-The Hindu   A couple of days ahead of the next meeting of the Joint Drafting Committee on the Lokpal Bill, the five civil society members have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his response to the proposal that his post should be brought under the purview of the Lokpal. The letter seeks to counter the alleged tirade against them by the Union Ministers on the Lokpal panel. Signed...

-PTI   Seer of Haridwar-based Matri Sadan Ashram, Swami Nigamanand, who was on fast for nearly four months demanding immediate stopping of quarrying in Ganga and shifting of Himalaya stone crusher from Kumbh mela area, on Monday died in a hospital near here. District Magistrate of Haridwar R Meenakshisundaram said Swami Nigamanand (36) died at the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences at Jolly Grant this afternoon. Nigamanand had begun his fast on February...

-The Indian Express   Amid a war of words between government and civil society members over the Lokpal Bill, both sides will meet here tomorrow to draft it even as Anna Hazare today reminded ministers that differences could be resolved through dialogue and not through confrontation. As the government and Congress continued its attack on civil society members, Hazare said he could not force anyone not to level allegations like he was...

“Draft Lokpal Bill will be introduced in monsoon session of Parliament” Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday accused social activists Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev of trying to “dictate” terms to the Centre and “weakening” parliamentary democracy by threatening an indefinite fast to get their demands accepted. At a press conference here, Mr. Mukherjee also criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party for backing the anti-graft movement in a bid “to capture...

-The Times of India   Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Sunday created a flutter by endorsing civil society's demand to bring the prime minister and the higher judiciary under the ambit of Lokpal, taking the government and his party colleagues by surprise. "My view is that the prime minister, judiciary, NGOs and industrial houses should also be brought under the ambit of Lokpal. But there should be a system to ensure...