Indian PM says watchdog alone cannot end graft

Indian police arrest
a supporter of Indian social activist Anna Hazare
in New Delhi on August 22

New Delhi (CNN) -- India's prime minister Monday called for reforms in the country's slow-paced judicial system as a key measure to fighting corruption as he discounted the notion that a citizen ombudsman alone can eradicate deeply-entrenched graft.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a management institute in Calcutta in eastern India that his government though was open to dialogue with campaigners demanding an anti-corruption watchdog with sweeping powers.
His comments came as 74-year-old activist Anna Hazare's hunger strike entered its seventh day at a large protest site in New Delhi, packed by thousands of supporters.
Hazare has set August 30 as a deadline for parliament to pass a bill drafted by members of the civil society to create a Lokpal, or citizen ombudsman. The campaigner rejects the government's version of the legislation already tabled in the elected national assembly, saying it's too weak.
In his speech in Calcutta, Singh reiterated that his government believed concerns over the proposed law should be conveyed to lawmakers and a parliamentary committee scrutinizing the Lokpal bill.
"We are open to a reasoned debate on all these issues," he remarked.
Singh, however, disagreed that a Lokpal could become the ultimate solution to tackling corruption.
"The creation of the Lokpal as an institution will help. But it will not solve the problem. It needs to be supported by improvements in the pace and quality of judicial processes," he said.
The Indian leader suggested speeding up India's justice system, notorious for its sluggishness and how long it takes to settle lawsuits.
"Speedy trials and timely judgments will do a great deal to discourage corruption and dispel the notion that those who break the law can get away scot-free. This requires a number of judicial reforms," he said.
Meantime, Hazare continued his fast at New Delhi's Ramlila Grounds, a day after he made a rare appeal to his supporters to hold sit-ins at the homes of lawmakers until they agree to the civil-society draft of the Lokpal bill that the government has not accepted in full.
New Delhi's police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told CNN that officers had removed demonstrators surrounding houses of elected leaders from different locations in the city. There were no detentions, he said.
Police had no immediate details about how many protesters had gathered outside the homes of parliamentarians after Hazare's call.
In his dramatic comments Sunday, the elderly campaigner also described public gatherings as superior to the federal assembly.
"... the people's parliament is over and above New Delhi's parliament. It is this people's parliament that has created that (elected) parliament," Hazare said.
Some observers, however, disapproved of the activist's protest tactics modeled after hunger strikes of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi as he fought the British rule.
"Mr. Hazare is well within his rights to hold protests. But to say, 'You accept my bill and nothing else,' might amount to coercing the government and parliament," constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap said.
He, however, described Hazare's support base as a clear indication of public disaffection with chronic corruption.
"I think most of the people may (not know) what Lokpal or Jan Lokpal bills are and about their implications. They have hit the streets because they are frustrated with this corruption and also with the government's handling of the whole issue," Kashyap said.
Nonetheless, he warned that democratic bodies should be allowed to work in accordance with laid-down norms.
"In the name of corruption, you cannot demolish democratic institutions. You cannot throw the baby with the bath-water," Kashyap said.
Experts also believe the South Asian nation is required to carry out a range of reforms to overhaul its systems.
"Corruption is a systemic problem. A Lokpal may be curative, but it can't be preventive as far as corruption is concerned. We need systemic, administrative and, above all, political and electoral reforms," Kashyap added.
On Saturday, a leading civil-rights activist, Aruna Roy, echoed similar views on Hazare's campaign.
"I think (Hazare) is ill-advised. Anyone who says, 'My view should be the only view,' is wrong," said Roy of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information.

"We must assert our rights. But to get rid of these (democratic) institutions would be a great disaster for all the people in this country," she warned.