-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A dalit rally organized by the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organizations (AICSO), an umbrella body of dalit organizations, at Jantar Mantar on Monday demanded that the lokpal Bill be more inclusive and the institution have representation from SC, ST and OBC communities. Attended by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari and Congress leader K Raju, the rally slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for not making its...

-The Hindu The National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) has sought the simultaneous passage of the lokpal Bill, the Grievance Redress Bill and the Whistleblower Protection Bill, contending that these laws formed a basket of inter-linked measures that constituted the much required accountability regime. Addressing a press conference, the NCPRI's Nikhil Dey, Anjali Bharadwaj and Shekhar Singh said that though the lokpal Bill was not entirely to their satisfaction and...

-IANS NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, which provides for creation of an anti-corruption ombudsman. The most prominent of the group of anti-graft bills on the anvil, the lokpal Bill establishes a lokpal at the central level and asks states to establish lokayuktas in a year's time from the date of notification of the law. The format of the lokayukta will be left to the...

-NDTV A Parliamentary standing committee has agreed with the government that political parties do not come under the Right to Information or RTI Act. The landmark transparency law, passed by the UPA I government in 2005, is often flaunted by Congress Number 2 Rahul Gandhi as a precursor to the anti-corruption lokpal Bill, currently being pushed by the government in Parliament. All political parties barring Odisha-based Biju Janata Dal and the Communist Party...

-Outlook   Rejecting the lokpal Bill under consideration in Rajya Sabha as "weak" and ineffective, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal today said nobody except Congress will be benefited by its passage while Rahul Gandhi will get the credit for it. He also said he was saddened by Anna Hazare's stand that he would break his fast if the lokpal Bill which is in the Upper House is enacted, warning that the proposed...