Following the talks by Team Anna and Pranab Mukherjee, the ray of light was evident till today morning 11 a.m, when Anna Hazare did declare that the government has to compromise on its demands and it is now afraid of loosing funds if we have a honest nation. Speaking to the public at Ramlila Maidan today at 11 am, the activist said that:
"The venue for sacrifice is already there around the country and I have lost only 6 kilos which is nothing compared to it. Its your power that keeps me strong through the fight"
With the weakening health of the 74 year old activist, the medics are at aid around the maidan. Speaking to the media the doctors mentioned that he had slept through night and this has helped in improving the situation and Anna woke up in the morning to address the public by 11 a.m. Anna also slammed the government for not presenting the bill over the parliament.
After the talks there has been a lot of issues for which the government of India has compromised on which includes the inclusion of the Prime Minister under lokpal and in return the activists have agreed on excluding Judges from the bill and they will be addressed through the Judicial Accountability Bill which is set to be introduced along with the Lokpal Bill.
The only set of differences that is active is the inclusion of junior bureaucrats under the bill and also whether the individual states should formulate their own version of Lokpal bill, the government is firm on the stand that junior bureaucrats should be excluded from the bill otherwise, there will be an inclusion of 20,000 required for the lokpal commission to work effectively and this might rather slow the process. The activists are also demanding a public charter in each government department which should detail the duties of each official and there should be penalties employed in case of under performance. The talks are still stuck at these issues and we hope that there is the proper solution brought out by 3.30 evening which is the time set by the government to hold an all-party meeting including the opposition to discuss on this topic.
Earlier, the finance minister to India, Pranab Mukherjee, who holds the chair in discussions mentioned that the talks were fruiful and constructive, which did give the light to activists that the hunger fast held by Anna Hazare against corruption might end by today. Prime minister of India, also expressed his concern over Anna's health and wrote to him to allow medics to check his health. The minister also expressed his desire to stop Anna's fast by today before the Iftar party that the minister is due to attend.
Prime minister also mentioned that he is ready to have the Jan Lokpal Bill, the anna's version of Lokpal bill to be discussed by the parliamentary committee, but team Anna wants this bill to be directly introduced to the parliament and debated there. As the current session of parliament is to end by September 8, the critics believe that this will be an unrealistic demand to keep!
