-IANS   Civil rights campaigners in Manipur are upset with the mainstream media for blowing up activist Anna Hazare's anti-graft fast that entered its sixth day on Sunday and ignoring the over decade-long hunger strike by Irom Chanu Sharmila against rights violations by the security forces in the region. "There is a general sense of feeling that we, the people of the northeast, have always been neglected, discriminated, and looked down upon by...

The Union Government has announced that it would bring the Lokpal Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament which is expected to pass it in the winter session. The all-party meeting held on the Lokpal issue damned the civil society and passed a one-line resolution: “The all-party meeting agreed that the government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal Bill following established procedures.” The...

The past couple of months have seen a renewed attack on the National Advisory Council (NAC). The NAC has been decried as an unconstitutional, undemocratic, “super-cabinet” where unaccountable “jholawalas” hatch harebrained schemes guaranteed to run the government aground. Another line of criticism has focused on the process of the formation of the NAC, its space within the Indian Constitution, and its capacity to influence policy. The two criticisms merge with...

If the Lokpal Bill presented to Parliament is a dud, Anna Hazare and his team must accept their share of the blame. They took their eyes off citizens and concentrated almost exclusively on big people in important positions. What tempted them to take this stance? Is it because enemies in high places are better ego boosters than humble friends? For ordinary people it is of little consequence if the prime minister...

Faced with lack of awareness about the provisions of Right to Education Act, a massive 100-day campaign involving community mobilization will be launched from November 11, the national Education Day. The decision was taken last week in the meeting of National Advisory Council of RTE. A task force headed by Kiran Karnik, former chairperson of nasscom, gave a report on community mobilization for RTE. Karnik said knowledge about RTE, "a...