In the current hullabaloo about the lok pal bill and the Anna agitation, one question has frequently been raised, both by protagonists of the Congress and the government and by constitutionalists and legal experts: however laudable the goals of Anna and his supporters, aren’t the methods adopted by them illegitimate? Doesn’t a fast unto death amount to blackmail of the legislature? Isn’t it an attempt by the unelected to usurp...

Ardent admirers of the Supreme Court will credit it with starting three revolutions in the past three decades. In the 1980s the public interest litigation (PIL) movement opened the doors of the court to every citizen, especially those who could not reach it due to poverty, illiteracy or backwardness. Around the same time, the court sowed the seeds of citizens’ right to know in a few judgments, asserting that sunlight is...

-The Hindu   Following is the text of letter written by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to social activist Anna Hazare over his indefinite fast against corruption at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. "Over the last few days, I have watched with increasing concern the state of your health. Despite the differences between the Government and your team, I do not think that anybody is or should be in any doubt about the deep...

-The Telegraph   Anna Hazare’s dipping health indicators pushed the government and his team into formal talks on the Lokpal impasse tonight. There was no breakthrough at the end of the two-and-a-half-hour dialogue but neither side suggested a breakdown either. Senior ministers and Congress leaders gathered at the Prime Minister’s house late tonight and the meeting stretched till 2am in two phases. Sources said several issues had been more or less sorted out and...

I have been asked by my many friends to give my views on the recent ongoing movement against the corruption and Jan Lokpal Bill. Here in this article, I would like to present a young Dalit’s view to this bill and this recent movement. I may disappoint many of you especially those who think that bringing Lokpal Bill will solve the problem of corruption from India (yes, we rank very...