The dawn of 2012 looks very much like the dawn of 2011. A year ago, it seemed as if corruption was here to stay, as if “We, the People” didn’t care about the scams and scandals, as if there was nobody to take the lead, as if the political and bureaucratic class was united in its efforts to stall any form of institutional mechanism to bring the corrupt to book, etc.
If someone has just woken up from a year-long coma, it would seem as if nothing has moved or changed.
Except that “We, the People” did care; except that somebody did stand up; except that the nation went through an anti-corruption movement thrice if not four times; except that the government and the opposition successfully stymied every effort to put in place a “strong and effective” Lok Pal; except that the house of the people was used to mock the wish of the people.
But there is also one key difference. Thanks to a cynical year-long smear campaign aided by pro-establishment sections of the media—and the foolhardy partisanship of India Against Corruption which turned the campaign into India Against Congress Corruption—the crusaders now stand as discredited as the crooked and the corrupt they sought to bring in line. And the long and tiring attempt to draft the legislation now seems to have taken the wind out of the anti-corruption sails and public interest in it, as can be evidenced by the meek reception in Bombay.
With last week’s televised theatrics by the “people’s representatives” in the Lok Sabha and the “states’ representatives” in the Rajya Sabha, a big question mark hangs over the battle against corruption. Will Anna Hazare‘s campaign ever regain the same amount of attention? Will corruption as an issue ever gain the same kind of traction? Will Lok Pal ever see the light of day? Or, is corruption as an issue dead and buried unless something truly mammoth and dramatic happens?
Also read: CHURUMURI POLL: Has UPA fooled the people on Lok Pal?
CHURUMURI POLL: Citizens above Parliament?
How The Times of India pumped up Team Anna
UPA’s Hazare cock-up in 179 simple words
CHURUMURI POLL: Should PM be under Lok Pal?
churumuri 
Anna’s campaign is not dead. But, IAC needs to plan its move a bit more rationally instead of making frequent agitations. To be effective, criticism and opposition should not be continuous, but it should be consistent and periodic.
Instead of repeated fasts, threat of campaign against any individual MP, who opposes a independent Investigation & Prosecution agency can be more effective. That opposition shouldn’t be on party lines.
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Q.: Is Indian Media’s inner conscience dead ?
A.: Yes
As long as Congress bribes Indian Media with Ads, paid articles, funding, help in tax evasion, stock manipulation etc.. Anna – Ramdev SriSri Swamy.. all are dead.
BUT.
There is hope, it took almost half a century since the time likes of Bal Gangadhar Tilak started fighting for swaraj.
Gandhi hoped for India to achieve swaraj by 30s, took two more decades.
What I am trying to explain is that, Congress-Elites-Media who think they have defeated this movement.. they are no different from Britishers.
Colonialists thought they had defeated Tilak because he died long before he could achieve Swaraj.
Colonialists thought they had defeated Gandhi as he couldn’t achieve Swaraj by 1930.
So, no matter what. Even if Anna dies. Ramdev dies. We know what WILL happen.
At least Colonialists had some place to go when India achieved Swaraj, but what about those who have taken the role of Britishers ?
Where will they go ?
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India against corruption campaign by anna hazare and team has reached a dead end. A golden oppurtunity to bring about a change in the political system has been wasted. Reasons for the campaign loosing steam are many, a)team anna deciding to anti-congress in hisar bypoll.b)dictatorial diatribes of kejriwal and kiran bedi. C) thirst for excessive publicity and cheap fame. D) probably kejriwal and kiran bedi were too very inspired by arab uprising in the middle east and wanted to hatch a coup in india. E) their bjp-rss links beceme too very obvious. F) team anna tried to ignore corruption by bjp-rss and corporates . But the most pathetic incident of the entire campaign was the ghoonghat act by kiran bedi, those images were even worse than yeddyurappa crying or renukacharya dancing. I wholeheartedly congratulate hard working citizens of mumbai for showing team anna their rightful place.
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Team Anna should not have taken the movement on an “anti-Congress” angle. That alone has cost them millions of supporters.
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Yes, It completely dead, When government introduce lokpal bill in parliament at that moment intention of people fulfilled .Now no one hear what Anna say.people will not turn up to him because .newness of his agitation finished
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Anna’s campaign at year-end didn’t work because,
1) Timing
1st campaign was between World Cup & IPL. 2nd was in August, when no major event was happening. But year-end campaign coincided with holiday season. I guess not many want to forgo their holidays.
Next time, Anna’s team must find 15 day window when no major event, festival or holiday is scheduled.
2) Venue
Mumbai is business city. Time means money, unlike Delhi where there are plenty of people with time.
Anna must take the campaign back to Delhi.
3) Focus
Anna’s focus must be on corruption. But the main focus seem to be on Congress. Anna’s campaign is sounding like anti-congress campaign. Hence not many people want to support such a campaign.
Anna must focus on corruption only.
4) Leader
It seems Kejriwal, Bedi, Bhushan et al are carving out niche for themselves. People don’t believe them. People believe only Anna.
So project that Anna is the sole leader & only leader. Rest are just followers.
5) Vision
Anna & team must look beyond Lokpal. LokaAyuktha has not reduced corruption in Karnataka. How Lokpal will reduce corruption.
Anna & team must explain how Lokpal will reduce corruption and what are the threats & weakness of Lokpal.
~*~
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The cult of congress and the dishonest media have managed to fool the people to believe that Anna’s agitation is actually an ‘anti-Congress’ campaign !! The repeated clarifications from Team Anna and their honest approach were totally ignored by the media and journalists.
It was only logical for Team Anna to target the ‘mother ship’ of corruption at Central govt. He didn’t have energy or bandwidth to target every corrupt state govt. Also, it doesn’t unite people at national level. It is much easier for a guy from Bangalore to associate himself with Central govt than Assam state politics.
Diggy Raaja, ‘zero loss’ Kapil Sibal and all thoese cronies from Congress were given a clean chit for their disgusting attacks on Anna.
In my opinion, the campaign is dead at least for now. The negative campaign has done its damage and it will take a long time to recover from this loss. Next time, you complian about bad infrastructure or corruption, don’t blame anyone but yourself for not standing upto the cult of congress and its cronies in media.
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The problem in India is we always look for who won and who lost, Anna’s effort was commendable in trying to remedy an evil. It is no joke to take on a powerful entity like our politicians with meager resources. That they came as far as they did is commendable. I think they still have a role to play. They must continue the pursuit of what they came out to pursue – elimination, reduction of corruption. I think it is also unfair to be unduly harsh about the mistakes made by the Anna team. They were as inexperienced going into this as each one of us but did far more than each of us in trying to bring about a change rather than just being armchair critics. We hope many will join the Anna team and support them in the quest in the future. The movement should not die. Rome wasn’t built in a day, Even if they merely alter how our institutions and politicians function for the better, they will have played a positive role for India.
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Corruption cannot be an issue in the elections. This was what makes the political parties adopt a cavalier attitude towards eradication of corruption. They provide only lip sympathy for the movement and do precisely nothing to contain it. All of them have large stakes in the corruption going on around. As a matter of fact every party has survived on black money and corruption and they are not expected to voluntarily tie their hands with strong laws. This was the rationale behind all the wishy washy discussion in the parliament, where the political parties went overboard to protect their own interest rather than wage was against corruptiom.
Anna Hazares are nothing but symbols of the conscience of the people who are worried about the happennings. They just flicker and go away. But another Anna Hazare would emerge at a later date to carry on the struggle. The political class has a strategy to divert attention and denigrate them. Ultimately patience pays. We have to wait and there is no need to be pessimistic.
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No. Anna Hazare’s campaign will never be dead. It will be alive so long as corruption is there. It needs fine tuning. It is a movement against “adharma”, which will never die. The present setback is temporary, because of pressure by Goebbalsian propaganda by the ruling political class.
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Anna Hazare + Team Anna should remain totally non-partisan in their objectives and actual doings. It is since long time, we have in India a strong people’s voice for a very important worthwhile cause: India Again Corruption. I (probably many like me) still believe that Anna Hazare is indeed the right person to lead and continue the campaign and keep people inspired and motivated to fight against this malaise. Lokpal or no Lokpal, people together can certainly devise many simple techniques to fight corruption from the village level to the Delhi durbar.
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Indian media in collusion with Congress has tried to show that the Anna movement has failed. The low turnout at Mumbai gave them a good excuse. Anna and Baba Ramdev have fought the Government not an easy task in India. Baba Ramdev gets thousands of people assembled every day at 5 in the morning but media under UPA influence never reports. There are ups and downs but the movements are still relevant and will survive. The results of 5 poll bound states will show the reality.
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Hisar bypoll congress candidate lost badly , kejriwal and kiran bedi claimed credit for congress loss , but they chose to ignore the fact that the candidte who won there was more corrupt and criminal than the congress candidate. How can an indian citizen believe that only congress is corrupt and bjp,bsp jd u and rest are corrupt free. Regarding digvijay singh, he is a leader of great potential ,though people may feel he speaks too much, but what divijay had told at the begining of team anna movement has come true. Digvijay way well go onto become the chief trouble shooter for congress. I definitely feel digvijay singh has it in him to become another pranab mukherjee.
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You cannot sustain a political movement without going through the crucible of electoral politics. The elitist politics of Team Anna appeals only to the crowd who, like them, do not want to get their hands dirty.
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It is difficult to take on any powerful and clever Establishment, unless it is a mass movement and has strong and clear support by political parties. It was not a movement in the real sense but only a campaign by a not so cohesive group. Though people went along Anna Hazare, the group perhaps had different outlook, views, agenda, ways and methods.
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@N Gulati,
it will be interesting to see what effect Baba ramdev will have on UP elections
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>You cannot sustain a political movement without going through the crucible of electoral politics.
Sarkari jholawalas are always avialible for a pavva of old monk to offer intellectual sounding useless theory. If I don’t get water in my colony, instead of protesting in front of Corporation I should contset corporation elections.
>The elitist politics of Team Anna appeals only to the crowd who, like them, do not want to get their hands dirty.
Whats elitist about Annas campaign? Whats wrong if people want to keep their hands clean? don’t you think its good for the general hygiene of the country.
This is not a protest for gaining some private/group benefit. Methods & demands may be right or may be wrong. But this protest is not for personal gain, lets at least have the decency of recognizing the idealism which is there in the movement.
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looking at the amount of time and space devoted in the Indian media to Anna Drama Company, and next to nothing devoted to covering the 2G scam, the cynic in me wonders if ‘Anna Kalavidaru’ is just another Congress-orchestrated ploy to distract from the more embarrassing issues. One can only wonder.
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DailyBread,
Without claiming to speak for Twistleton, I think it is easy to see his point. As soon as Mr Anna Hazare got involved in politics (Hissar and even before that via his/his team’s statements), his movement took on a political tone. And I’m not sure there have been any political movements which were sustained outside of electoral politics other than in dictatorships and totalitarian states. Please cite any you may be aware of, it will add value to the debate.
Not getting water is a civic issue. No need to contest elections to set that problem right. Protesting in front of Corporation is a good technique.
The movement was/is elitist. They were basically saying, “We know what is best for the nation – the Jan Lok Pal”. And a group that managed to gather only 1.75 lakh people for its Jail Bharo movement cannot claim to speak for the nation.
As for idealism, even if there was an iota of it in the beginning, it was soon drowned in a sea of inflated egos, hurt egos, stubbornness, hubris, elitism. As the Mumbai High Court noted, what Mr Hazare and team consider Satyagraha may be considered by others as Nuisance (Court raps Team Anna, rejects plea over MMRDA ground).
Also, one shouldn’t be pointing the fingers at pro-establishment sections of the media for targeting Mr Hazare’s team, without also acknowledging that Mr Hazare in all his faux Gandhian garb was foisted on the nation by a pro-Mr Hazare section of the media. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander.
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DailyBread, if you don’t like electoral politics, migrate. That is if you have not already done so. If you are by design or default are sticking to India, then I suggest you read, every morning, Dr. Ambedkar’s Grammar of Anarchy speech. That should be your daily bread.
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It is surprising that people compare Anna to Gandhi.
Well before his team started mobilizing mass action, Gandhi laid out his thoughts on paper, in speeches and interactions with his people and his adversaries. When the masses were moved to action it was clear to the followers what was going on and what was to be gained.
It is not clear what Anna wants or what the lokpal bill that his team is pushing for will accomplish. Cant see what this bill will do, other than adding another layer of bureaucracy and inefficiency?
Mere anger against the establishment by itself is of limited use. There is nothing to be excited about the Lokpal Bill, which in its scope it does not compare even to an idea like NREGA in terms of impact it will have on our lives.
Team Anna should do something constructive or move on. This is a fight for another day, led by younger and more intelligent leaders – not a well meaning but out of depth person like Anna Hazare or a corrupt joker like Baba Ramdev.
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PDK,
I have very high respect for your opinions, even though I don’t agree with many of them :)
>not getting water is a civic issue.
Corruption free delivary of government services & governance free of corruption are also civic issues. By asking people to jump into electoral politics you are strengthening the hands of politicians. By arguing like this we will be foreclosing our right to create any pressure group outside of electoral politics arena. Sir, think about this…
>a group that managed to gather only 1.75 lakh people for its Jail Bharo movement
I did not know about these numbers. I am surprised and 1.75 lakh people signing up for Jail Bharo, mind you Jail Bharo is a huge huge number in today’s India. Again, please remember no personal benefits for people who are ready to got to jail.
>it was soon drowned in a sea of inflated egos, hurt egos, stubbornness, hubris, elitism.
Sir, its a rag tag team, without any command & control structure. And it behaves like any other rag tag team……
>one shouldn’t be pointing the fingers at pro-establishment sections of the media for targeting Mr Hazare’s team
Media is not critiquing from sidelines, it is a willing participant in the hit job being carried out on Anna Team.
PS: Usual disclosures apply.
*********
Arun,
Lol, Ayatollahs of Grammar, its time to wake up and take a serious look at the various peaceful non political civilian movements happening around the country.
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@Arun, what @DailyBread wants is exactly what Ambedkar says in the famous ‘Grammar of Anarchy’ speech.
Speech text here: http://pragati.nationalinterest.in/2010/08/the-grammar-of-anarchy/
I don’t understand where is the conflict.
~*~
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DailyBread,
I’m a firm believer in protests to influence policy making – local and non-local. Voting once in five years is not much of democracy. We should be taking to the streets in big numbers since that is one thing that will get the politicians’ attention. The latter need to realise that they should involve people in the very process of policy-making, without requiring them to get elected first.
On that basis, I too supported the idea of the August protest. But the problem being discussed here with the IAC-powered movement is that it became a political one along the way, though it started off, on the face of it, as apolitical. Once the movement became political, it is justified to put it to the ultimate political test – electoral politics. Of course, there were other issues with the movement, but they’re not relevant here.
MKSS and NCPRI as I’m sure you are aware, are working silently at the grassroots at influencing policy without getting political. I don’t expect them to get elected to do so. They don’t insist on their suggested legislation be passed as is.
My point in bringing up the 1.75 lakh jail bharo-ready people (http://www.jailchalo.com) is that it is a tiny, tiny fraction of the total Indian population and as such not eligible to claim that the ‘entire nation’ is behind them.
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Nastika,
???
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PDK,
>We should be taking to the streets in big numbers since that is one thing that will get the politicians’ attention.
Thats what Anna is doing. Why bring in sanctimonious advise to contest elections & drag Ambedkar where it is not required.
>Once the movement became political,
Are you suggesting tilting at windmills. The mukhiya/mayor/pant pradhan are always the target of a protest.
>They don’t insist on their suggested legislation be passed as is.
Disappointed with this statement coming from you. There are dangerous legislations like Food Security Bill, NAREGA, Right to Education, communal voilence bill, etc., proposed by these folks.On this, where is the debate,where is the rage on internet, where are the op-eds, where are the TV studio discussions and where are the hit jobs.
>1.75 lakh jail bharo-ready people (http://www.jailchalo.com) is that it is a tiny, tiny fraction
Sir, 1.75 lakh people voluntarily signing up to go to jail is a big thing. It may be a tiny fraction of the population of the country, but how many movements can claim this kind of support.
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It’s the hubris that weakened the IAC movement. They started off well and brought corruption as an issue to the center-stage. So far so good.
Then they lost it. From Hissar onwards it went downhill. Anyone with eyes half open in India would know pretty much all parties in India are teaming with corrupt elements and corrupt deeds. So when you try to project only Congress as the custodian of C, then the seeds of doubt in the real motive is sown.
Anna and company made a couple of trips to Bangalore but mostly stayed quite on local corruption except Santosh Hegde voicing his opinion. What do you make of it?
Last nail in the coffin was the adamant posturing of my way or highway. While many would have thought something is better than nothing, our A-team went for broke. Perhaps this was fueled by heady Times-Now type ‘We are the Nation’ sentiment.
That’s when they totally lost it – hopefully temporarily. We need this fight aganist corruption to sustain. But frankly I won’t shed tears for the A-team.
They were hoisted up beyond their wild imagination by the media and then they were dethroned by the same. The fall was really hurtful as the height at which they had perched was a mighty one.
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Are widespread internet rage and TV talkathons the criteria to decide if something has been debated? How many people have access to the internet in India? What is their economic and social background? Who watches Times NOW, Headlines Today, CNN IBN, NDTV? What is the general background of these viewers? Is there a tendency towards a certain kind of thinking and concerns among them?
But even so, the TV talking heads also discussed the bills you mention, though not as vociferously as they did the anti-corruption movement and as they continue to do certain hot topics. Of course, this is because a lot of the people who watch these channels may not be overly interested about rural employment, food security etc. Hence such discussions are a bit boring and result in lost TRPs, which is the main motivator for the TV channels who are beamed into our living rooms. Watch how the same channels dumped the IAC movement as it became evident that the zing was gone.
There have been op-eds and reasoned debate on all the bills you mention in a lot of forums – newspapers, magazines, face-to-face etc. They have also been debated in Parliament before being passed/not passed.
NREGA was passed by both houses of Parliament after debate, though not in the exact form as the civil society groups wanted. The Food Security Bill is held up because Jayalalitha is opposed to it because she feels it impinges on state functions. It has in any case deviated substantially from the version that the civil society groups came up with, as was the RTI Act. No one is getting a free pass.
As the the rest of the points, we’ll agree to disagree.
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@Daily
You think the Food Security Bill is dangerous, and the Lokpal is simply warm fuzzy? How do you work that out?
If it is any consolation the Congress/Govt also does not want to get all those bills passed… :D
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PDK,
>The Food Security Bill is held up because Jayalalitha is opposed to it
You are politicizing the issue ;-). Jokes apart, she is absolutely right. And who is NCPRI/NAC to tell folks in Yadgir district to eat wheat procured in Haryana and rice procured 1000 miles away. They don’t even know what is the staple food of Yadgir district and how much it costs to grow it. 10 years from now we may have to go to an ITC Dakshin to eat a Jolada Rotti or Ragi Mudde for 10,000 rupees a piece. Road, hell, intention and all that……
At least these worthies should start worrying about the carbon footprint this kind of movement of food across the nation will have.Who will be responsible for this environmental disaster.
>No one is getting a free pass.
All evidence is to the contrary. Anyway the country is paying a huge price by not questioning their actions & antecedents.
>we’ll agree to disagree.
Completely in agreement.
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Twistle,
> Lokpal is simply warm fuzzy? How do you work that out?
Ahem, what gives? Are you a (corrupt) sarkari mulazim?
>Congress/Govt also does not want to get all those bills passed…
Please do not blame party/govt and refrain yourself from politicizing the issue. Govt/party has your CDs and photographs, your medical claims, your motorcycle insurance claims, etc. ;-)
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DailyBread,
Excerpts from the National Food Security Bill, 2011(link). Chapter 7, section 26, clause 3 & 4:
Accept it. These people are serious about what they do and they consult widely before coming up with ideas.
As to all evidence being to the contrary, I point you to this article in The Hindu: Right to Food Campaign calls for ‘action’ against draft food Bill, where they call on the PM to set aside the ‘govt’ draft of the food security bill citing their concerns.
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PDK,
>(3) Central and state governments shall take measures to promote and facilitate the procurement of millets and other nutritious grains, by ensuring appropriate quality standards, timely announcement of support prices, and adequate procurement
arrangements. (4) The Central Government shall encourage State governments to undertake a decentralized planning process and to procure, store and distribute food grain at local levels from district to panchyat, with a view to minimize transportation costs and
losses and provide state governments with the appropriate facilities and incentives.
This is an apple pie & motherhood statement. And also it looks like this bill is designed for 1,76,000 mini Rajas.
>Accept it. These people are serious about what they do and they consult widely before coming up with ideas.
Can’t accept it, we need proof. I Have seen these folks on TV and we can figure out how much respect they have for alternative point of views/opinions.
>where they call on the PM to set aside the ‘govt’ draft of the food security bill citing their concerns.
This is noora kushti, best way to fool the nation….
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PDK,
Good going. But please remember ‘Ollada gandanige mosarinalloo Kallu’
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Santosh M,
First time I’ve heard that one :-)
Yes, I think I’ll let it go now.
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Enjoy;-) yarado rokka, yellammana jatri
Quoting from section 22 of FSB
“Provided that not less than 46% of all rural households shall be designated as Rural Priority Households.
Provided, further, 90% of all rural households are entitled to subsidized food grains.”
Quoting from section 23 of FSB
“Provided that not less than 28% of all urban households are categorised as Urban Priority Households.
Provided, further, 50% of all urban households are entitled to subsidized food grains.”
Quoting from section 24 of FSB
“The State Government shall provide Priority Households whether Rural or Urban a minimum of 7 kilograms of food grains per person per month, at a price not exceeding Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 1 per kg for millets at 2011-11 rates, which will not be revised upward for a minimum period of 10 years from the date of notification of the Act.”
pdk, fyi,
30. (1) The Central Government shall make available to the State Governments food grains for distribution under the Public Distribution System to various categories of Households at such quantity and prices as to meet the requirements under this Act.
31.(1) The Central Government shall either on its own or through any other Government agency designated by it ensure physical delivery of food grains of fair quality to the State Governments for distribution under the Public Distribution System and for the aforesaid purpose make allocation in a timely manner and issue release orders for the aforesaid purpose.
(2) The State Government shall on getting an allocation of food grains from the Central Government issue district wise allocation orders and make arrangements for the foodgrains to be delivered to the district godowns and further to the fair price shops.
(4) State Governments shall make arrangements for taking delivery of food grains issued by the Central Government by their designated agencies or nominees from the Food Corporation of India depots/godowns and ensure further delivery to the fair price shop within the first week of the month for which allocation is made.
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