Anna welcomes govt's move to release Lokpal tapes

New Delhi: Anna Hazare has welcomed the government's sudden change of heart in the face of an RTI query on making public the audio recordings of the Jan Lokpal Bill drafting committee meetings. Anna said this leads to greater transparency and that is something that would restore the people's faith in the government.

But sources say the disclosure of the committee proceedings will be selective and that nothing which would hamper the government's work in drafting the Lokpal Bill or which embarrasses the government will be disclosed.

After more than half a dozen meetings and a series of backroom talks, the government and Team Anna failed to arrive at a consensus on the Lokpal Bill, leading to the confrontation and Anna's fast at Ramlila Maidan. Nearly a month after Parliament finally resolved to enact an effective Lokpal, the real points of contentions between Team Anna and the government could now be out in the public domain with the government agreeing to make audio recordings of the Lokpal joint drafting committee public.

Sources say elements not impinging on the jurisdiction or working of the Parliamentary Standing Committee currently scrutinising the bill will be made available. Earlier the Department of Personnel and Training had sought opinion of the Law Ministry to make public the records of the closed door meetings between the five member Anna Hazare team with government nominees.

"Whatever is allowed and necessary under the RTI will be allowed," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

However, former Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde said, "My only problem is that if they edit it or if they do it in the manner not in the larger interest of the conversation that took place between the two groups, then it will create some controversy."

Anna Hazare and his team have already upped the ante by campaigning against the Congress in the Hisar by-polls and they are preparing to take the battle to other state elections if the bill is not passed in the winter session of Parliament.

Hazare’s lawyer writes to Moily over statements on RTI

Reacting to an interview of Veerappa Moily about RTI and its effects published in The Indian Express on Sunday, Anna Hazare’s lawyer Milind Pawar has written to Moily stating that his statements were in contradiction to the promise made by Union government to Hazare. Moily had stated that the RTI transgresses into independent functioning of the government. A copy of the letter has also been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The interview, which was published on September 25, quotes Moily as saying, “In the context of RTI exposures, people are misreading things. Transparency, yes, but it cannot scuttle the independence of individuals and ministries expressing difference of opinion. It’s time for a national debate on this issue.”

The letter to Moily says Hazare had undertaken a fast in 2007 for RTI, during which the Central government had promised transparency through RTI. “‘The public has a right to know the decisions made by ministers. There is no need to amend the Act or bring about a fresh discussion on the same,” it says. Pawar said the \letter had been sent in consultation with Hazare.

Youths seek protection to carry on anti-corruption campaign

CHENNAI: Two youths who fasted for 11 days in Chennai to express solidarity with anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, on Thursday asked activist Aruna Roy for protection to carry on the campaign as they felt disturbed by the murder of seasoned RTI activist Shehla Masood.

"If even a good RTI activist like Shehla Masood can be killed, we need guarantee against victimisation," Sharan Cheryn, who aspires for a career in the Indian Administrative Service, said. He was supported by Tamil Selvan, a trainee with a software technology firm. The duo said realisation had dawned that they had to act as a group to carry the movement forward.

Aruna Roy who heard them at an interaction organised by the city-based Prajnya Trust with the media and civil society members, agreed that activists needed to have some kind of institutional backing and reiterated that collective decision-making and action was the mantra of the hour.

The youth participants said they were confused about the conclusions to draw from Anna's fast. Aruna Roy advised the activists to fight smaller battles. "The energy you gain from the small successes will prepare you for the bigger battles," she said. The National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information (NCPRI) considered this lull period as a "time for reflection, consolidation and stabilising of the movement against corruption", she said.

Replying to whether the movement had lost steam post-Anna fast and government's response to place Jan Lokpal bill before Parliamentary Standing Committee, she said there is "no dip in the movement."

Roy said activists needed institutional backing and collective action and decision-making.