-The Hindu The Bharatiya Janata Party, which differs with several clauses of the new lokpal bill, would move a number of amendments, including one seeking supervisory and administrative control of the CBI under the Lokpal when the Bill comes up for discussion and passage in the Lok Sabha on December 27. The Leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj, has already gone on record at the time of introduction of the Bill on...

-The Hindu   ‘Had market-using reforms been used in auctioning spectrum, the scam would not have arisen” Batting for removal of licence regime to tackle corruption, noted economist Jagdish N. Bhagwati on Thursday said the auction of 2G spectrum in 2008 would have averted the telecom scam. He lauded the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for bringing out anti-corruption legislation and asked the civil society to make suggestions and not impose solutions. “High-level...

The setting aside of 50% of seats in the proposed Lokpal for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, women and minorities, triggered a sharp debate within parties today around a central, normative question: should social diversity, especially inclusion of minorities, weigh in an empowered body to “fight corruption?”   While the BJP has opposed it and Team Anna, caught off-guard on a sensitive political issue, has declined to comment, legal experts...

Team Anna complains that the Lokpal has no administrative control over the CBI and its investigation wing but CBI officials feel that the agency now could be subject to the whims of new master — the three-member Lokpal panel. Besides the elevation of the status of its Director — the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice or a Judge appointed by him are now on the selection...

-Express News Service   Virtually forced into drafting it, the government today introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha that aims to fight corruption via the Lokpal at the centre and Lokayuktas in the states, an unprecedented oversight body whose members are selected, and which is set to be dominated by members of the higher judiciary. The singular theme emerging from the proceedings of the house today was the unease across the political...