The movement around Anna Hazare's fast highlights a worrying trend. No, it's not corruption. That we know. The worry is: Is Indian democracy in a state of decay? Democracy in this largest of all democratic nations seems to be working fine at first glance. We vote regularly and throw out parties in power when a majority wants change. We have a free press. We have an independent judiciary. But there's...

Mahesh Kundu paid 2,500 rupees for a driving licence, Rupam Bhatia 5,000 rupees to be admitted to hospital and Vishrant Chandra 6,000 rupees for a marriage certificate. These are the commonplace bribery stories experienced by middle-class Indians who have poured into the streets to say "enough is enough". Corruption in India is as old as the Ramayana, when the evil demon Ravana bribed a guardian of hell to avoid punishment in...

-Agence France-Presse He may dress, talk and fast like his hero Mahatma Gandhi, but critics say anti-graft activist Anna Hazare has only managed to co-opt the style, not the substance, of India's independence icon. The figure of Gandhi looms large - and literally - over Hazare's anti-corruption campaign, with a giant photograph of the apostle of non-violence providing the backdrop to the 74-year-old's public hunger strike. Hazare's speeches are peppered with Gandhian references...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday restored NAC member Aruna Roy's place in the Lokpal debate, telling Parliament that along with Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal bill, it would also discuss the drafts by Roy and JP Narayan of Loksatta. The comment came a day after BJP dislodged Roy as the reference point for the new Lokpal bill by limiting the reference to non-government input to Jan Lokpal bill in the resolution...

Prakash Karat believes Anna Hazare’s movement is amorphous, anti-political, supported by Right-wing forces and the corporate media, but still feels the government has “no other way” but to bow to public pressure and hold talks with the group. “The middle class propensity to be anti-political, to blame all politicians and to hold Parliament in contempt are all on display in the Anna Hazare movement,” the CPM general secretary wrote in party...