-Zee News The family of RTI activist and India Against Corruption's Madhya Pradesh chapter head Shehla Masood, who was killed here last month, feels the probe into the case would have acquired more urgency had Anna Hazare and his associates "raised the issue the way they should have". "I cannot say why after saying a few lines initially, no member of Team Anna raised the issue the way they should have....
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Clash of Interests by Prabhat Patnaik
Anna Hazare’s fast is over, but the conjuncture of which that fast was an episode is not: Hazare’s own movement, or other similar movements, are bound to recur in the coming months. The question naturally arises: what are these movements all about? And to start with: what was Hazare’s own movement all about? It was certainly not about “corruption” in any definable sense. That word meant different things to the...
More »Gandhian facade by Praful Bidwai
Anna Hazare's campaign may lead to a new Lokpal Bill, but it has legitimised middle-class vigilantism and other kinds of civil society mobilisation. NOW that Anna Hazare has declared victory, it is time to take stock of one of the most powerful recent mobilisations of people in India, focussed on influencing policy or lawmaking processes. The victory, however, is largely symbolic. The original demand of the movement, carefully built around Hazare's...
More »Arvind Kejriwal, RTI activist and Magsaysay award winner interviewed by Vidya Subrahmaniam
'We want to pressure the government and assert our rights as citizens.' Arvind Kejriwal received the Magsaysay award in the Emergent leadership category in 2006. A mere five years later, he has far surpassed that milestone, winning acclaim and notice for the way he conceived and crafted Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. He talks to Vidya Subrahmaniam about the Jan Lokpal campaign, what it accomplished and why it often became controversial. The scale...
More »Uneasy truce between Indian government and anti-corruption campaigner by Sarath Kumara
Under pressure from big business to end the political stalemate, India’s self-proclaimed anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare yesterday broke his 12-day fast at the Ramlila Maiden, a public ground in New Delhi. On Saturday, the Indian parliament passed an “in principle” resolution agreeing to include three of Hazare’s demands in proposed Lokpal or ombudsman legislation. Though tensions have eased, nothing has been settled. Hazare, who headed large anti-corruption protests, has backed away...
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