Nothing For Common Man In Govt's Lokpal Draft: Team Anna

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday demanded that the entire government machinery be brought under the proposed Lokpal Bill to protect people from corruption.

Hazare said that while the government was reluctant to bring its entire machinery under Lokpal, it had brought 4.5 lakh NGOs under it.

"Not all NGOs are clean, but can anyone deny that the NGOs have done work that even the government wasn't able to?" he asked.

Hazare termed corruption as worse than terrorism emanating from Pakistan and accused the UPA government of being insincere in fighting it.

"The RTI Act has helped exposed scandals, such as the Adarsh and CWG scams. But the guilty haven't been sent to jail. An effective Lokpal Bill is needed to ensure that."

Hazare also demanded that the CBI be brought under the purview of Lokpal to effectively fight corruption.

"The CBI isn't able to book the guilty as it's under the government's control," Hazare said a day after unsuccessful final negotiations between the government and civil society representatives of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee.

The two sides came up with their own versions of the Lokpal Bill draft and Hazare vowed to go ahead with his anti-corruption stir beginning from August 16.

Activist Kiran Bedi called the government's draft of the Lokpal Bill a "hoax". "There is nothing for the common man in it," she said.