Are you angry? Are you sad?

Are you angry? Are you sad?

1.      In a few weeks or months, we will have a new institution based on some version of the Lokpal Bill. That is a near certainty. Will it investigate, prosecute and judge? I do not know. Will it work? Do you know?

2.      I have downloaded most of the documents (Jan, Govt, the differences, etc.) from the website of ‘India Against Corruption’. To tell you the truth, it puts me to sleep. I am just a layman without any legal education and I am equally put off by ‘legal-speak’ and ‘gutter-speak’.

3.      But, before sleeping, I did notice that the two Bills did agree to have the same pay package for selected officers. The rest is quite irrelevant and negotiable, I feel. If they had disagreed on the pay package, then the Bill would have been doomed for sure.

4. Before succumbing to the soporific effect, a small doubt crept into my mind. By now, everyone knows that one of the versions has ‘teeth’ and the other is ‘toothless’ against corruption. For me, with my layman’s eyes, one seems to hold the accused guilty till proven innocent and the other seems to hold the accused innocent till proven guilty. That is just my doubt about the middle-class anger raging across the country. Is civil society trying to be a lynch squad?

5.      Now, with regard to new institutions, I was reminded about that which used to happen in Academia. I know of at least three new institutes that were started to accommodate a retiring big-wig who had enough clout in the government to get at least partial funding. There, in those institutes, the big-wig and his cronies were allowed to vegetate and be Director or Director Emeritus or Professor Emeritus for life. I should also add that these new institutes were not bad at all, by any standards. (I should add in passing that such thoughts arise in my mind even when a State announces that they are going to start a new IIT rather than restructure existing Universities.)

6.      Is that going to be the case with the new institution based on the Lokpal Bill? From where are we going to get those ‘few good people’ who will have to investigate, prosecute and judge without a corrupted mind and without political affiliations, too? This elite force will have to understand a wide range of topics like legal issues, accounting and audit, international finance, highly technical engineering projects and the latest in infrastructure development just to name a few. That kind of ‘good men’ must be surely holding a reasonable and challenging position currently. What happens to that office or will a vacuum be created out there?

7.      By now, every Indian is in love with Anna Hazare. Isn’t he a cute old man? He reminds me of my grandfather. My grandfather was a darling but a man of fixed convictions and rigid positions. Even during Onam, my cousins and I were not encouraged to play all day; my cousins had to cut grass, feed and clean the cows, and do all the other daily stuff which would spoil a good Onam. I never did any work (even then, I confess) and I tried to argue my case with him but he never listened. He had a point, I agree; but so did I. Ah! Where was I? Oh yes, Anna Hazare…now, why did I think about all that?

8.      I used to admire one of Hazare’s team members – Kiran Bedi, of course. Haven’t we all, at some point of time, told our daughters and sisters to be like her? Of course, due to plain male chauvinism, I never advised my wife to be like her. But these days, I have been telling my wife, too, to be like Kiran Bedi. She is sounding less formidable.

9.      Do you know what I expected from people like Kiran Bedi? I wanted her to use her knowledge and experience to revamp the police force and units like the CBI (assuming that they are all corrupt and totally influenced by corrupt politicians). Maybe, she has her views on all that but I can only hear her views on this new institution based on the Lokpal Bill. Has she lost faith in her old institution?

10. It is the same with the Bhushans. Both are supposed to be eminent lawyers. I expected them to fight tooth and nail for reforms of legal process to make the judiciary really function in this country. It is stupid to expect to fight corruption with a judiciary that is bogged down by overload and highly objectionable practices like long delays, indefinite stays, frequent adjournments and other reasons like corruption and influence starting right from the low-level officers, even independent counselors. We have already got good laws and good judges, too. Can’t we do more to make the judiciary more user-friendly rather than being just lawyer-friendly? Maybe, the middle-class never enters the court for civil cases (definitely not for criminal cases, I hope). Maybe, the middle-class is not affected by property or divorce issues, by corruption or other framed charges, by not even being able to think of taking an employer to court for bad practices. I do not think so. Have the Bhushans also lost faith in their own institution or are they protecting their own turf? To tell you the truth, I am sad rather than angry with this loss of faith.

11. Finally, like Anna Hazare, I am really glad to see the young so involved in the Hazare movement against corruption. I think I saw on the webpage of the Times of India that IIT-IIMs are also supporting the fight against corruption. My generation (including me, of course) and the lot before mine are the corrupt idiots who reduced India to this pathetic, corrupt state. Forget those generations, put them and me in exile, we were just ‘old goofies’ (as my thesis supervisor used to describe). It gives me great pleasure to see these young people who promise not to be corrupt.

12. As part of my earlier professional life, I had to recruit, train and work with very smart (if not exceptional) young people. Most were from the IIT-IIM lot. They were like me and my blighted generation in lots of ways. They used to play the system, take the maximum by giving the minimum. They used the office phone to talk to wife or partner for hours. They used the internet for their personal needs during office time (the office did not allow access to social networking sites and external e-mail services, unfortunately). Most of the young ones had opted out of higher-education, research and development to be on the path to be managers and money-minters. They had a good grasp of shady finance deals and products, how to trade them without blinking an eye at the customer and to even cook the books, if required. Some were exceptional in six-sigma or supply-chain stuff. They could view a human workforce like an automated machine, stand behind workers with a stop-watch, time them and suggest drastic steps to restructure businesses.

13. But, that was that young lot who used to work and live during my time. I am glad that the young gathered in front of Hazare promise to lead us away from all that – to be ethical, non-corrupt and very angry with offenders.

14. I should be angry, I know. But, I am sad.

15. And, you? Are you angry? Or, are you sad?

16. Anyway, I hope the actual law-makers are not really sad or angry. Laws need an understanding of human frailty, even that of the current good. Niti and nyaya have to keep in mind that a Raavan might try to appear as Ram. That is, of course, the Indian way of saying that one should be very careful about any new law – to make sure the monster created does not return to torment its creator Dr Frankenstein:

“You are my creator, but I am your master—obey!”