Straight Talk: Candour on Corruption
On August 24 2011, ipaidabribe.com, a Janaagraha initiative, launched a new concept called Straight Talk - `Candour on Corruption', a Round Table discussion on the hot topic of the day – the Lokpal Bill and the current citizens movement taking shape across the country.
Since ipaidabribe.com works towards tackling corruption by harnessing the collective energy of citizens, this concept intends to bring on ground various perspectives and opinions with regard to the corruption debate. Guests at the Round Table discussion included prominent city journalists, Anil Padmanabhan from The Mint, E Raghavan from Vijay Karnataka, Neena Gopal from Deccan Chronicle, civil society activist, Nikhil De of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan and former Lokayukta for Karnataka State, Justice Santosh Hegde, who met for an intense, spirited discussion on ‘Life after Lokpal’. The discussion was anchored by Ramesh Ramanathan, Co-Founder, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy.
The discussion primarily centred on the Lokpal Bill and its development into an institutional framework or design meant to tackle corruption. Justice Hegde shared his intimate knowledge of the Lokpal Bill with the panelists, who then deliberated over the proposed law and its efficacy in mitigating Big ticket scams, while raising doubts on whether it would be able to tackle transactional scams, popularly called retail corruption’. The panelists also shared their views on how the Lokpal Bill is just one part of a larger political process, and examined the need to create a parallel set of institutions or strengthen the existing ones to bring about positive change.
Myriad questions, from the need to have a multi-institutional structure for national and grassroots level to the need for more reforms and disintermediation were also debated and analysed. The recent turn of events have brought the entire nation together in action against corruption; sustaining the same momentum and channelizing the movement beyond the Lokpal were key points addressed in the session. Electoral reforms and political mobilisation were then offered as some of the ways through which systemic change could be initiated and sustained.
The discussion ended with the thought that though the Jan Lokpal Bill is certainly a way forward, it requires sustained efforts and parallel reforms in other areas to fight corruption.
(The video of the discussion will be uploaded soon. Watch this space!)