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India Against Corruption

We want to thank you all for the tremendous support you have shown to India Society's contribution to the India Against Corruption campaign. You may find more information on the campaign and the steps we have taken below.

Our Input
CUIS started the campaign by drafting letters to the Hon'ble Prime Minister and Anna Hazare voicing our support for the Bill and the movement happening in India. We decided to hold a fast in support of Anna Hazare's fast and a meeting at Queens' College on Sunday 10 April 2011 to discuss and debate the various features of the Jan Lokpal Bill draft and the drafted letters.

On Saturday 9 April, the Government issued a gazette notification constituting a Joint Drafting Committee to draft an effective Lokpal Bill and Anna Hazare broke his fast of over 90 hours. We called off the fast but proceeded with our meeting the following day which was a great success. From this, it was decided to draft a letter to the Joint Drafting Committee which had been set up by the Government of India, headed by the Hon'ble Finance Minister of India - Shri Pranab Mukherjee, to commit ourselves to see the process of setting up an effective anti-corruption law through to the end in light of recent progress in the campaign

We circulated these letters and had over 70 signatures of support before the letters were sent. The letter discussing the details of the Jan Lokpal Bill draft was sent to both the co-chairs of the Joint Drafting Committee, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee and Mr. Shanti Bhushan, and copied to the India Against Corruption campaign.

Final letter to the Hon'ble Prime Minister

Final letter to Anna Hazare

Final letter to the Joint Drafting Committee

Our involvement in this campaign was covered by Cambridge First weekly newspaper and online on Wednesday 13 April. The article can be found HERE.

India Society will continue to track this issue of national importance, and we trust we will continue to have your inputs, your opinions and your involvement with regard to this important Bill which is likely to make an impactful difference to every single one of us.

What is the India Against Corruption campaign?
The existence of corruption in Indian governance is not a revelation. Yet, seldom do people indulging in corruption get fairly tried and rarer still does a corrupt individual get the deserved punishment. Rampant unchecked corruption at all levels in society signals towards the fact that anti-corruption laws in India are weak and ineffective and neither deter nor punish corruption. The Lokpal Bill has been introduced eight times in Parliament since 1968 but not even one has ever been passed. Lokpal, literally meaning 'protector of the people', is an institution that will act as an ombudsman. The India Against Corruption campaign was started by eminent and outstanding Indians including Anna Hazare, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Mahamood Madani, Archbishop Vincent Concessao, Kiran Bedi and significant others to persuade the Government to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill which might act as an effective deterrent against corruption.

Anna Hazare, a prominent social activist (for inspiring information on Anna Hazare's life and works, see http://www.annahazare.org/), launched a fast unto death on April 5th 2011 in support of the Jan Lokpal Bill and called upon the nation to join this collective protest against corruption and demand for immediate action (see http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/). On Saturday 9th April 2011, Anna Hazare broke his fast after over 90 hours of spearheading the campaign against corruption after the Government issued a gazette notification constituting a 10-member joint committee of ministers and civil society activists, including him, to draft an effective Lokpal Bill.

What does the Jan Lokpal Bill propose?
The Bill proposes to have a Lokpal at the centre, which will be independent of government interference akin to the Kudiaciary and Election Commission. Investigation on corruption cases will be mandatorily completed within one year and trial within the following year. The members of Lokpal will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities through a completely transparent and participatory process. Loss caused to the government due to the act of corruption shall be recovered at the time of conviction of the guilty.