NGOs differ on Jan Lokpal, pick on Team Anna’s shortcomings Conflict Amongst NGOs? * Great response to Anna seen as success of civil society * NGOs agree on wiping off corruption in government, not on solutions * They celebrate the middle class finding voice; but mourn lack of reach among villagers * Divergence in views seen as healthy for debate; onus on govt to take final call *** First the good news:...
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Anna Hazare's campaign has some positives too by Saubhik Chakrabartia
As per hallowed newsroom traditions, the bad news first. 1. We have a government and a ruling party that have displayed tactical, strategic, policy and moral incapacities. 2. We have a main Opposition party that, despite witnessing such government and ruling party incapacity, has displayed its own incapacity to do anything intelligent or meaningful. 3. We have a core group of agitationists led by Anna Hazare which has displayed, at best,...
More »‘Some serious sidestepping is coming from the judicial institution’ by Arun Jaitley
The first thing that comes to our mind is — and this has nothing to do with this particular case — that even in 2003, when this misconduct was continuing, how come such persons get to be appointed? It really seriously means that we have to revisit that process. Originally, when the Constitution was framed, we had a system where judges were appointed by the executive in consultation with the...
More »Civil Society versus Elected Government by Sudhanshu Ranjan
The Union Government has announced that it would bring the Lokpal Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament which is expected to pass it in the winter session. The all-party meeting held on the Lokpal issue damned the civil society and passed a one-line resolution: “The all-party meeting agreed that the government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal Bill following established procedures.” The...
More »Deconstructing The NAC by Ruchi Gupta
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...
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