Over the last few days, as a desperate government tried to tide over the Lokpal Bill crisis, it received over half-a-dozen variants of the draft legislation. On Saturday, both Houses of Parliament took up the subject and though the debate was mostly confined to the Jan Lokpal Bill, it made the political point that while an effective law should be devised to tackle corruption, Parliament’s supremacy must be maintained. The...

Anna Hazare’s Ramlila brinkmanship flamed deep into another night despite the UPA’s many accommodations and in defiance of mounting civil society and intelligentsia opinion that the government had committed to enough on the Lokpal legislation for him to break his fast. Hazare and his core team of Arvind Kejriwal. Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi remained unmoved by public and bipartisan commitment from the highest quarters that key features of their Jan...

-The Hindu   Following is the note placed by the CPI(M) at the all-party meeting held by the Government on the issue of the Lokpal today. August 24, 2011 Stand of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Lokpal: For An Effective Anti-Corruption Body Introduction Corruption has become a major public concern in the wake of successive scams unfolding over the past few years. In a country like India, where millions of people still suffer from acute poverty,...

-The Economic Times   At the time of writing, efforts are on to find an amicable solution to the Jan Lokpal Bill agitation and let us hope that a satisfactory solution will be found to deal with the very serious malady of corruption. I appeal to Anna Hazare to break his fast as the nation can't take any risk with the condition of his health. Corruption in high places is undoubtedly a matter...

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...