-The Times of India   Activist Swami Agnivesh on Saturday criticized Team Anna for provoking people against the Union Cabinet's decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail. At a school function at Jaipur, he said Anna Hazare and his team were making "factually incorrect and irresponsible statements". "Statements with factual mistakes are preventing people from engaging in a healthy debate. People opposing FDI should discuss rather than play around with the...

It also goes back on new method of appointment of CBI Director A day after the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the Union Ministry of Personnel finalised its report on the lokpal bill, Congress MPs forced the holding of an emergency meeting on Thursday to go back on two key decisions taken on Wednesday: the ruling party MPs on the Standing Committee have now withdrawn the assent they had given to...

-The Telegraph   The dissent-riven report of the parliamentary standing committee on the lokpal bill is set to recommend exclusion of the Prime Minister from the proposed anti-graft authority’s ambit, a decision bound to intensify the government’s tussle with Team Anna. No consensus could be reached on the question of the Prime Minister’s inclusion at the last meeting of the committee. While most members felt that the country’s top executive office should not...

-The Economic Times   After agreeing to inclusion of Group C government employees within the ambit of Lokpal, the standing committee on law and justice examining the bill recommended its exclusion from the proposed ombudsman's jurisdiction.  The standing committee, which completed its work on Wednesday after deliberating on various points contained in the draft lokpal bill, had asked BJP, Left and other members to submit their dissenting notes to the panel.  Members, therefore, were...

Manmohan Singh today refused to yield to pressure on the question of allowing foreign direct investment in retail and appeared ready for a protracted battle, including the risk of a vote in Parliament despite his government’s fragile majority. Somewhat reminiscent of his nuclear deal stand, the Prime Minister confronted those who had accused the government of taking a hasty decision on retail. “We have not taken this decision in haste, but after...