-PTI Social activist Anna Hazare on Thursday said he was not afraid of death and dared the government to fire bullets in the event of his going on fast to press for a strong Lokpal Bill. “Anna is not afraid of death. They can fire bullets and not just use lathis to repress our agitation and the people of this country will decide whether India has a democratic rule or a...
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Lokpal should be autonomous like EC: Anna by K Balchand
Questions the logic behind the exclusion of the Prime Minister from the purview of the Lokpal Accusing the Govt. of betraying civil society and not being serious about fighting corruption Social activist Anna Hazare has said civil society's aim is to vest autonomy in the Lokpal, much on the lines of the Election Commission, the Supreme Court and the RTI (Central Information Commission). Control of bureaucracy He, however, favoured keeping the bureaucracy out of...
More »Government and civil society members differ on selection and removal of Lokpal members
Only one contentious issue came up for discussion at Monday's meeting between the government representatives and civil society members of the Joint Drafting Committee on the Lokpal Bill. It was the selection and removal of Lokpal members. The two sides differed on both counts. The government preferred a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the leaders of both Houses, Leaders of the Opposition of both Houses, the Home...
More »Verma: Lokpal no panacea for all ills” by Prakash Kamat
“Keep PM, higher judiciary out of its purview” The former Chief Justice of India, J.S. Verma, on Saturday reiterated that the higher judiciary and the Prime Minister should be out of the purview of the proposed Lokpal Bill. He favours a “separate mechanism” to make High Court and Supreme Court judges accountable for misconduct. Speaking on the “Role of judiciary in good governance” at the International Centre Goa here, Justice Verma...
More »Delhi delusions by Ramachandra Guha
A Tamil economist, the late S. Guhan, used to say that Delhi was a capital in search of a country. I was reminded of that remark during the fortnight of May 29 to June 11, 2011. In that fortnight, if one watched the ‘national’ channels or read the ‘national’ newspapers, one would think all of India was involved in one way or the other with the ideas and practices of...
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