At the peak of Anna Hazare’s fast in Delhi last year, some of his former aides in Maharashtra had cautioned that he should not get carried away by the hype. Last week, at Mumbai’s thinly populated MMRDA Grounds where his latest agitation flopped, there were a few lessons for Hazare and his team. One being: never take people for granted. Some of Hazare’s former associates suggest that the craze that the Lokpal...

The discordant black-flag picket at the Golden Temple on New Year morning belied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s clean-slate aspiration for 2012 but he is engaging in earnest with the challenges of what, in his own reckoning, will be another tough year. The Lokpal tangle controversially unresolved, attention is likely to remain riveted on politics, especially with high-stakes battles for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and three other states under way. The Prime Minister,...

-The Hindu The Karnataka High Court on Monday directed the Principal Secretary, Primary Education Department, to be present in court on January 10 as it was not satisfied with the reply given by the government counsel regarding the action-taken report that was to be submitted to the court on providing toilets and drinking water facility in all government schools in the State. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice...

-The Deccan Chronicle Henceforth if any government agency denies information under Right to Information Act (RTI), applicants need not wait for years for the intervention of the state information commission. Instead they can approach the district consumer disputes redressal forum. In a land mark judgment, II additional district consumer disputes redressal forum, of the city of Seshadripu ram has ruled that RTI applicants are also consumers and it is the responsibility...

-The Hindu   The Maharashtra Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal of granting State Minorities Commission judicial powers. A press release, issued by the Chief Minister's Public Relations Officer, stated that the government will make an amendment to the 2004 ordinance related to the minorities commission and will add the section 10(a)(1) to it. The additional powers will enable the commission to summon officers, call for official papers and documentary evidence and record...