-The Times of India   The Anna Hazare-led civil society movement cannot be faulted for having come up with its version of the Lokpal Bill, because otherwise it would have been accused of campaigning for something essentially negative - the withdrawal of the flawed government version without putting forward an alternative. Frustration with everyday corruption - as well as the spectacular kind that explodes in the public sphere ever so often (...

-The Hindu   Civil rights activist Aruna Roy on Sunday termed the notion of parliamentary privilege ‘fundamentally flawed' and said it needed a relook. “The privilege issue, we [the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI)] feel, is fundamentally flawed. We will have to examine it. Not only now, we have raised this over a number of issues [earlier],” she said at an interaction with the media. On Parliament's breach of privilege motion...

Anna Hazare and his followers have a skewed notion of corruption. Would they ever see the Bhopal gas tragedy as the symptom of the problem? The government’s initial contempt and arrogance for Anna Hazare’s protest turned into craven pandering as his hordes made a carnival of it in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan. One was troubled by the fate of other protesters who have received short shrift—the small, the struggling and much suffering...

-PTI   Lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Saturday said he has received a breach of privilege notice for his remarks against Parliamentarians, the second Team Anna member to get such a notice. Mr. Bhushan said he has been accused of using derogatory words against MPs and has been asked to file a reply. Terming the notice as “totally unjustified”, he told PTI that “speaking the truth in public interest does not amount to breach of...

-The Hindu   Enact laws to carry out reforms in elections, land: Karat The Left parties on Friday demanded a strong and effective Lokpal but emphasised that creation of an ombudsman to tackle corruption would need to be reinforced by laws and reforms in other areas. Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat, at a joint rally here, described the UPA government as the “most corrupt” regime in independent India, with a...