Only one contentious issue came up for discussion at Monday's meeting between the government representatives and civil society members of the Joint Drafting Committee on the lokpal bill. It was the selection and removal of Lokpal members. The two sides differed on both counts. The government preferred a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the leaders of both Houses, Leaders of the Opposition of both Houses, the Home...

Marked by distrust and, on the government's part an element of coercion as well, the civil society-UPA exercise to jointly draft a lokpal bill formally ended in failure on Tuesday with the two sides exchanging conflicting drafts. The government is unable to accept civil society's version of an anti-corruption authority with sweeping jurisdiction over the Prime Minister's Office, top judiciary and actions of MPs in Parliament along with merging entities like...

-The Telegraph   The lokpal bill committee’s penultimate meeting ended today with a conflicting picture as the government’s representatives claimed agreement on “80 per cent” of the points while the Anna Hazare group suggested it was just over a quarter. “Today’s was the most successful of the panel’s meetings thus far. We achieved a lot,” said human resource development minister Kapil Sibal, adding there was consensus on 80 to 85 per cent...

Talks fail; Hazare threatens fast from August 16 The Joint Drafting Committee on the lokpal bill ended its deliberations on Tuesday without a common text, and the government has decided to go ahead with its plan of consulting political parties and Chief Ministers on the two different versions before getting the Cabinet to clear a final draft. Expressing “deep disappointment” at what it said was the government's watered down version of a...

Both sides are reluctant to budge on contentious issues Reluctant to budge from their views, the government representatives and civil society members of the Joint Drafting Committee on the lokpal bill decided on Monday to leave the differences to be resolved at the next stage of wider consultations with political parties. The government has decided to call an all-party meeting in July to elicit their opinion on the draft Bill and...