Rahul fields youth to take up anti-graft plank

• NSUI will stage rally at Jantar-Mantar in capital today
• Rahul’s next step is passage of six anti-corruption Bills

New Delhi: Taking a leaf from Aam Admi Party (AAP) experiment that fielded youth for the anti-corruption agitation, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is mobilising the young to wage the battle against corruption.

The National Students Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress, is being fielded to take up the issue of fighting corruption. The NSUI is staging a rally at Jantar-Mantar in the Capital on Monday. Ostensibly to celebrate the passage of Lokpal Bill in Parliament, the NSUI rally will also raise the demand for passage six other anti-corruption Bills, which will complete the framework to fight corruption. This NSUI rally will call upon Opposition that it must cooperate and support the Congress in passing these anti-corruption Bills, to make India corruption-free.

The event will witness mass signature campaign for the same. Students will also pledge to raise their voice against corruption at all levels. One of the major objectives of the NSUI rally is to stand with Rahul Gandhi’s fight for the passage of the six pending anti-corruption Bills in Parliament. If these Bills are passed, a corruption-free India would soon become a reality and not remain just an empty slogan.

The Lokpal Bill was introduced for the first time by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1968. Forty-five years later, it is finally a reality, with the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill being passed in both Houses of Parliament, under the Congress led by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress wants to claim the credit for the anti-corruption agenda, which was unveiled by Congress President Sonia Gandhi at the AICC Plenary in Buradi on the outskirts of the Capital in December, 2010, much before Anna Hazare arrived on the scene. In January, 2011, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh forwarded it to the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The GoM finalised the Lokpal Bill and six other legislations to complete the comprehensive framework required to fight corruption.

Apart from Lokpal Bill, the other Bills in the pipeline are Whistle Blowers Protection Bill, 2011; Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010; Right of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011; Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2013; Public Procurement Bill, 2012; and Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organizations Bill, 2011.

The first step towards making the public administration transparent was initiated by Sonia Gandhi through Right to Information Act (RTI), which was brought in by the Congress-led UPA government in 2005.

The passage of Lokpal Bill is of utmost importance post the passage of the RTI Act as the two complement each other. The power to gain information would otherwise be futile if acts of corruption do not lead to prosecution.

If the Right to Information Act enabled the common man to ask questions to public officials, the Lokpal will now help bring corrupt officials to book. Governance in India will be far more transparent and more accountable than ever before bringing relief to the common man. The parliamentary nod to the bill witnessed a rare moment where civil society and the entire political spectrum united in rejoicing the possibility of zero tolerance to corruption in India.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has taken the anti-corruption crusade further. Speaking in the Parliament, he emphasized, “The establishment of Lokpal is necessary to strengthen the fight against corruption and ensure the accountability of public officials to the people.”

According to him, the purpose behind the Lokpal Bill is to provide a serious weapon to fight corruption in this country similar to the RTI.

Rahul Gandhi also said, “The Lokpal Bill alone is not adequate to fight corruption. The UPA government has developed a powerful anti-corruption framework consisting of eight new central laws. Even after the passage of the Lokpal Bill, four of these Bills remain pending in the Lok Sabha and two in the Rajya Sabha.”