To crack a whip is not that bad!

When you have an entire popular movement going on against corruption (the Anna fever), people will behave properly. Or at least they will project and show that they behave suitably. And they believe in the motives of the public voicing the concerns.

That is the way I thought. However now it turns out that even if Lokpal Bill is passed I doubt the 100% implementation. Even for the provisions under the bill, there is less clarity and more mystification. Another fast by Anna Hazare looms large. 

Recent case in point is the call made by the 'clean' (and ineffective?) CM, Prithviraj Chavan to 'all the ministers' to declare their assets.

And response was not that spectacular or great. Only fifteen ministers out of forty actually declared their assets. Ironically the ministers who ignored the CM's diktat are mostly from the Congress Party!      

The hurry and steadfast pattern of the Central Government to pass the bill is astounding. Now it emerges the winter session is to be extended. And PM himself, gave a statement that Govt. is committed to pass the Lokpal bill and ministers and bureaucrats are working day and night!        

This sudden sense of urgency is a complete contrast to the laid-back attitude of the Government back in April 2011, when it all started. Some people will argue that this 'act under pressure' is not desirable for the Parliamentary democracy.

However the crux of the issue is that it takes a seemingly unconstitutional outer force (a very old Gandhian campaigner and unprecedented public support) for government to act fairly to deliver something that will potentially change political arena forever. And Hopefully for better.

New Ministry of Sycophancy and Absurd Affairs

Unbelievable and equally absurd things do take place in India. Quite regularly. And nothing comes close to the sycophancy of the Congress guys for their Madam Sonia Gandhi and PM.

Recent episode of Shri Kapil Sibal and his extraordinary avowal and blatant wish to 'actually censor and effectively control' the content on the World Wide Web was an indication of how the tenure of this UPA is deteriorated.

I mean it is absolutely strange and silly to even imagine, a top level babu sits in Sanchar Bhavan in Dilli and sifts through the uncountable and varied content on the web! 

And a separate entity 'Department of Internet Scrutiny' is carved out to decide what content is appropriate and what is out of place. This department would invariably report to Minister for IT and Telecom!  By the way there are almost 100 million net users in India as per Internet World Stats reports and the number is continuously growing. 

And who knows I 'will not be able to opine freely on this blog' as per the Constitution if this proposal of Mr. Sibal really happens. Even if that same Constitution gives me freedom of speech! Mind it - this is one of the fundamental rights.   

What is really baffling is the fact that Mr. Sibal chose to speak about this restriction and put forth the scenario of concern about the content that can jeopardize communal harmony. However it was too obvious that he was more anxious about the content against the Madam G and PM-ji. One can understand if there are external/ internal security concerns for India as a nation.

To the best of my knowledge Kapil Sibal is a senior Supreme Court lawyer and considered as the most knowledgeable practitioners of Law in India. And how come he did not take into account the amendment to Section 66 (A) of the IT Act 2000.

It provides for a very wide offence pertaining to electronic/online defamation -- an offence punishable with three years imprisonment and fine.         

Section 67 of the IT Act makes the publishing and transmission of obscene content a criminal offence. And there are internal inspection mechanisms set up by Google, Facebook and others. If government thinks people are eligible for punishment, enact this law and file cases!

Larger and more important point is we are not living in Iran, China or any dictatorship. We are in India. We have certain duties and rights given by Constitution of India.