NEW DELHI: In this season of Lokpal drafting, one of his over-the-top demands is to introduce capital punishment for the corrupt. Close on the heels of the National Advisory Council's blueprint to revamp the land acquisition Act, Baba Ramdev came up with the demand that this 115-year-old legislation be "banned" altogether. The charter of 10 demands made in connection with his fast also said that, in this age of galloping inflation, the government should demonetize currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.
Other than making dogmatic assertions about their efficacy, the charter offers little by way of explanation, empirical data or expert opinions to make a case for his demands. Take the cursory manner in which Ramdev demanded death or lifetime imprisonment for those convicted of corruption, although it constitutes a quantum leap from the maximum sentence of seven years that could be given under the current law. All that Ramdev's charter said was: "The only reason that corruption is so widespread today is that there is no punishment for the corrupt and they enjoy luxurious freedom in spite of putting the nation at stake."
Similarly, for his proposal of banning the land acquisition Act, the charter makes rhetorical generalizations without offering any alternative. "This Act was brought by the Britishers to loot us and what a shame that we still have this law and it is also being used to loot poor farmers who are the people providing and catering to the hunger needs of our nation. This agricultural loot needs to be stopped NOW!"
Apart from such denunciation, there is no attempt in the charter to explain how any land could be acquired for future project in the absence of any law on the subject.
Ramdev's reasoning for the recall of high denomination currency notes is another example of cutting the nose to spite the face. For, all he said was that currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 make it "easier for corrupt people to transport, carry and store large sums of money for the purpose of illegal and corrupt dealings."
What about its repercussions for the economy? "There is no use of these notes when over 80 crore people in our country live on a daily income of Rs 20 and never get the luxury of even seeing a Rs 500 note."
Among such fuzzy demands, the most actionable are perhaps the two pertaining to black money stashed abroad. While one calls for an ordinance declaring accounts of Indians in tax havens as "national property", the other conversely wants the stashing of black money in those places to be declared as "national crime" or "raj droh". But again, the charter, though big on vision, does not suggest any enforceable provisions for the proposed law. Nor does it explain how such statutory declarations would make any tangible difference to the black money or corruption problem.
This is not the first time that this wildly popular evangelist of yoga and ayurveda has taken extreme or ill-thought-out positions. Recall the manner in which two years ago, Ramdev rushed to the SC against the historic Delhi high court decision decriminalizing consensual sex among adults of the same sex. Deploring the high court verdict as an attack on "moral values", he said, "Right to privacy as an aspect of right to life cannot include the right to enjoy deviant sexual preferences and sexual behavior."
Other than making dogmatic assertions about their efficacy, the charter offers little by way of explanation, empirical data or expert opinions to make a case for his demands. Take the cursory manner in which Ramdev demanded death or lifetime imprisonment for those convicted of corruption, although it constitutes a quantum leap from the maximum sentence of seven years that could be given under the current law. All that Ramdev's charter said was: "The only reason that corruption is so widespread today is that there is no punishment for the corrupt and they enjoy luxurious freedom in spite of putting the nation at stake."
Similarly, for his proposal of banning the land acquisition Act, the charter makes rhetorical generalizations without offering any alternative. "This Act was brought by the Britishers to loot us and what a shame that we still have this law and it is also being used to loot poor farmers who are the people providing and catering to the hunger needs of our nation. This agricultural loot needs to be stopped NOW!"
Apart from such denunciation, there is no attempt in the charter to explain how any land could be acquired for future project in the absence of any law on the subject.
Ramdev's reasoning for the recall of high denomination currency notes is another example of cutting the nose to spite the face. For, all he said was that currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 make it "easier for corrupt people to transport, carry and store large sums of money for the purpose of illegal and corrupt dealings."
What about its repercussions for the economy? "There is no use of these notes when over 80 crore people in our country live on a daily income of Rs 20 and never get the luxury of even seeing a Rs 500 note."
Among such fuzzy demands, the most actionable are perhaps the two pertaining to black money stashed abroad. While one calls for an ordinance declaring accounts of Indians in tax havens as "national property", the other conversely wants the stashing of black money in those places to be declared as "national crime" or "raj droh". But again, the charter, though big on vision, does not suggest any enforceable provisions for the proposed law. Nor does it explain how such statutory declarations would make any tangible difference to the black money or corruption problem.
This is not the first time that this wildly popular evangelist of yoga and ayurveda has taken extreme or ill-thought-out positions. Recall the manner in which two years ago, Ramdev rushed to the SC against the historic Delhi high court decision decriminalizing consensual sex among adults of the same sex. Deploring the high court verdict as an attack on "moral values", he said, "Right to privacy as an aspect of right to life cannot include the right to enjoy deviant sexual preferences and sexual behavior."
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