Indian anti-corruption bill tabled in parliament
A recent survey said corruption in India cost billions of dollars
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A controversial bill which aims to set up an anti-corruption watchdog has been introduced in the lower house of the Indian parliament.
Activists have criticised the Lokpal Bill for failing to include the prime minister and senior judiciary within the remit of a new ombudsman.
Activist Anna Hazare has called the bill a "cruel joke". He said he would go on hunger strike from 16 August.
India has recently been hit by a string of high-profile corruption scandals.
Scandal allegations
Activists led by Mr Hazare have been pushing the government for a strong ombudsman who will have the power to investigate corruption charges against the prime minister, senior judges and MPs, among others.
Last Thursday, the government approved a draft of the law which allows citizens to approach the ombudsman with complaints against federal ministers and bureaucrats, who are protected under India's present anti-corruption laws.
But the campaigners and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have criticised the government's decision to keep the prime minister and senior judges out of the proposed law.
Mr Hazare went on a hunger strike in April to protest against government inaction on corruption.
Some of the recent corruption allegations to have rocked India include a multi-billion dollar telecoms scandal, financial malpractices in connection with the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and the diversion of houses for war widows to civil servants.
Critics of the government say the recent allegations point to a pervasive culture of corruption in Mr Singh's administration - adding to the difficulties of a politician once seen as India's most honest.
A recent survey said corruption in India cost billions of dollars and threatened to derail growth.
A bill to eliminate corruption has been introduced into the lower house of India's parliament, but critics including lawyers and human rights activists are skeptical of the measures contained.

The Draft , introduced into parliament on Thursday, seeks to establish an ombudsman, or Lokpal, to investigate wrongdoing by government and officials. It comes after decades of campaigning against government corruption and the hunger strike of anti-corruption activist  earlier this year.

But the bill has been heavily criticized by Indian activists and lawyers who claim that it does not meet the needs of the people and will not free the country from corruption.

The exemption of the prime minister and other members of parliament from being investigated will prevent it from working successfully, they argue. "There is no substance in the discussion that the prime minister should be out of the Lokpal Bill," a judge on the  said on Wednesday, speaking outside his official capacity.

Following his hunger strike in April, Hazare pushed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to re-introduce the Lokpal Bill into Parliament. But he has condemned its current form calling it "a cruel joke." Hazare will again protest to have the draft bill revised and changed. "I will start my hunger strike from August sixteenth," he said.

, general secretary of the , yesterday said that the bill will set up "a very weak Lokpal – a Lokpal that has no effective powers". He also said that allowing government officials to appoint the Lokpal would affect its independence. 

After meeting with lawyers of the  Friday, members from , a citizen's movement, said that the lawyers agreed that the introduced Lokpal Bill would not get rid of corruption in India. 

Mark Dummit, from ''The BBC'', said that there is no guarantee that the bill will be passed. Past attempts have been denied by the upper house of Parliament since 1969.


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