How many more watchdogs do we need?

India is not a stranger to scams. In fact we are so used to them that we are often accused of having become compacent about them. The current scenario definitely entails a review of this general perception. The rapid succession with which the scams came to be exposed, the mammoth amounts of moneys that allegedly changed hands and last, but not the least, the callousness exhibited by our Prime Minister in the mockery he made of the concept of 'collective responsibility' of the council of ministers, finally seems to have shaken us out of our stupor.

The response Mr. Hazare's fast-unto-death evoked is certainly heartening, not only for its immediate implications, but also, because it is stirring the common man to contribute in his own ways to political debates (The last time I saw this sort of public outrage expressed across the board was during the anti-reservation protests in June, 2006). The necessity of the bill that Mr. Hazare is fasting for can hardly be overstated. An ombudsman (lokpal) to oversee constitutional bigshots like the Prime Minister and the Supreme Judiciary can only strengthen the public accountability of these functionaries and it will be a step in the right direction. But there is more to tackling corruption than just the creation legislative framework.

Yesterday, I happened to watch a debate on a news channel on the various legal aspects of this situation. Two very important issues were raised during this debate
1. The rising influence of NAC (a non-elected body) in drafting laws and
2. The need for new laws to tackle corruption and the aspect of better law enforcement

The first point, I think, is only a technical issue. Elections are only an instrument of ascertaining people's will. Even if NAC is not elected, it is headed by Mrs. Gandhi, who is a member of Parliament. Secondly, the bills that are drafted by it, will still have to be passed by the Parliament to become laws. I don't see any subversion of Parliament's jurisdiction in NAC's drafting laws. In any case, most of the laws are drafted by civil servants, who are not elected either.

It is the second point that, I think, needs serious attention. Not to disparage or dishearten the excitement generated by Mr. Hazare's fast, but we, for some years now, have developed a sort of watchdog syndrome in India. When the Constitution was drafted more than 60 years ago, we had 4 official watchdogs (the CAG, the Supreme Court, the UPSC, the Election Commission) to oversee the working of the government. As years passed, we kept piling up new layers over this first stratum. The 70's brought the CBI and the Central Vigilance Commission. Both bodies have managed to disappoint us thoroughly. Then came the National Human Rights Commission, Central Information Commission. And now the Lokpal. We are creating new watchdogs either because the old watchdogs are ineffective or because the old watchdogs (CVC and CBI) need their own sets of watchdogs to make sure that they are not malfunctioning. Now, the government is mulling the proposal of a National Judicial Council to curb the corruption in the Judiciary! Not to mention our fifth and the unofficial watchdog, the media, has also disappointed us and there are demands for creating a separate and more effective watchdog for it too. Where does this rising spiral really end?

The current scenario is betraying a certain level of prevalent naivete by portraying the Lokpal bill as a panacea to corruption. If a set of legislations and numerous constitutional and statutory bodies have failed to check this menace, then surely, we are overlooking some very important aspects of the issue. We need to dig deeper, if we are to really tackle it. I can think of two such aspects here,
1. Law enforcement - Do we have adequate machinery for law enforcement?
2. Respect for the rule of law.

The second point in my opinion needs special attention because it is upto us, the citizens of this country. Do we respect the law of the land? In every single small thing that we do in our day to day lives, do we respect our constitution? Are we really a civil society? Bribery is a very narrow definition of corruption that we have conveniently adopted. Unfortunately the problem runs much deeper into the fabric of our society. I can think of a thousand ways in which we keep flouting the rule of law in everyday lives with the same callousness that our representatives exhibit in running this
nation.

Trashing, spitting and smoking in public places, breaking traffic rules are only a few of the trivial (and often overlooked) levels at which it all starts and culminates into sums as huge as 1.7 lakh crores. We must realise that the government consists of people's representatives, and at least to a certain extent, they are a reflection of the society they claim to represent. Now that we have woken up and taken to the streets to support Mr. Hazare, the second and the more important step would be to ask ourselves - Are we ready to discipline ourselves to act as responsible citizens of this country? If not, do we have the right to judge our politicians?