IAC - The Way Ahead ... an FAQ. Draft of Wed. 08th August 2012

It makes me feel good that there are Volunteers / citizens who will seek to engage positively when there are disagreements or doubts.  Unfortunately, these are few and so the misguidance and pain for many.   Due to the thoroughly depressing condition in India, many jump to conclusions not based on fast paced events.  Having reviewed my essay and also ArvindK letter, certain topics need explanations.  Clarification will be given by Mayank ... Please chat him. 

1. On referendum.  Yes Mumbai has the best record and given time and proper planning it could have been done.  Each time in the past, we had over a week to implement.  This time there was hardly a day. So, it could not be done. 

I am told that since Anna sat on fasting ... 5th day, IAC Volunteers were on phone with Delhi, to find a solution due to our Teflon Govt. leaders.  Many suggested, that seeing health condition of various key persons on fasting, that this fasting be stopped since Govt. will not respond at all.  Many suggested that selfless persons be put in Parliament and andolan be done inside.  On ninth and tenth day, at most fasting centers, it seems, overwhelming majority of those attending, wanted some form of parliament intervention by IAC.  Understand that ArvindK, AnnaH, and others were not in a physically fit condition to take normal discussion routines.  Mayank confirms that he had relayed wishes of Citizen Candidates to them. 

So decision was taken to put up selfless persons under a 'andolan type party'.  News channels, then ran their own phone-in and opinion polls which verified that thousands of involved persons wish similar but unclear methods. 

2.  Gram / Village status.  Yes, it is a given that Jan Jaagran is not satisfactory, in cities and villages.  How long must we wait, another 44 years?  Will the 200 million in abject condition wait patiently for better 'delivery of governance' or will they not revolt violently?   Sorry ... I am rhetorical, but how else to convey my pain of 40 million households still without electric energy after 65 years.  We have tripled our population and increased electric generation ten times, yet we are unable to reach all, the pressure of numbers has its own arithmetic. 

Your query is have Gram/Village citizens been consulted.  I ask you, consult for what?  IAC is talking of bringing in legislation to consult them and take their consent for all programs, resources and plans that affect them.  Are they likely to refuse this?  Is this not what Amendment 73 was implying by bringing governance to village level.  This was twisted and Collectors manipulate the Panchayat under instructions from corrupt political high command.  Is this not what ArvindK book is SWARAJ all about?  He did visit a substantial sample, so has Anna.  We lack the competence to visit 500,000 villages, even if we have the intention.  So trust of the village citizens should not be lost here. 

3.  Honest Administrators have poor election record.  Seshan, JP, and many others are glorious examples.  They did their best within the existing crooked system.  Even Dr. S. Swamy swears it is possible to tackle the corrupt within the current system and laws.  I asked him personally at Pune, how many cases, how many years, and how many citizens benefited.  Woefully little and small.  My question is how to address the issue of our humongous population, we have over 200 million in dire straits.  Has any of these wonderful and capable officers, been able to substantially get them independent and develop their potential? 

Yathaa Prajaa, Tathaa Rajaa.  This is the inverted world of democracy, accept it and adapt to it. We need to do more of Jan Jaagran to get better persons elected and increase their strength by delivering good results for the middle and bottom citizens.  Right now the middle have got some improvement in the past twenty years and hence some support us, wanting more results very quickly.  Even Anna said, he would lose his deposit if he went for elections.  This is a fact, but we must not lose heart.  Some of us in JNM faced similar situation during the recent Assembly election for Andheri constituency, when I as agent had to respond daily to numerous notices.  Questions were raised about the EVMs too.  Manipulations were alleged, but we were with one candidate, a token at best.  Now, we need to put up at least ten percent, maybe 60 for parliament for the whole nation.  India has 60 selfless persons who are tough.  Let us shortlist them and prepare battle plan. 

Let it not be said, that we did not try all reasonable methods and stay peaceful and within the law.  Even the Courts ask litigant to approach only after exhausting all avenues.  The citizens need to see the effort and have a feel for the pain.  They need to participate and NOT vote for the TAINTED PERSONS.  How to get them to realise this need, is our problem.  We need to  bury our differences and force them to see the light; instant gratification of money against long term gain from authority to choose better persons.  As we have been saying:  do not give us handouts and benefits, give us the right to rule ourselves and decide for ourselves.  Do you understand me?   The recent claim of 'free mobile' is a great example to blast the nation with.  Let us work on cartoons, talks, TV remarks, etc focused on this issue, let us not just stick with FB :(

4.  Watching the new elected.  Yes, there is no guarantee that the selfless chosen may not go sour.  We can sow, but we must also weed, before we can reap. Any farmer ... and we have 150 million households out of 240 who are such, will understand this weeding and sowing business.  No need for pesticide as you put it.  There are many methods, you have listed some.  The basic, is: only one time candidate for the lifetime, with a in-house monitoring team.  These methods work in corporate too, so we need to figure out and keep changing to meet the situation.  In any case, episodic corruption and misuse of power is not stopped anytime in past or present.  We need not wait for Siddharth the Buddha, Vardhamaan the Mahavir and avataar others to, for admin issues.  The goal post shifts, so must our methods.  As you rightly said, NaBhoto, NaBhavishyatey even for KrishnaAvataar, let us take lessons from his reported life and act accordingly.  Chanakya Nitii.  Am I right? 

5.  Lokayukta and Assembly of States.  Seventh schedule of Constitution: State List section.  This our andolan is a long drawn out battle.  Let us make a beginning.  Talk did occur much earlier about Himachal elections.  Let us see if we have the Volunteers, dedicated as a TEAM to make it happen :)

6.  Alternate Solution.  I do not know of any, and I have personally been talking to Judges, Lawyers, IAS officers, etc.  Working on this political intervention has been fine tuned over the past SIX YEARS by JNM.  Many political parties have been formed: Loksatta, Forum for Presidential are two that I know off and have been fortunate to interact with the protagonists.  All realise that this is the only available step, but let us look at other methods.  No election is being fought for the next twelve months, right? 

7.  Committee elections.  This was done as a token with our Mumbai Zonal Teams.  I wish it could be implemented right off the bat for the whole country for the 'andolan party' and cnadidate selection.  But from experience of the past decade, I know it will be impossible, but we must try for 'full PAT with a strong dose of Decentralization and Integrity'.   I understand from Mayank that some work in this direction has commenced.  Please reach him for details.

8.  Political strategy.  I am unable to comment on this.  Obviously, being politics in India as in USA or Japan, it will have its opponents to strategy and dirty tricks.  This is the pain that some must bear; same as Mahadev Shankar has to bear the poison in his throat.  Who wants to be in the decision chair and who wants to  give once his-her five years?  Very difficult for the selfless and honest person to do, though the devils will make haste to line up at 01AM anywhere :) 

(compiled by Praful Vora, iac.mumbai.vora@gmail.com)  

Arvind Kejriwal’s letter to Volunteers after the end of anshan

The following is the English translation of Arvind Kejriwal’s letter to Volunteers after the end of anshan. The original letter which was written in Hindi can be read at the link: 
http://news.indiaagainstcorruption.org/iac_new/index.php/arvind-kejriwal-s-letter-to-volunteers-after-fast-breaking

Dear friends,

          There are mixed reactions at the end of Anshan. The general populace has welcomed our initiative of providing a political alternative to achieve the goal of the movement. More than 90% of the people surveyed by various channels and also by IAC have welcomed this decision. But a few of our friends who are very dear to us and who have put their mind body and soul into this movement for the past two years are feeling hurt. Notwithstanding the fact that they are small in number, it is they who have toiled selflessly and nurtured this movement, served the nation and loved me like anything. They have written emails and SMS to me blaming us of cheating them. Their blame is that the movement has been sold. There can not be 100% unanimity on any decision. Nonetheless, I write this letter to recap all the incidences as they happened with the hope that after going through this letter they don't doubt our integrity at the least. 

          They are basically asking two questions. 1) How and why was it decided to enter politics?  2) Why was the Anshan called off abruptly? Some of them charge that the whole Anshan was a sham, with its outcome pre-decided.

          I hereby present the events as they transpired with full honesty. It is entirely possible that these may appear empty words to you today. However, I believe that opinions will change looking back at my past record and my future conduct.

We started the Anshan honestly, fully prepared to sacrifice ourselves. I am a diabetic. If the anshan was pre-planned, the easier way would have been to end it in two days taking recourse to the fact that I was diabetic. Nobody in the world believed that I could surpass 48 hours. If it was all preplanned, if my will power was weak, if I lacked courage, or did not have the will to sacrifice, the easier route was to end it all in two days on the pretext of doctor’s advice. Thereafter, on the seventh day, Delhi Police too ordered us to get hospitalized as counselled by government doctors. My Ketone levels by that time had increased substantially. According to doctors, it was way above the dangerous level. If my intentions were bad, or if I was a coward, it would have been very convenient for me to get hospitalized. But we stayed on against the doctors’ advice.

          In the meanwhile, Annaji was monitoring our health very closely. He was very worried about the health of all of us who were fasting. It became obvious to him during the course that the government was not going to accept our demands of SIT and Lokpal Bill. On the other hand, from around the 3^rd or 4^th day itself, people started demanding that Annaji should provide a political alternative to the nation. People were shouting slogans, distributing pamphlets, raising banners demanding this. The same type of message was coming to Annaji from all over the country.

          Although the number of people at Jantar Mantar started increasing, Jantar Mantar is not the whole nation. The energy level and anger visible in August last year was missing in other places across India. Why did this happen? After speaking to people across the country, we found out that people had stopped believeing that coming out on to the streets was the only solution. People concluded that howsoever long we fast, the government will neither give SIT, nor LokPal. At the same time, people had faith in the leadership of the movement. They were losing faith on the method of taking to street and anshan in order to achieve our goals. For this reason, people were not taking holidays to take to the streets. They needed renewed hope. They sent message that if Annaji were to provide a political alternative, people’s hope would be rekindled.

          On the 9^th day of the fast, 23 eminent people wrote to us. They appealed to end the fast and provide the nation with a political alternative. What should be done next? It was decided to ask the people. The question was put to the people. Two days looked a reasonable timeframe in which the answers would be solicited for a decision to be taken thereafter. However, many television channels imediately started their own surveys. In a matter of few hours, the opinion and reactions of thousands of people from all over the country was obtained. We too received many reactions on emails, sms and phone calls. A massive majority of more that 90% of people were demanding a political alternative.

          Considering all this, Annaji after consulting all, decided that he would give the nation a political alternative and it was pointless to carry on fasting. Annaji announced this from the stage.

          90% of people surveyed through different media said that Annaji should provide a political alternative. If we were to disregard the public opinion, we would be called stubborn, insensitive to junta's feelings and branded as undemocratic . Now, when we submit to the will of a huge majority of people, we are blamed of bad intent from the outset. Present day politics is a quagmire. We do not take pleasure in this quagmire. In the next two years, if the government enacts JanlokPal, Law to Swaraj, Right to Reject and Right to Recall laws we will exit politics straightaway.

          You may disagree with the decision but I assure you that the intent of those taking the decision was never bad. I reiterate what I said on my last day of fast. Providing a political alternative does not mean we end the movement. It means that we are expanding the movement and making it bigger. Till today the movement was on the streets, from now on we will fight on the streets as well as in the parliament. You have participated in this movement selflessly till date. I hope that you will continue to do so with the same sentiments. You have adored me incessantly. I hope, I will continue to receive the same love and wishes from your side.

          Announcing a political alternative is quiet easy. But to provide a clean and meaningful alternative is very difficult. We are faced with innumerable challenges and issues. I am highlighting a few of them below and I hope to elicit your views on them.

1)    What are present day India’s problems and what are the solutions according to you? What is the India of your dreams?

2)    How to select candidates? We want this to happen through people participation.

3)    How to ensure that once elected, they don’t renegade and turn corrupt?

4)    We do not want ours to be just another political party. This party will now be the movement. According to you, what should be its form?

          I look forward to your response. You may send them to indiaagainstcorruption.2010@gmail.com or to our address at A-119, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad -201010, Uttar Pradesh

Yours affectionately

Arvind Kejriwal.

INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION - THE WAY AHEAD

For almost 65 long years, India citizens have been struggling to realize the dream of the Mahatma and many other revered freedom fighters.  This dream has been to create 'all inclusive' citizen centric national systems and institutions, which will respond positively to the ever growing/changing needs of the citizens.  A lot has been achieved for a population that has tripled in the given time frame but India finds itself wanting more than just political freedom and some economic prosperity.  Even these have failed to reach a majority of the citizens, in spite of India giving itself an amazing Constitution, which makes the citizens the 'owners of the nation' and therefore supreme at every level.  The era of selfless and nationalistic leaders did not blossom to achieve the dream stated above, due to selfish behavior of some of those in corporate, political and administrative power.  A series of ever growing scams, cronyism, misuse of power-money-muscle and corruption of all kinds, going back to most of the 65 years, have caused serious setback in the natural growth of the nation of 120 Crore citizens.  The failure of the governance systems and national institutions, to address these serious problems, caused the creation of a national movement called India Against Corruption (IAC), during November 2010. 

India finds itself at almost the bottom on most 'global development indices' due to serious shortcoming in: Corruption Laws, Electoral Reforms, Judicial Reforms, Police Reforms, Gram Panchayat Reforms, Nagar Raj Reforms, De-centralization, Taxation Reforms, Education Reforms and Food Security among others.  While the political parties, many elected leaders and selected administrators, did work on all of the above national issues, unfortunately the results fail to deliver substantial relief to majority of the citizens, who find themselves unable to benefit from national development.  Dedicated and selfless citizens find themselves isolated and targeted at all levels across the country, such that Activists find themselves incapable of moving the nation in the right direction in spite of isolated instances of bringing justice to the troubled citizens.  IAC took up the issue of rampant corruption and framed a 'new draft bill' for a strong anti-corruption law (Lokpal at the centre and Lokayukt at the state level).  Such a bill has been pending for some 44 years.  The main protagonists of IAC were the same persons who had worked in the national governance systems and therefore knew its systemic shortcomings.  Many Activists across India, old and new, became Volunteers to take forward the national movement called IAC.  Shri Anna Hazare who had already worked with some of them for the RTI statute and who had caused the removal of some powerful corrupt politicians and administrators, was the natural choice for leading the IAC movement.  A parallel movement to control and bring back black money stashed abroad, was taken up by Yogi Shri Baba Ramdev. 

IAC Volunteers with Anna developed a Mahatma type national andolan/agitation to take forward this draft bill.  It was pointed out to the politicians and administrators that the 'owners of the nation' had woken up and wanted a strong Lokpal and Lokayukt law to control corruption, punish the perpetrators, recover the loot in a time bound manner with existing systems/institutions, working synchronously.  The agitation, peaceful in all respects, with Anna and Baba in the forefront, took the nation by storm, was widely reported in the local and national Media and digital world.  For some time the political parties and the current national Government were forced to admit the urgent need for such law and took a few positive steps in that direction, under pressure of repeated satyagrah.  However, in spite of many promises by some of the Government leaders and some in Parliament, the outcome is found to be zero. 

The stand of the 'owners of the nation' to make the 'servants of the nation' work for greater national good and fine tune the national institutions has only lead to false promises, incessant delays and more of the 3D poison (Deny, Divide and Divert).  Extreme forms of satyagrah have failed to move the tainted and criminal among the elected and selected officials in Government and Parliament.  It seems the dedicated and selfless among them are a helpless minority.  The India Constitution requires the Parliament and State Assemblies to pass laws and make required changes.  The only constitutional path available before the nation is now to send more selfless and capable persons into the Parliament and State Assemblies, to persuade citizens to avoid the tainted, to correct the system/institutions and bring in effective reforms that keep the citizens at the centre for all types of projects and plans. 

Continuing the current IAC agitation, andolan and satyagrah in its present form has so far failed to bring in a 'strong and comprehensive law and reformed system' to control corruption, but has raised awareness in the citizens and scared the tainted.  Now, about 44 years have elapsed for this one single reform; but we are closer to a participatory democracy than ever before.  This mission is now over.  It will be insane to continue indefinite fasting when a large number of tainted representatives obviously will not pass a strong Lokpal Bill in Parliament.  The best one can hope for is a repeat of the weak Nagar Raj Law passed by the Maharashtra Assembly.  The new mission is to channelize the current national fervor, to put many more selfless persons into the 'house of power' and achieve the needed goals stated above.  Such persons: Rashtra Sevaks, Rajya Sevaks, Zilla Sevaks, Nagar Sevaks, Gram Sevaks, chosen directly and only by the citizens, at all levels: Rashtra, Rajya, Zilla, Nagar and Gram, will eliminate all forms of Raj Shahi and bring in Lok Shahi, as was envisioned by the Mahatma and other important leaders of the past century. Their attitude will be of 'andolankaari's focused on service to the citizens.  Strong persons are needed to work as a team, and introduce/frame laws and policies to achieve the dream of an 'all inclusive resurgent India', by eliminating: VIP perks, nepotism, 3D poison, influence of money-muscle-power and other similar evils from the corridors of national power.  Such persons will have to work under the umbrella of an 'andolan type political party' and expose/prevent further misdeeds by the tainted MPs and MLAs and bring in reforms and fine tune national and state institutions. The mission for them will be to substantially improve the political and governance culture at all levels.  It is expected that such persons will offer only five years of their lives for nation building and then make way for others like themselves.  India has talent and capable persons, in all age groups, who are patiently biding time and opportunity for selfless national work, prepared to live simple ordinary lives to enable India to set new and better global standards.  The evils in India that seem to be the norm will have to be made rare and episodic. 

India can wait no longer.  The year 2014 brings an opportunity for Volunteers to persuade citizens to vote to bring in the best that India can offer.  These Volunteers will continue work at mohalla level and identify local persons who are acceptable representatives, to majority of citizens there.  Volunteers will study the electoral rolls and get removed non-existent voters, register new voters, engage youth for this cause and prepare for the coming national elections and for some state elections.  All planning and discussions must be Participatory, Accountable and Transparent (PAT) with a strong dose of Decentralization and Integrity. 

It is accepted that many well meaning dedicated citizens and activists will not find this a satisfactory mission and will therefore work for other constitutional methods.  They are welcome to follow their desires and also raise relevant issues and get them resolved/accepted at regular Volunteer public meets and various forums of the digital age.  It must be understood that this mission is being fine tuned even now and was taken up only when about 90% of citizens, Volunteers and Supporters at the recent 25th July 2012 agitation, across the nation, found it satisfactory.  This is an opinion poll subscribed to by tens of thousands of responsible selfless citizens.  Let those who object, not insult this choice but work to make politics and politicians a positive word.  Vande Maatarum.  Jai Hind.