-The Telegraph   The Union cabinet today approved the Lokpal bill after overruling Manmohan Singh, who again advocated bringing the Prime Minister within the corruption Ombudsman’s ambit. The higher judiciary, conduct of MPs inside Parliament, and the lower bureaucracy too have been kept out of the Lokpal’s jurisdiction. Anna Hazare, whose civil society group had insisted on all these sections and the Prime Minister being included, termed the draft a “cruel joke” and...

Anna Hazare’s team today said the Lokpal bill was a “cruel joke” on the country and warned that people would teach the government a lesson after the Gandhian begins his fast at Jantar Mantar from August 16. The group also said the Supreme Court would strike down the legislation as unconstitutional if it kept the Prime Minister out of the ambit of the proposed anti-corruption Ombudsman. “It is a deceit on...

In keeping with the government's promise to bring Lokpal legislation to Parliament in the monsoon session, the Cabinet will consider a bill to set up the anti-corruption Ombudsman at its meeting on Thursday. The draft bill, framed by five ministers, who were on the joint drafting committee with the Anna Hazare-led group of representatives, does not contain the references to the prime minister, higher judiciary and actions of MPs in Parliament...

The Rural Development Ministry seems to be a familiar ground for Jairam Ramesh . No sooner was he given the new portfolio, he announced that the two bills related to land acquisition would be clubbed. The minister spells out his priorities in an exclusive interview with ET. Excerpts: What will be the key motif for the omnibus land acquisition law you are proposing? The bill will be facilitative not restrictive....

It was in 2009, the Central Government directed the state governments to set up offices of Ombudsman to ensure transparency and accountability in implementation of the NREGA Act. Ramesh said he wanted to "build a system for a tighter financial accountability" in implementation of all the flagship programmes of the Ministry including NREGA, PMGSY, NRLM etc and would consult Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai in this regard on...