The Lokpal bill is an anticorruption bill which aims to set up an independent ombudsman to investigate and prosecute politicians and civil servants. The bill was presented by the Congress Party led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The bill aims to pacify the protests led by Anna Hazare, an anti-corruption activist. Anna Hazare has dismissed the bill as “weak and useless”.
The Prime Minister said that Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) would not come within the ambit of Lokpal bill and CBI should operate independent of the Government and Lokpal bill.
BBC News India reports that although the bill was passed in the lower house of parliament, it was a mixed success as a separate bill to give constitutional status to the ombudsman was defeated in the lower house.
![[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”237″,”attributes”:{“class”:”media-image size-thumbnail wp-image-48″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”style”:””,”width”:”150″,”height”:”150″,”title”:”manmohan-singh”,”alt”:”Manmohan Singh”}}]]](http://www.corruption.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/manmohan-singh.jpg){kind=link}