The past couple of months have seen a renewed attack on the National Advisory Council (NAC). The NAC has been decried as an unconstitutional, undemocratic, “super-cabinet” where unaccountable “jholawalas” hatch harebrained schemes guaranteed to run the government aground. Another line of criticism has focused on the process of the formation of the NAC, its space within the Indian Constitution, and its capacity to influence policy. The two criticisms merge with...

A controversial bill which aims to set up an anti-corruption watchdog has been introduced in the lower house of the Indian parliament. Activists have criticised the Lokpal Bill for failing to include the prime minister and senior judiciary within the remit of a new ombudsman. Activist Anna Hazare has called the bill a "cruel joke". He said he would go on hunger strike from 16 August. India has recently been hit by a...

-The Hindu   The Coalition for GM-Free India has expressed concern over the way field trials for genetically modified crops and seed production were being allowed in the State. At a national meet here, the Coalition wanted the government to disallow these trials as was done by States like Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Chhattisgarh. Cautioning against any move to revoke the requirement of State's no objection certificate (NOC) for any...

-The Hindu   The Right to Food Campaign on Tuesday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set aside the government draft of the Food Security Bill which “minimises government's obligations, restricts people's entitlements and is devoid of any accountability”. Rejecting the government's draft Bill, the Campaign gave a national call for action. In an open letter to the Prime Minister, the Campaign said the draft Bill approved by the Empowered Group of...

The July 14 all-party meeting, like all of its predecessors, failed to arrive at any consensus on the passage of the women's reservation Bill. It's high time that the supporters of the Bill realised and accepted that the proposed legislation in its present form will never be passed by the Lok Sabha and devise alternate strategies. If they really care about increasing women's representation, they must be willing to negotiate....