Sometimes a sense of unbridled virtue can also subvert democracy. The agitation by civil society activists over the Jan Lokpal Bill is a reminder of this uncomfortable truth. There is a great deal of justified consternation over corruption. The obduracy of the political leadership is testing the patience of citizens. But the movement behind the Jan Lokpal Bill is crossing the lines of reasonableness. It is premised on an institutional...

The watchdog risks becoming “a sinecure for retired persons” This May, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is due to appear before the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Geneva for its re-accreditation as an ‘A' grade institution. Ahead of this process, a consortium of non-governmental organisations released a report here on Wednesday on the compliance of the NHRC with the ‘Paris...

The Supreme Court today wondered whether faulty development practices were the “root cause” of the Maoist insurgency in Chhattisgarh, and asked the state how many agreements it had signed with multi-nationals and how it was using the state’s financial resources. It also asked the state government to explain how and under what rules it recruited and armed the Koya commandos — special police officers (SPOs) fighting the Maoists. “How many MoUs (memoranda...

As Anna Hazare’s fast entered its second day today, the first cracks in his coalition surfaced with criticism over provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill and the method being used by activists to try and push it through. Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde (retd), part of the group that finalised the activists’ version of the Bill, acknowledged he had “objections” to certain clauses. “I would not like to say much else. While...

Indian social activist Anna Hazare has begun what he has called a "fast unto death" to pressure the government to act on corruption. The 72-year-old campaigner says he will refuse all food and drink until the government enacts a comprehensive anti-corruption law. The government has set up a committee to consider a bill, but Mr Hazare wants civil society included in the process. India has recently been hit by a series of high-profile...