On the second and third consecutive days of Anna Hazare’s call for agitation over implementation of recommendations to curb corruption, very few found the opportunity to display their protest. The reason cited for such a low response is said to be the tripartite split in the concerns raised by the andolan.

The first demand is to address the farmer’s distress. Anna Hazare, through the agitation is trying to make the demand for the farmers to be compensated with at least 50 percent more that the cost of production of crops and also those farmers who are at the age of 60 and are solely dependent on agrarian activities be granted a monthly pension of Rs 5,000 a month and that the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Price (CAPC) be made an autonomous institution.

The second demand is the implementation of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 and to take action over the issue of appointment of Lokyuktas, an anti-corruption ombudsman organization in the Indian states. Apart from that, there is also a demand of forgoing the 2016 amendments in relation to the declaration of assets and liabilities by public servants, because of the reason that they weaken the said law.

The Lokpal Act, as per the amendments, requires a public servant to make clear about all his assets and liabilities along with that of spouse and dependent children, which must be made to the competent authority within at total of 30 days of entering the office.

Further, the public servant must file an annual return of such assets and liabilities by 31 July each year and the Lokpal Act of 2013 mandates that statements of declarations be published on the website of the relevant Ministry by 31 August of the same year. But, the 2016 bill states that a public servant shall be required to declare all his assets and liabilities but the form and manner of making such a declaration will be prescribed by the Union government.

The third demand of the andolan which is also the final one is the use of ballot paper during elections in the wake of rising doubts over EVM hacks. It also demands the use of totalizer machines for counting of votes. He also advocates the demand of the Right to Reject that extends the NOTA ( None of the above ) principle and invalidates the election in cases where a majority of the voters have chosen to select the NOTA button.

At last, he is also taking side of the demand for the Right to Recall. In 2017, Varun Gandhi had introduced a private bill that demanded an amendment to the Representation of People Act, 1951 and suggested conferring on the electorate an option of recall that can be initiated by any elector through a recall petition signed by one-fourth of the total number of electors.

Unlike in the year 2012, where there was a clear-cut cause, of installing stringent checks on graft within the system in the form of the Jan Lokpal Bill, this time around the issues seem too much scattered and somewhat ambitious for any system to accept all at once.

You May Also Read: Supreme Court Orders To Maintain Status Quo On Jat Quota In Haryana