-EPW Graft is a major issue in people’s lives, but it is unlikely to figure in voter choice in the assembly elections. A mini-general election will be upon us in February as fivestates go to the polls. Given the high-pitched outpouringson the electronic media around the anti-corruption campaign and the live coverage of the proceedings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on the Lokpal Bill, we have been led to...

This is the season to count blessings. India's greatest blessings are its adherence to the democratic system of governance, an independent judiciary, a free and fearless media, and an Election Commission that inspires confidence. I hope that soon India will have an independent and effective Lokpal, which will pave the way for a corruption-free India, a pre-requisite for a hunger-free India. The other major paradigm shift observed in recent years is...

Though Anna Hazare gets much of the credit for focusing the national spotlight on corruption, India was only too aware of the problem even before his agitation. According to a Pew Research poll in October 2010 (six months before Hazare emerged on the national scene), 98 per cent of Indians indicate corrupt political leaders as a “very big” or a “moderately big” problem. Hazare’s campaign did not attune Indians to...

The Youth Congress has a question: why can some company not buy the potatoes that Punjab’s farmers are throwing on the streets and sell them in Kerala where the crop’s price is as high as Rs 18 a kg? The answer, for the outfit being groomed under the guidance of Rahul Gandhi, is foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail. That’s the message from the monthly Youth Congress newsletter, which has now been...

-The Times of India Representative politics is not just about elections. It's also about visions and issues that mould political consciousness: A lesson that has been powerfully driven home by Anna Hazare and his anti-corruption movement. No doubt, the nationwide popular groundswell, witnessed over the last few months, has changed the rules of contemporary engagement between the political classes and the civil society. The crucial Lokpal debate, beginning inParliament on Tuesday,...