Indian parliament braces for graft bill showdown

The Indian government was to submit two key bills to parliament Thursday, including anti-corruption legislation that risks triggering a repeat of mass protests that rocked the country in August.

The proposed law would create a powerful new ombudsman, or "Lokpal", tasked with probing and prosecuting senior politicians and civil servants suspected of graft.

An original draft -- deemed too weak by its critics -- saw millions of people take to the streets of cities across India four months ago to denounce the corruption that permeates all levels of Indian society.

The protests were spearheaded by veteran activist Anna Hazare, who held a public hunger strike in New Delhi that galvanised public opinion and forced the government to redraft the bill.

The cabinet approved a new version on Tuesday and Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress party, vowed to steer its passage through parliament over the objections of opposition MPs and the Hazare campaign.

Opposition parties have said they will insist on amendments to the new bill, which Hazare has condemned as a "betrayal" of the Indian people.

The 74-year-old activist -- feted by his supporters as a latter-day Mahatma Gandhi -- has vowed to conduct a fresh, three-day hunger strike in Mumbai from December 27.

The main points of contention focus on the ambit of the ombudsman's office and its powers of investigation.

The government bill offers only limited jurisdiction over the prime minister and requires the ombudsman to put any criminal probes in the hands of the government-controlled Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Hazare and a number of opposition parties want the ombudsman to control any CBI investigations.

Although Thursday marks the end of the current winter session of parliament, an extension has been agreed for December 27-29 to allow enough time to debate the bill.

Another piece of legislation to be submitted Thursday would provide subsidised food to hundreds of millions of people -- a populist but hugely costly project that will strain treasury finances.

The Food Security Bill guarantees monthly supplies of cheap rice, wheat and millet to 64 percent of India's 1.2 billion population -- or around 770 million people.

The programme would increase the government's annual food subsidy bill by nearly 280 billion rupees (ê5.3 billion) to 950 billion rupees -- a sum critics say India can ill afford given slowing economic growth, near double-digit inflation and a yawning budget deficit.

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