Lokpal - An Analysis

'Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah:' - Righteousness protects those who uphold it. The Dharma of an individual is enshrined in the constitution. Thus, Law protects those who uphold it or conversely law punishes those who misuse it.

Corruption which has deep roots in the Indian society, needs an equally deep rooted solution. This solution must come from an awakened nationalism. For this, an environment of free thinking, productive argument and debate must be created. The onus lies with the various participants of polity like the media, civil society and the state. Is Lokpal an outcome of this churning process? Will this institution act as a detterent or will it be a cure to the chronic disease of corruption? How effective will it be if at all it sees the light of the day?

With the emergence of the middle class and the growth in technology, every govt. policy has come under the scrutiny of these educated people. The general awareness levels of the people has increased with an increase in literacy levels. With the boom in the IT and Telecom sectors, the distance between people has narrowed and connectivity has become faster than ever. World wide, the social networking sites have provided the much needed impetus to the people's movements against the corrupt govts. as seen in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region. In India too they played an important role in mobilising the diverse sections of the society, with a common cause, against the corruption.

Lokpal bill is one such outcome which awaits its materialisation. It has been 40 odd years since it was first introduced in the parliament. Anti corruption laws in India are truly flawed as they expect the accused to act against himself, which turns out to be a conflict of interest. Lokpal, is anologous to the ombudsmen system of the west. Its mandate is to register and investigate the charges of corruption levied against the govt. officials. But the govt. draft of the bill again makes it a puppet in their hands thus defeating the very purpose of the bill.

Govt. is accusing the civil society of using arm twisting techniques like staging dharnas to pressurise the govt. to pass the latter's version of the bill. In a democracy, peaceful dharnas are completely acceptable ways to voice people's opinions. Govt. though has a de jure authority over the final version of the bill, as the representatives of the people and to avoid the conflict the interest, should not the civil society and the people be given the chance to take the final call on the bill? Even the civil society must not hurry through this process. They must put forth all the pros and cons in front of the people and then take their valuable opinion through a proper referendum.

Though there are many contentious issues in the lokpal bill, two of them are glaring and important. One is about inclusion of PM within the ambit of lokpal and other is the protection given to the whistle blowers.

Presently PM is covered under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. With bringing that office under lokpal there can be a common body for investigation. Critics say that this would create instability in the system. But as they say, "You have nothing to fear, if you have nothing to hide".

Whistleblowers' protection as envisaged by the bill cannot be comprehensive with the extensive nexus between the criminals and the politicians. Will lokpal hire naxals and goondas as the threat would be from these groups on the other side? Police protection would be the last option when there is a politician on the other side. Protecting the identity of the individual is a better solution but it all would depend on how strong the system is.  

Prevention is better than cure. Lokpal with all its powers can only cure the existing disease and not prevent its future occurences. Preventive measures include abolishing Art 311 which gives security of tenure to the civil servants. This would keep them on their toes w.r.t their efficiency and honesty. Electoral reforms such as introducing 'none of the above' option in the list of contesting candidates. Though these reforms have their own setbacks, with a proper system in place, these are possible.

Finally, to hit the nail on its head, an attitudinal change must be brought among the people. No law or Act can be successful if the people are reluctant to change. This change is possible only through an education system integrated with moral values. It needs strong conviction and character to say 'No' to corruption. Thus it should come from source (moral principles) and not by force (law). This is the only permanent prevention and rest all are just temporary and superficial cures.

Securing Food for all

 Food is the basic need which drives the whole mankind. Every activity done on this earth is to fulfill the hunger of the individuals. India with its vast area under cultivation has been striving to feed its billion plus population. First with its break through in Green revolution and now with its focus on legal entitlement legislations. Securing food for all needs state interventions at various stages like production, procurement, storage and distribution.

At the production stage, the various govt. interventions are:

Rural credit: Farmers were given credit (upto 3.5 lakh crores this budget) to supplement their input costs on buying agri machinery, seeds, fertilizers (Nutrient Based Subsidy scheme). They were given 2% interest subvention on repayment of loans. The crop insurance scheme in the event of failure has neutralised the erratic monsoon conditions.But the recent farmer debts and suicides in vidarbha and other semi arid regions can be attributed to the extortions from local money lenders and crop failures due to lack of irrigation.

Land reforms - Though these were supposed to be helping the small and marginal farmers, it actually turned against them. With land ceiling laws, rich farmers could manipulate the sizes and threaten the landless labourers. But in states like west bengal, these reforms showed positive results with poor farmers getting their share of land.

Research activities - ICAR has done a commendable job in providing information related to various seeds, technologies, different farming techniques. Farmers can now avail such information through Kisan Call Centres (KCC). With ISRO's intervention through recently launched Resourcesat 2 in mapping the cropping areas and to be launched Megha Tropiques to monitor weather conditions for monsoons, farmers will be in a better position to predict the crop seasons. In contrast, the introduction of hybrid varieties have not augered well with the farmers, who recommend organic farming.

Even with such ups and downs, the production of grains for the year 2010-11 has crossed the estimated target of 225 MT of which 90 MT approx. each is rice and wheat.

At the procurement stage, the govt. is buying the grains at a particular Minimum Support Price (MSP). But according to the Alag committee and Swaminathan committee reports, the MSP for 12 major crops has always been less than the production costs. A nation whose 60 % population  is dependent on agriculture cannot be so callous in its attitude towards remunerating its farmers. These committees have recommended that the MSP must be announced before the sowing season and it should be production costs + 50 % so that farmer gets a considerable income to lead his life comfortably.  

Storage has been an area of concern recently with excess of food grains produced. Govt. is contemplating of bringing in FDI in multi brand retail to solve this problem. Recent govt. decision to export some of the food grains because of lack of storage facilities only speaks of its lack of fore sightedness. This is a problem which needs a modest local solution by investing in building more storage houses rather than resorting to FDI. The Narendra modi committee on food security recommended branching the FCI into 3 parts namely procurement, storage and distribution to make the job easier.

With 225 MT of production, India is comfortably poised to universalise its food security program, but the NAC recommendations and subsequent Rangarajan panel's comments on it speak otherwise. Distribution stage is the most important component of the whole chain as it is not enough to make available the food grains, but they should be accessible by the needy.

Refering to the recent famine in the Horn of Africa, UN defined Famine as that where at least 20 per cent of households face extreme food shortages with limited ability to cope, acute malnutrition in over 30 per cent of people, and two deaths per 10,000 people every day. Comparing these statistics with those of India, there is 17% of extreme food shortage, around 40% are under nourished and around 0.25 people die per 10000 per day. Thus India is almost at the brink of being declared as a Famine hit nation.

The NAC recommended that 75% of rural and 50% of urban poor would be covered under the food security bill. They will be categorised into priority and general groups. Each priority individual will be entitled to 7 kg of grains per month at Rs 2 per kg. It also speaks of mid day meals, child nutrition levels etc. They also recommended that in case govt. couldnt provide grains to the poor, they can avail direct cash transfers instead. But the recent survey by a group of institutes revealed the fact that people wanted grains and not money.

With amateur calculations, it could be easily found out that for 1200 million population and with total grains of 180 MT, the total availability per capita is 150 kg / person/ year. i.e each person can get around 12kgs of rice / wheat per month. 

Thus, universalisation of food security is not impractical as envisaged by the eminent economists and policy makers of this country.

Thus, it is the distribution mechanism which needs to be strengthened. There are two main mechanisms in this structural reforms which needs attention.

1. Pricing mechanism

2. Delivery mechanism

Pricing refers to the cost of the grains to be given to the people. As the proverb goes, 'There are no free lunches...' people must be made to pay some amount for the grains they are getting instead of giving it free of cost (to avoid misuse). But who will pay how much is a point of contention. It will bring BPL lines into picture which are again faulty. Total subsidisation or total marketisation would not be useful. Instead a middle path must be followed. Present BPL card holders should continue to get benefitted with their cards. Govt. must look out for new entrants from APL group and make necessary provisions. A constant upgradation of the records is a must. UID could be of immense help in this activity.

Delivery refers to the amount of foodgrains to be given at a time to the people. If a person is given all the 12kgs at a time, he /she might not have that much storage facility with them or they might misuse it. So, daily disbursals can be a solution. Men might sell these grains for liquor, so women can be given the entitlement for the household. A strong grievance redressal mechanism must be in place to check any leakages. Community participation in this mechanism is a tested and best option. Quality of grains is also a matter of importance. Therefore more no.of godowns in an area where people dont have storage facility and a good maintainance of them is a must.  

Emulating the Brazil example, India can also integrate various related schemes and these schemes will act as checks and balances on one another. For example, Food security, Education, Health can be linked. Thus, periodic health check ups by authorities will give a clear picture about the improvements in nutrition levels in the area where PDS is working. Enrollment of children of the household in the nearby schools can be made mandatory for the family to avail there share of food grains.

Thus, with increasing global prices and unstable economies in the world, self reliance is the best option to feed our people. With a proper policy in place and timely intervention, it is possible to make India self reliant in securing food for all its citizens.