Daily Bhaskar:Monday, November 28, 2011.
Ahmedabad: Anna Hazare may have brought corruption to the political centre stage but not everybody sees it as a magic potion that will end corruption overnight. TR Raghunandan, who together with the NGO, Janaagraha, began the 'I Paid a Bribe' website, warned that the Lokpal will not be a magic wand that will solve the problem of corruption.
"It will take the Lokpal Bill at least 5 years to start showing results in the fight against corruption," said Raghunandan. He was speaking to journalists at Confluence-2011 organised by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
He said that for the Lokpal bill to be as effective as the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the bar needs to be set very high.
"The RTI gives power to the people to fight corruption through information. The Lokpal will be a regulatory body and, hence, will take time to evolve," said Raghunandan.
He said that compared to the situation prevailing earlier, in the last one decade the pressure from various groups to fight corruption had risen.
"There is a pressure for change. Corruption is hogging the limelight even in the media. The government has also shown more willingness to engage in the process of reforms," said the former IAS officer.
He further said that there was more to corruption than mere bribery. Corruption cannot be tackled merely by bringing about a change in the value system, he said.
"Several countries have drastically brought down corruption in just 20 years. This was not done by merely addressing the value-system of nations," he said.
"Several countries have drastically brought down corruption in just 20 years. This was not done by merely addressing the value-system of nations," he said.