Both Anna Hazare and Kapil Sibal are members of the committee that will draft what the country hopes will be a historic and tough law to combat corruption. But in a case of public friction, Mr Hazare has said that Mr Sibal, who is the Telecom Minister, should not participate in the process of forming a new law if he doesn't expect it to be effective. Mr Hazare, who spent the...

Anna Hazare, the 72-year-old social activist and Gandhian, on Monday slammed Union Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal for reportedly saying that the Lokpal Bill will not eradicate corruption from India. Hazare said that if Sibal has no faith in the proposed Lokpal then he should resign from the committee that has been formed to draft a stronger anti-corruption law. "If Kapil Sibal feels that nothing will happen from Lokpal Bill, he should...

India needs sustainable political and governance reform, not 'Mr India'-type prime-time populism Anna Hazare got his timing right, as Kumar Ketkar, a distinguished journalist from Mumbai, put it. Considering this was obviously planned as a television-based mobilisation of middle-class India, pitching it between the cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League series was perfect timing. Even as Mr Hazare fasted, a large number of his supporters joined him between meals,...

The idea of the first Jan Lokpal Bill dates back to as early as 1969, yet this democratic bill was always denied by the pseudo democratic government of India for the last 42 years. None of the Lokpal bills introduced again and again in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2008 passed the approval nod of our great Indian leaders simply because it threatened the supreme powers...

Anna Hazare trusts Narendra Modi on “development” but not the maturity of the Indian voter. Fresh from the Lok Pal “victory”, the social activist has said he will never contest an election as most Indian voters do not value their vote and sell it for money and liquor. “I will lose my deposit if I stand for elections.… The voter is not aware. Many of them cast their votes for a 100-rupee...