The July 14 all-party meeting, like all of its predecessors, failed to arrive at any consensus on the passage of the women's reservation Bill. It's high time that the supporters of the Bill realised and accepted that the proposed legislation in its present form will never be passed by the Lok Sabha and devise alternate strategies. If they really care about increasing women's representation, they must be willing to negotiate....

Taking on HRD minister Kapil Sibal, Team Anna on Monday released the interim results of its 'referendum' in the minister's constituency of Chandni Chowk which showed 85% of respondents were against the government-proposed Lokpal Bill. The civil society activists question whether Sibal still represented the "aspirations of his people" since the results contradicted whatever he had been saying in joint committee meetings held earlier to draft the anti-corruption Bill. Anna and his...

-The Telegraph   Anna Hazare’s group today made public the results of a “referendum” on the Lokpal bill it had conducted in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, the Lok Sabha constituency of minister Kapil Sibal. It claimed that 85 per cent of the respondents had favoured the provisions of Hazare’s “Jan Lokpal Bill” over that of the government’s bill. Group members construed the results as a vote on Sibal’s performance as MP from the constituency. “The...

-India Against Corruption   85% people voted against Govt’s Lokpal Bill in Chandni Chowk The verdict is out. The so called representatives have failed to represent their people. The electorate of the HRD minister Kapil Sibal has come out strongly against the provisions of the Lokpal Bill approved by the Cabinet.  The referendum conducted by team Anna in the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency reveals that the elected representatives are not voicing their...

-The Telegraph   The Union cabinet today approved the Lokpal bill after overruling Manmohan Singh, who again advocated bringing the Prime Minister within the corruption ombudsman’s ambit. The higher judiciary, conduct of MPs inside Parliament, and the lower bureaucracy too have been kept out of the Lokpal’s jurisdiction. Anna Hazare, whose civil society group had insisted on all these sections and the Prime Minister being included, termed the draft a “cruel joke” and...