The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information has rejected Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal bill and said it had sent its version of the proposed anti-graft law to the parliamentary standing committee that is examining the Centre’s draft. At a media interaction today, NCPRI members Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander, who are also part of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), emphasised the importance of the standing committee which, they...

-The Hindu   Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Law and Justice who had a “very frank, intense and productive” discussion with social activist Anna Hazare on the Lokpal Bill are amazed that he after, giving them an impression of being “satisfied” with the interaction, said “something else” to the media. The meeting ended with the Committee asking Team Anna to send its Jan Lokpal Bill to it for further discussion so that...

-The Economic Times   Stepping out to fight the media hullabaloo surrounding Team Anna's campaign against corruption, the government unleashed a counterblitzkrieg on Tuesday, using a media briefing - that went live on most news channels - to insist that one man alone could not hold Parliament to ransom on the Lokpal Bill. "Here is one man (Anna) who is saying that only my law should be enacted ...and if it is...

By the time you read this, Anna Hazare would have started his fast and his well-fed handlers will be stationed in front of television cameras. Independence Day, grey and wet was a holiday with no breaking news, so after the Red Fort speech, all airtime was taken over by talking heads debating the Anna fast. The talks generate lots of heat: "Think about the future," or "Aren't we also members...

The announcement last weekend by the prime minister that an independent National Environmental Appraisal and Monitoring Agency (NEAMA) would shortly be set up has been welcomed in the media. The PM indicates that it would be staffed by professionals, will set up a new process for environmental appraisal of projects, and monitor the observance of environmental management plans. It would be a recommendatory body, subject to final decision-making by the...