safety rules in operating its plant and when one of the worst industrial accidents took place the top functionaries of Union Carbide were protected by every body any body who mattered in the system. With the passage of time Governments did change but the protection shield to Union Carbide did not change. Same type protection is being extended to its successor now. Even the judiciary did not protect the victims. The same story is being repeated again and again. It might be doling out of tribal land and precious forest and mineral wealth in Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, or snatching fertile agricultural land from farmers in U.P. Maharashtra etc. of putting the existence of fishermen in danger in Jaitapur. None of the branches of government dare to protect the interest of the people. In promoting the interests of the business and corporate houses, the government and administrations of the certre and the states is flouting its own rules both at the level of formulating and implementing policy. If our bureaucrats were honest they would have resisted both the formulation of this kind of anti people policy and its implementation.
In the nutshell the vested interest would see to it that the process of lok pal bill is scuttled. That is why the Congress has from day one started attacking the key figures spearheading the movement. Now the five ministers have started explaining how impractical and unconstitutional is the bill proposed by these people. What are the credentials of these five ministers? Do they have any roots among those who are worst victims of the policies followed by the governments under the pressure of business and corporate interests? Do they know how to protect the common people who are victims of corruption?They only know how to protect the interests of business and corporate houses. It is these poor people whom Rahul Gandhi calls Bharat. Does he stand for their rights ? No. Otherwise, he would have been in Orissa opposing POSCO. He goes and meets the affected people selectively to get political mileage out of their suffering.
It seems that in the Congress Party there is a clear division of roles. The government is busy protecting and promoting interests of the business and corporate houses. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi provide the human face. They tell the people about the packages given by their government to peoples belonging to different strata of society. Rahul Gandhi is very fond of telling the people ruled by opposition parties that the central government is sending huge amounts of money for them . But the state government is not disbursing it. This was probably the arrangement to which Manmohan Singh referred to development with human face.
Now on the vital issue of lok pal they both are quiet. Because, the packages also benefit the vested interests at home and abroad. The funds meant for poor go in the pockets of local vested interest which uses it to buy motorcycles, cars and other gadgets. Thus rural, semi- urban and urban India becomes a good market for the MNCs. Had the money meant to provide food, employment, education, houses and health to the poor reached the stake holders than the villages, small towns would not have been a good market for the business and corporate houses . Manmohan Singh’s package for the farmers of Vidarva did not reach them and the farmers’ suicide rate has remained unabated. Both the central government and the state government thereafter did not show much concern for these hapless people. Reports say corruption is one of the causes of this malaise. And it is because of this corruption spurious seeds, pesticides and fertilizers could be sold to hapless farmers.