Sometimes a sense of unbridled virtue can also subvert democracy. The agitation by civil society activists over the Jan Lokpal Bill is a reminder of this uncomfortable truth. There is a great deal of justified consternation over corruption. The obduracy of the political leadership is testing the patience of citizens. But the movement behind the Jan Lokpal Bill is crossing the lines of reasonableness. It is premised on an institutional...

Collaborative effort to ensure a corruption-free India ‘Lokpal will be an independent entity' ‘Appointment through a selection panel' With veteran campaigner against corruption Anna Hazare's fast unto death at Jantar Mantar here entering its second day on Wednesday , the focus has shifted to the Jan Lokpal Bill that was drafted last year as a collaborative effort by civic society to ensure a corruption-free India. The Bill was first drafted by retired Supreme Court...

Anna Hazare’s fast puts into focus the government’s attempts to protect politicians India Against Corruption, a group formed by Anna Hazare and other social activists and former Judges, has given 17 reasons why the Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde, now the Karnataka Lokayukta, is far better than the Bill prepared by the union government. The Jan Lokpal Bill, hailed as a civil society initiative, provides for...

As Anna Hazare’s fast entered its second day today, the first cracks in his coalition surfaced with criticism over provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill and the method being used by activists to try and push it through. Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde (retd), part of the group that finalised the activists’ version of the Bill, acknowledged he had “objections” to certain clauses. “I would not like to say much else. While...

As noted social activist Anna Hazare started his fast-unto-death in the national capital, there is a need to take a look at his draft Jan Lokpal bill and the government's Lokpal Bill. The government proposes to set up Lokpal to check corruption at high places and salvage its image. But there are stark differences between the government's version of the Lokpal Bill and the civil society's. The government Bill, actually, seems to...