The protest leader Anna Hazare appeared to strike a deal with the police early Thursday morning that would enable him to leave a local jail and begin staging a hunger strike against corruption later in the day, according to a close aide and reports in the Indian news media. One of Mr. Hazare’s aides, Kiran Bedi, announced via Twitter that Mr. Hazare had accepted a police offer to limit any...

Anna Hazare's arrest has raised intricate legal questions about the fundamental right to assemble peacefully. At the same time another right is being questioned. According to the legal experts, police in most states are making illegal arrests due to complete ignorance that the procedure related to arrests was amended on November 1 last year. Police must now issue a notice of appearance before making an arrest of a cognizable offense. The...

After a four-decade battle, Indian lawmakers took the first formal step toward creating an independent Anticorruption agency on Thursday, introducing a bill in Parliament that would appoint a powerful ombudsman, or Lokpal, to investigate wrongdoing by government officials. But the draft of the law, which exempts the prime minister, members of Parliament and many other officials from the Lokpal’s jurisdiction, was roundly rejected by many of the people who had...

Illegal iron ore mining involving hundreds of Indian officials and powerful politicians has devastated local communities in the southern state of Karnataka and cost its treasury more than $3.5 billion in revenue, according to a scathing report by an official Anticorruption panel that was released on Wednesday. “In the illegal mining and irregularities committed in the export of iron ore, we have found the involvement of some 100 mining companies,...

The search for a lily-white reformer could trip the reform itself. This is a dilemma the Bhushans need to confront THE LEGENDARY samurai have a code of being that is difficult to attain: they must be ready to do battle no matter the odds, they must have no fear of consequence, they must value honour and pride above all else, they must be benevolent and they must have no interest in...