There’s no outrage when law, policy are outsourced to corporates IN order to get our perspective on issues of national importance right, we could do well to turn our ears from the din created by vested interests. The unduly vehement questioning of the process of concerned citizens (or “civil society”) engaging in legislative and policy consultations is exactly the sort of noise we must not allow to deflect our attention...

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will meet Anna Hazare on Saturday, citing a “packed prior schedule” to turn down his request for an appointment today. The anti-graft activist has been parleying with leaders of major political parties in the capital for the past two days and met Bihar rivals Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad. Sources said despite the Congress Working Committee in its meeting last week coming down strongly on Hazare and his...

-The Times of India   Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Thursday questioned the Centre's decision of sending two drafts of lokpal bill to the states for consideration and demanded that the government clarify its stand before seeking states' views on the proposed anti-corruption legislation. Speaking after a meet with civil society group on the Lokpal issue, Kumar said he would discuss the matter with his party and ally BJP. "Let the government...

-The Indian Express   After a season of excess and excitability, the prime minister’s assertion of constitutional propriety was welcome. In recent months, public discourse has been roiled by a series of corruption scandals, and to add to that, some of the solutions suggested by civil society champions of the lokpal bill have been rash and potentially destabilising. The PM spoke up for the Constitution, and the importance of preserving the inbuilt...

-The Times of India   Congress president Sonia Gandhi will on Saturday meet Gandhian Anna Hazare and other representatives of civil society to discuss the lokpal bill. "The meeting between team Anna and Sonia Gandhi is confirmed for tomorrow (July 2)," Aswathi Muralidharan, a member of the NGO Parivartan which is canvassing support for the lokpal bill, said. The meeting had earlier been scheduled for June 30. Team Anna has been meeting political party leaders...