Friday, August 26, 2011

Will The Lokpal Panel Agree On Prime Minister’s Inclusion?

Forgetting all the disagreements and ugly verbatim, the Lokpal drafting Panel will be meeting today in New Delhi to discuss the inclusion of Prime Minister and the higher judiciary under the armpit of Lokpal Bill. This happened to be seventh meeting of the 10 member committee. The process of drafting the bill has to be completed by the June 30 because this is the deadline given for the draft bill.

In the fifth meeting, there were sharp difference between the Team Anna Hazare and the team government regarding the inclusion of Prime Minister, higher judiciary and the acting MPs under the armpit of Lokpal and the sixth meeting was boycotted by the civil society members headed by Anna and gone for a one day long fasting. Now it is their seventh meeting and if the members will not be have a consensus on the inclusion of the PM, higher Judiciary and MPs, what will be the future of this Bill. Anna said to the government that differences could be resolved through dialogue and not through confrontation.

Anna has given a deadline for passing bill before 15th August or else he has threatened to start another round of sit-in protests at Red Fort, where the Prime Minister addresses the nation. The public at large wants to include PM, Higher Judiciary and MPs come under the armpit of Lokpal.

Update : June 15, 2011, 3:56 pm

The irreconcilable difference between the civil society activists and the ministers on Inclusion of Prime minister and the senior judges giving way for the drafting of two Lokpal Bill. The activists insist that for the Lokpal Bill to be effective, it must cover the Prime Minister and senior judges. The government disagrees.One will be drafted by the civil society activists and the other by the ministers in charge. Mr. Kejriwal accused that the government want to “kill Lokpal before it is born”.
If two Lokpal bills are submitted to the Cabinet for review on June 30, which one will be adopted?

Update : June 16, 2011, 6:18 pm

Situation is getting worse between the two Lokpal drafting committee members and their attitude is like they are parted for ever. One of the members of the Anna Hazare team, Kejriwal, made the remark that it is not Lokpal but a “Jokepal”.

Update : June 20, 2011, 5:16 pm

Today the Lokpal draft committee members met to discuss and solve the key issues but came out with different opinions. When the government team said their meeting with Anna was a “breakthrough” but the Anna team said it was “cordial”. In fact, both the teams couldn’t come to a consens

Update : June 20, 2011, 5:20 pm

Tomorrow again they will be meeting at 4.30 pm and hopefully they will be able to find a solution. Tomorrow’s meeting will be their 9th meeting on the same issue, of which Anna boycotted their 6th meeting.

Update : June 21, 2011, 2:28 pm

The final meeting on the Lokpal Bill has ended without any consensus. The key demands of the Team Anna regarding the inclusion of PM is still not resolved. Team Anna is very much disappointed over the days discussion

Update : July 28, 2011, 4:47 pm

The Lokpal bill has been cleared by the cabinet with the clause, which is more contradicted by the civil society members led by Anna Hazare, that exempting Prime Minister from the Lokpal armpit during his tenure. Most of the provisions in the cleared bill are recommended by the group of cabinet ministers rather than the draft submitted by the Anna Hazare led civil society members. The civil society group has referred the cleared bill as Dhokabill (cheating bill) rather than an anti-corruption bill.

Update : August 4, 2011, 5:22 pm

As the government introduced the Lokpal Bill in parliament, Anna Hazare set a copy on fire in Ralegan in Maharashtra. Mr Hazare’s act, in turn, was characterized by the government as “an insult to Parliament.” When Anna was protesting in Ralegan, his supporters Arvind Kejrival, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi led the protest in Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi area in Ghaziabad, a satellite town of Delhi.

Update : August 22, 2011, 11:19 am

Bhaiyyu Maharaj has been appointed as the negotiator to solve the stress between the Team Anna and the Government on the Lokpal issue but Anna is very adamant and made it very clear that he wants PM, Rahul or senior ministers as the negotiator. Anna who is on his 7th day of his indefinite hunger strike lost 5 kilos. Anna’s close aide and one the advisors Kiran Bedi, tweeted “”Let govt come forward… Let PM send his representatives. Any negotiations are rumours.”

Update : August 23, 2011, 1:17 pm

A major breakthrough in the week long standoff between the team Anna and Government. PM has written to Anna requesting him to stop fasting and appointed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to be negotiator between Team Anna and Government. When Anna entered the eighth day his sit-in indefinite hunger strike at Ramlila Maidan demanding for a strong Lokpal, lost 5.5 Kg weight and he said he lost only 5.5 kg and not the fighting spirit.

Update : August 24, 2011, 6:09 pm

The talks between the Team Anna and the Government reached nowhere and according to Anna’s close aides Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal, the language used by the ministers was less conciliatory than yesterday. When Anna’s hunger strike is almost reaching the 10th day, government’s attitude shows that it is more worried about his health and not about the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Update : August 25, 2011, 1:33 pm

A ray of hope developed between the Team Anna and the Government on the Jan Lokpal Bill. When PM requested Anna to end his indefinite hunger strike, he said he is willing to do so if there is a consensus on the three issues raised by the Team Anna and his protest will continue against corruption. PM promised Anna his party’s Vilasrao Deshmukh, two time chief minister of Maharashtra to meet Anna at his protest camp and convey that a debate in Parliament can begin tomorrow on all versions of the Lokpal Bill. The three contentious points of Team Anna are: First, the Lokpal -a new independent agency to investigate corruption – must be allowed to cover junior bureaucrats so that graft is combatted “from the villages to our ministries.” The second is that the Lokpal Act must be introduced not just at the Centre but in states. Finally, he wants government departments to adopt a citizen’s charter that would punish officials for under-performance.

Forgetting all the disagreements and ugly verbatim, the Lokpal drafting Panel will be meeting today in New Delhi to discuss the inclusion of Prime Minister and the higher judiciary under the armpit of Lokpal Bill. This happened to be seventh meeting of the 10 member committee. The process of drafting the bill has to be completed by the June 30 because this is the deadline given for the draft bill.

In the fifth meeting, there were sharp difference between the Team Anna Hazare and the team government regarding the inclusion of Prime Minister, higher judiciary and the acting MPs under the armpit of Lokpal and the sixth meeting was boycotted by the civil society members headed by Anna and gone for a one day long fasting. Now it is their seventh meeting and if the members will not be have a consensus on the inclusion of the PM, higher Judiciary and MPs, what will be the future of this Bill. Anna said to the government that differences could be resolved through dialogue and not through confrontation.

Anna has given a deadline for passing bill before 15th August or else he has threatened to start another round of sit-in protests at Red Fort, where the Prime Minister addresses the nation. The public at large wants to include PM, Higher Judiciary and MPs come under the armpit of Lokpal.

Update : June 15, 2011, 3:56 pm

The irreconcilable difference between the civil society activists and the ministers on Inclusion of Prime minister and the senior judges giving way for the drafting of two Lokpal Bill. The activists insist that for the Lokpal Bill to be effective, it must cover the Prime Minister and senior judges. The government disagrees.One will be drafted by the civil society activists and the other by the ministers in charge. Mr. Kejriwal accused that the government want to “kill Lokpal before it is born”.
If two Lokpal bills are submitted to the Cabinet for review on June 30, which one will be adopted?

Update : June 16, 2011, 6:18 pm

Situation is getting worse between the two Lokpal drafting committee members and their attitude is like they are parted for ever. One of the members of the Anna Hazare team, Kejriwal, made the remark that it is not Lokpal but a “Jokepal”.

Update : June 20, 2011, 5:16 pm

Today the Lokpal draft committee members met to discuss and solve the key issues but came out with different opinions. When the government team said their meeting with Anna was a “breakthrough” but the Anna team said it was “cordial”. In fact, both the teams couldn’t come to a consens

Update : June 20, 2011, 5:20 pm

Tomorrow again they will be meeting at 4.30 pm and hopefully they will be able to find a solution. Tomorrow’s meeting will be their 9th meeting on the same issue, of which Anna boycotted their 6th meeting.

Update : June 21, 2011, 2:28 pm

The final meeting on the Lokpal Bill has ended without any consensus. The key demands of the Team Anna regarding the inclusion of PM is still not resolved. Team Anna is very much disappointed over the days discussion

Update : July 28, 2011, 4:47 pm

The Lokpal bill has been cleared by the cabinet with the clause, which is more contradicted by the civil society members led by Anna Hazare, that exempting Prime Minister from the Lokpal armpit during his tenure. Most of the provisions in the cleared bill are recommended by the group of cabinet ministers rather than the draft submitted by the Anna Hazare led civil society members. The civil society group has referred the cleared bill as Dhokabill (cheating bill) rather than an anti-corruption bill.

Update : August 4, 2011, 5:22 pm

As the government introduced the Lokpal Bill in parliament, Anna Hazare set a copy on fire in Ralegan in Maharashtra. Mr Hazare’s act, in turn, was characterized by the government as “an insult to Parliament.” When Anna was protesting in Ralegan, his supporters Arvind Kejrival, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi led the protest in Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi area in Ghaziabad, a satellite town of Delhi.

Update : August 22, 2011, 11:19 am

Bhaiyyu Maharaj has been appointed as the negotiator to solve the stress between the Team Anna and the Government on the Lokpal issue but Anna is very adamant and made it very clear that he wants PM, Rahul or senior ministers as the negotiator. Anna who is on his 7th day of his indefinite hunger strike lost 5 kilos. Anna’s close aide and one the advisors Kiran Bedi, tweeted “”Let govt come forward… Let PM send his representatives. Any negotiations are rumours.”

Update : August 23, 2011, 1:17 pm

A major breakthrough in the week long standoff between the team Anna and Government. PM has written to Anna requesting him to stop fasting and appointed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to be negotiator between Team Anna and Government. When Anna entered the eighth day his sit-in indefinite hunger strike at Ramlila Maidan demanding for a strong Lokpal, lost 5.5 Kg weight and he said he lost only 5.5 kg and not the fighting spirit.

Update : August 24, 2011, 6:09 pm

The talks between the Team Anna and the Government reached nowhere and according to Anna’s close aides Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal, the language used by the ministers was less conciliatory than yesterday. When Anna’s hunger strike is almost reaching the 10th day, government’s attitude shows that it is more worried about his health and not about the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Update : August 25, 2011, 1:33 pm

A ray of hope developed between the Team Anna and the Government on the Jan Lokpal Bill. When PM requested Anna to end his indefinite hunger strike, he said he is willing to do so if there is a consensus on the three issues raised by the Team Anna and his protest will continue against corruption. PM promised Anna his party’s Vilasrao Deshmukh, two time chief minister of Maharashtra to meet Anna at his protest camp and convey that a debate in Parliament can begin tomorrow on all versions of the Lokpal Bill. The three contentious points of Team Anna are: First, the Lokpal -a new independent agency to investigate corruption – must be allowed to cover junior bureaucrats so that graft is combatted “from the villages to our ministries.” The second is that the Lokpal Act must be introduced not just at the Centre but in states. Finally, he wants government departments to adopt a citizen’s charter that would punish officials for under-performance.

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