Dr Manmohan Singh is one of the most honest Prime Ministers that the country has had. It is ironical that his own government should seek to take the Prime Minister out of the purview of Lokpal's investigations. As of today, the Prime Minister is covered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Under that law, any allegation of corruption against a Prime Minister can be investigated. No exception has been made...

-The Indian Express   Amid a war of words between government and civil society members over the lokpal bill, both sides will meet here tomorrow to draft it even as Anna Hazare today reminded ministers that differences could be resolved through dialogue and not through confrontation. As the government and Congress continued its attack on civil society members, Hazare said he could not force anyone not to level allegations like he was...

-IANS   A day after the Congress slammed civil society campaigners as "unelected tyrants", veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare on Tuesday said people were the masters of the country having all the rights to question their servants over their functioning. Talking to reporters here, Anna Hazare said the value of parliament could not be denied but people must be consulted before taking decisions. "Parliament is a big thing, but bigger than parliament at the...

-The Indian Express   Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was simply stating the obvious on Sunday when he said, “Parliament is supreme.” Neither did he depart from a common understanding of the scheme of things under our Constitution when he clarified that it is Parliament’s right to decide on legislation and nobody else can presume to lay down deadlines for bills to be passed. Yet, such had been the abdication of argument...

Civil society” has dominated popular discussion for the last few months. It may be hard to recall how rare the use of the term was only some years back. In 2002, when I published a book analysing the role of civil society in preventing, dampening or inciting communal riots, I was asked in a television interview whether I was overstating the power of civil society vis-à-vis the state. And in...