Differences appeared to have cropped up in the civil society over the demand for inclusion of the Prime Minister and higher Judiciary in the Lokpal Bill with Baba Ramdev opposing such a move. The yoga guru, to whom the government deputed the topmost tax official to convince him on the steps taken by government against black money, wondered at a press conference in Sehore how top positions like the Prime Minister...

-NDTV   The differences between the civil society and the government members of the Lokpal Bill draft panel have come out in the open. The two sides disagree on the prime minister coming under the purview of the Lokpal. The activists say that the government is adamant on keeping the PM outside the purview of the Lokpal. Arvind Kejriwal, a member of the joint drafting committee, said government's views have become adamant. The government though...

The steadily rising rate of economic growth in India has recently been around 8 percent per year (it is expected to be 9 percent this year), and there is much speculation about whether and when India may catch up with and surpass China’s over 10 percent growth rate. Despite the evident excitement that this subject seems to cause in India and abroad, it is surely rather silly to be obsessed...

Union Finance Minister and chairman of the Lokpal Bill Joint Draft Committee (JDC) Pranab Mukherjee has invited the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) to forward to him “directly” any suggestions/feedback on the Bill. He was responding to a letter written by Nikhil de of the NCPRI to him, seeking information on the procedures being followed by the panel and on public consultations. It is understood that in the...

In its fourth meeting here, the joint draft panel on Lokpal Bill converged on half of the 40 points listed in the basic principles tabled by the civil society members, but postponed decision on contentious issues including bringing the Prime Minister and higher Judiciary under the purview of the Lokpal/lokayukta.. Based on public consultations and hearings, the civil society members gave to the government, another list of “extra 31 basic principles”...