Protestors AND supporters of a range of issues find a chance to voice their opinions at Jantar Mantar, reports Priyanka Jantar Mantar is busy readying itself for Sunday, when activist Anna Hazare will go on a token one-day fast to protest against the government's version of the Lokpal Bill. The day before, the venue is already packed with a few hundred people, with not one but four protests going on simultaneously over...

From the beginning of the proceedings today, speakers from Team Anna appeared to be pressing home one point above all: they had returned to Jantar Mantar with an agenda larger than the (Jan) Lokpal. The Bill must be passed this winter session, or else there would be a “jail bharo aandolan”, said Anna. “Not a single jail will remain empty,” he promised. But the larger goal was another law, or...

Assailed from all sides, does the UPA really hope to recover its ‘image’ by muzzling online dissent? Kapil Sibal ko gussa kyon aata hai? Butt of online jokes: Politicians in 'tweaked' cinematic avatars. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. The UPA government has made it something of a fine art. Hardly had the ruckus over the decision to open up the retail sector to FDI died down than...

Our democracy is creaking, but it works—nominally at least. What it needs is not dilution, but deepening. When “Too Much Democracy” Works     Pressure in Parliament pushes PM Manmohan Singh to secure the resignation of telecom minister A. Raja in the 2G affair     The angst and trials of tribals in the Maoist bastion of Dantewada is sensed in Delhi after the media highlights their plight     People power at the sites of...

-The Economic Times   US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said at the Ministerial Conference on Internet Freedom at The Hague in Netherlands that a regulation on internet in some countries has made an environment where ideas are being blocked and conversations are being stifled.  Clinton cited the examples of Syria, Iran and recently Russia where bloggers and internet activists are being targeted. Without naming India, she said that some governments...