Lokpal talks not inclusive

Within two months of constitution of the joint drafting committee on Jan Lokpal Bill, a civil society group has termed deliberations as “non-inclusive” in a clear indication of growing dissent over the working of the committee.

Updated on: May 22, 2011, 24:50:26 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Within two months of constitution of the joint drafting committee on Jan Lokpal Bill, a civil society group has termed deliberations as “non-inclusive” in a clear indication of growing dissent over the working of the committee.

In a similar letter written to two co-chairpersons of the committee, finance minister Pranab Mukerjee and Shanti Bhushan, who represents civil society, the National Campaign for People’s Right To Information (NCPRI) said even though the committee has met thrice, there was no clarity regarding the process.

“Neither the minutes or the videography of the committee's meetings have been put in public domain,” said Venkatesh Nayak, co-convener of NCPRI and pointed out the mandate of the civil society members of the committee is to ensure "transparency" and "integrity" of the drafting process.

A 26-page critique of the bill version 2 was prepared by justice (retd) AP Shah and Nayak, which was presented to the civil society members of the committee but most of the recommendations have been ignored.

They wanted to keep judiciary out of the purview, were against scrapping of the Central Vigilance Commission and have a special procedure to investigate complaints against Prime Ministers.

“Neither our suggestions on the criminal justice system have been incorporated nor we have been given reasons for ignoring them,” Nayak said.

The letter highlighting the disappointment of the RTI campaigners who had sought information regarding terms of reference of the committee and the procedure adopted to prepare the draft of the bill.

They also wanted to know whether public consultations will be held as assured by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 9 with stakeholders before the cabinet considers the bill and the process for seeking public feedback.

“While the Jan Lokpal Bill may be the basis for discussion, the debate needs to be open and inclusive - not confined to negotiating agreement on the Jan Lokpal draft as already drafted,” NCPRI, having National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy, said in a statement.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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