Earlier this year in April, Anna Hazare, the anti-corruption crusader went on a fast demanding a joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill. Buckling under immense public pressure, in a little over four days, the Government gave in to Mr. Hazare’s demand. The newly formed committee included five members representing the ‘Civil society’ and five Ministers representing the Government. The five Ministers were: Finance Minister – Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister – P. Chidambaram, Law Minister – Salman Khurshid, HRD and Telecom Minister – Kapil Sibal, Corporate Affairs Minister – Veerappa Moily. The ministers were and remain to be a part of the Cabinet.
How ‘elite’ is a Cabinet Minister?
The job of Parliamentarians (MPs) is, simply put, to make laws for the country. Of these 800-odd individuals (including both, Lower and Upper Houses), a few of the good and experienced ones are chosen by the Prime Minister to form the executive, the Ministers. From these few good lawmakers, the best form the Cabinet. The Cabinet ministers are therefore supposed to be India’s best lawmakers.
Let us review the outcome of this entire joint drafting exercise. Two separate Lokpal Bills emerged. The Government version (sarcastically referred to as the sarkari Lokpal, due to the corruption associated to the word sarkari, and jokingly referred to as the ‘Jokepal’) faced opposition from not only the public, but also from the various civil society members who were not essentially solid backers of Mr. Hazare’s version. The country was promised that a strong Bill would be passed in the monsoon session of Parliament. What happened instead was that a weak Bill was tabled in Parliament. Satisfied with themselves, the Ministers never thought that for the second time in a year they would have to succumb to public pressure. “People had come out to support Mr. Hazare once. Would they do it again?” was probably what they thought at the time. They took a chance. This underestimation of Mr. Hazare’s reach resulted in his supporters multiplying phenomenally in a matter of days. There was no bargaining space left for the Government and people power was victorious! After such a strong opposition, the Ministers dared not continue lobbying for their Bill. The entire country accepted that theirs was an inferior draft, the sarkari Bill was ridiculed mercilessly.
Had a Board of Directors of a company taken an equally disastrous policy decision, alarm bells would have rung, heads would have rolled and within weeks the mediocre lot would have been replaced by performers. Why did this not happen in the most important and significant ‘company’ of the country, the Government? The Indian state is suffering from lack of transparency. What is worse though is that it is suffering from a grave lack of accountability. Neither do erroneous policy makers take moral responsibility and nor is there a system to punish such acts.
If these Ministers are our best Parliamentarians, and it is a widely accepted fact that their draft was probably the worst piece of legislation ever, India is in serious trouble. Not just because of corrupt politicians, but as we have seen now, also because of mediocre legislators. In an age when Indians are scaling new heights in virtually every field on a global stage, is it not time we had better policy makers? I hear the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, repeatedly saying impressive things like, “We take our job very seriously.” During almost every TV interview, the Law Minister, Salman Khurshid uses the very same words like, “We need to follow Parliamentary procedures, trust your Parliament.”
I am sorry Mr. Khurshid and Prime Minister Singh, I see no reason why citizens of this country should trust you!
Indian Polity Today 
Oh and if I had to answer your question: “Does India deserve better Ministers?”, I would say we always get what we deserve. If you don’t like the people in power you can always vote for those other deserving ones. If you can’t find any, then its your problem. By the way, no one is stopping anyone from standing for elections, including the civil society representatives. They aren’t willing to do that because they also don’t want any accountability. So there we are, back in a full circle.
First, I think you have got it completely wrong when you think that the reason civil society representatives do not want to join politics is because they do not want accountability. Why they do not want to join, is a different story. Oh and I am happy, you seem to have got the message: Join politics, yourself! You have hit the nail on the head. Instead of waiting for the ‘deserving’ candidates it is time we took our future into our own hands and help find solutions.
This was my first comment which got posted in the wrong thread:
“There are too many skeleton’s in the closets of any political class to draft a transparent Lokpal bill free of loopholes. Our legislators are not incompetent but on the other hand, they are too smart for the civil society representatives. Politics is a murky game and you have to play according to their rules.”
Responding to your comment on my post:
I have got the message long back and that’s why I never blame our politicians because I know that I am not interested in entering it. Same for the civil society representatives. Anna Hazare has no choice but to trust our political class because he knows that he does not want to enter it. I hope excited youngsters like you get the message though. It is always fun to be a part of a revolution; the real test starts after you get what you were demanding for. If you really think that you represent a large section of Indian society that wants to see a change then take a plunge. I know you are still very young and there is a long way to go but you can start thinking in those terms.
Your right. Thanks for the encouragement!
Akshay ,’you have said it’ and how!But as Rohit Apte rightly says ‘we get what we deserve’.So everything is in our hands now,the difference we make and how we make this difference.You have started doing it by voicing your opinion but application in the form of action too is required.I made the first step towards it by casting a protest vote during the lok sabha elections.We can change the system if we have all the youngsters thinking like you do…….hope to see you change our political system one day………it takes just one man (we can all see it in the form of Anna today).God Bless!
Does India deserve better Ministers? No. Just watch the traffic. Can we differentiate between the ‘so called’ educated and uneducated? No. We see India’s average at every signal, in every queue. So we have what we deserve.
Mr. Datar, if not for the entire country, at least for the sake of some great Indians in different fields we deserve to have people at the top who facilitate growth and maturity (of the country) and not be a hindrance to it!
well said, Mr Datar.
In my view the way to improve the future from all perspectives that you mention in the article namely competence, honesty and integrity in our politicians is “transparency”. You refer to it in the article. It is THE founding idea of a better future. When politicians, businesses, people know their actions are or can be public they will behave differently. Accountability will follow. Fields such as politics will self select candidates that want to work in that environment. The focus of all efforts should be to push for more transparency.
Akshay I think you have expressed yourself very well And I think that any change in the present scenario will happen only when the youth of India starts thinking on these lines. If all of us were to be resigned to all that is happening around us where is the scope for change? The ‘Chalta hai’ attitude is what needs to change! I read Mr. Datars view & I too get upset when I see the so called educated class of people honking horns, spitting on the streets, ignoring traffic signals et all – but let us accept one thing self discipline doesn’t come easily to every one that is the reason we need stricter laws and dedicated people to enforce these laws – this is where government comes in. But at times is seems that our lawmakers take special efforts to ensure that they leave loopholes in every law to facilitate offenders! But I do accept the we Indians are at times notorious about our lack of civic sense which we really need to instill in ourselves – without being responsible for our own actions how can we justify our demands for the government or even other entities to be more responsible!
What Rohit says is to vote for the right people or fight elections yourself – it is too simplistic a view – it is not easy for the common man to really do so. The fact that the common man who accepts load shedding, water shortage, fuel hikes, exorbitant hike in prices of food items, lack of basic amenities of life etc as a part & parcel of life gets out of his state of inertia & comes out on the street to support Anna – this is an awakening indeed. And if we talk of trust – why should the people not trust Anna – the man responsible for getting a bill like Right to Information passed? And I join you Akshay when you say why should the common man support those in power who misuse their power and abuse the faith placed by us in them – why indeed!
But I do agree with Rohit when he says that at times revolution by itself is easy but to retain the ideology behind the revolution long enough to bring about a change is difficult. But it does not mean we should not aspire for change. The very least we can do is be true to our principles overselves, given a chance support the right people & to speak out – one voice gives strength to others! Youth & idealism go hand in hand but I pray your idealism remains alive within you always – we will be old only when we give up idealism and give in to cynicism! Good Luck