Anna Advocates Gandhian Model of Development

By Hemanta Pande: On his three day visit to Odisha, anti-graft crusader Anna  Hazare held a press-meet at the state guest house in Bhubaneswar and  addressed the media. At the very outset, he preached Gandhian ideology of development. He said, “India needs a Gandhian model of development.” “Villages should be focused. If villages develop, the country will develop,” he added. He said, development should approach two things….one, focus to rural areas and the other, to check the corruption. These two things can only trigger to develop our nation.

On FDI, he said, FDI will not help our nation and particularly the poor. Though FDI can provide some employment but in return it will ruin our environment by polluting air, water, land so on and so forth. More importantly, if we calculate the profit and loss after some years , the loss will be more than the profit and we wouldn’t have the nature and environment  for the next generation. He also raised his voice against POSCO in his address at Jagatsinghpur farmer rally on Friday.

Regarding Lokpal bill, he said, “earlier the government assured me in writing to have a Lokayukta  in every state ; employees of all categories, from grade I to grade IVth , would come under Lokpal; and the corrupt officers are to  be  punished; and the bill was passed in the parliament.” But sadly, one and half years later, the government made a reverse talk regarding the Lokpal Bill and said the state  governments will make their own Lokpal bil. If Jan Lokpal Bill comes into force, at least 65 percent of corruption will be checked.

Hardly 10 paise of a rupee that is allocated for the rural areas, reaches the true beneficiary.  The poor become the victim of corruption.  They have to suffer worst in price –rise of their necessary goods. To overcome these problems and check corruption, we need  a strong Jan Lokpal Bill.

To a question- to bring change India, one need to come in power to rule…. What is his stand? He said, since, 26th January 1950 the people are the ultimate ruler in our democracy. They are more powerful than the parliament and the parliamentarians.  The people including his team are for to fight against corruption not against any government.

There are as many as 165 tainted MPs are in Parliament and 35 ministers with corrupt and criminal charges are holding the office. In order to oust such tainted leaders we need right to reject and right to recall provision.

Answering on whether he will support the candidates of other political parties besides Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party if he finds a person of clean image, he denied. He said , he knew Kejriwal for some years and impressed with his devotion and sacrifice towards the  nation. But other leaders are to obey their party whip.

Regarding a question…… if given a chance whether he will join any government bodies and serve the nation….. He said earlier he served in Planning Commission in various states including Odisha, MP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. He is ready to work in such government institutions without any remuneration.

Regarding the recent implementation of the Direct Cash Transfer scheme, he said though it will check the corruption but he still fears whether the scheme reaches to the true beneficiary or not since most of benefit of welfare programmes  reach to the political workers or the relatives of the party leaders or officers.

On a question on why does not he address Odisha’s corruption in mining sector, which is said to be more than 2G scam ,he said , why don’t the  people of the  this land raise the issue?. He also said there is need of thousands of Anna Hazares and Kejriwals to address such issue and curb corruption.

At last, he concluded with …. There is a need of wide scale awareness campaign throughout the country as to fight the corruption and secondly, to vote a right person for a better India.