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...

The Gandhi topis, the non-violent crowds, the banners and other symbols of protest, including tonsuring of heads, meditating mendicants, patriotic songs and fervour and, of course, the fasts, are seen as a throwback to the days when the Mahatma exerted enormous and unquestioned moral authority over the ruling government, political leaders and the populace. Most references to the “revolution” started by Anna Hazare and his group, now immortalised as Team...

The government, no doubt, has been rightly accused of mishandling the Anna Hazare protest and, worse, of misjudging the public mood. But it is equally true that even the worst critics of the government in Parliament want nothing to do with the central demand of Team Anna: Parliament must consider their ‘Jan Lokpal Bill.' After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement on the emotive subject of Mr. Hazare's arrest — and the...

Until about a year ago, the number of Indians who knew the name of Kisan Baburao Hazare, popularly known as Anna Hazare, ran into a few thousand -- small change in a country of a billion people. The former army driver was known for his peculiar experiments of social reform in a village in Maharashtra, in western India. He had received national awards for his social work. By the end of...

-The Business Standard   Much depends on a strong implementation framework but the imposition of a cap by the Planning Commission could lead to arbitrary exclusions. Himanshu Assistant Professor of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University The methodology, which is based on the framework suggested by the Saxena Committee, uses indicators that have been refined using a large-scale pilot survey There are over 400 million poor (the number varies depending on which estimate you...