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...

In a system where half the litigants must necessarily lose their cases and where most complaints against judges are frivolous, the Bill, if implemented, would mark the beginning of the end of the judiciary. The last two decades have marked the extraordinary rise of India. This has however been tinged with cynicism about our major democratic institutions and a pessimism about their future. The judiciary, which till now has been looked...

Outsiders barred from entering The Ratnagiri district administration, which has clamped prohibitory orders in the Jaitapur nuclear power project area, is preventing outsiders from entering the area even for public meetings, according to social activist Gopal Dukhande. Expressing solidarity He said that at a meeting to express solidarity with the people of Japan in Mithgavane village on March 25, the police were present in large numbers. “They harassed me and prevented me from entering...

Ratnagiri Collector Madhukar Gaikwad has denied permission for the two-day Independent People's Tribunal ‘public hearing' on the Jaitapur nuclear power project proposed to be held on March 6 and 7 at Niveli, one of the affected villages. Deepika D'Souza of the Tribunal said that Mr. Gaikwad, in a letter on Friday, refused permission as per orders from the police. No grounds for disallowing the meeting were given, she said. Ms. D'Souza said...

Besieged as it is by a spate of scams, the Centre has revived the 40-year-old proposal of setting up a national ombudsman called the Lokpal to probe political corruption. But, far from overcoming the existing deficiencies, the latest draft Bill – which could be promulgated any time soon as an ordinance - provides a legal veneer to them so that crooked politicians will continue to enjoy almost as much impunity...