Lokpal Bill: Anna Hazare and group to declare assets

New Delhi, April 15: Almost a week after awakening an entire nation to the vicious grip of corruption that engulfed them in every possible aspect of governance, Anna Hazare and his supporters will now sit with politicians to draft the "Lokpal Bill" that is acceptable to all.

Anna Hazare, Shanti Bhushan, Santosh Hegde, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal- the group of five members nominated by the civil society for the Joint Committee are all set to declare personal statements of their assets and liabilities, on April 15.

The move to declare assets is likely to pressurise the members from the government side, to do something similar to endorse transparency in governance.

Representatives of the committee, from the government side has heavyweights like Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, as the chairman, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Law Minister Veerappa Moily, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed.

Scheduled to take place in the North Block around 11:30 hrs on April 15, the Joint Committee meeting will be the first of its kind to have civil society members at par with top central government ministers to draft the legislation.

Bowing before the pressure created by Anna"s campaign and the mass support to it, the government had issued a notification constituting a Joint Drafting Committee, comprising equal number of members from the civil society and the government, to prepare a draft of the "Lokpal Bill."

OneIndia News