Women's groups may need to take lessons from Team Anna in campaigning for their quota bill Most MPs are opposed to the lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, just as they were opposed to the Women's Reservation Bill. But the lokpal Bill stands a better chance of being enacted. Unlike the Women's Reservation Bill, which had no support on the streets, the anti-corruption law...

-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...

Among the demands of the CPM, one of the fiercest critics of the government’s version of the lokpal Bill, a key one is the inclusion of all government employees under the purview of the lokpal. Yet, in states that the party rules or has ruled, the Lokayukta Acts passed by CPM governments don’t give the institute such a reach. In Tripura, the government passed a Lokayukta Act a year ago, leaving out...

-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...

There was wide criticism of the perceived attack on federalism Members of Parliament across the political spectrum are apprehensive of what the establishment of a supreme lokpal — answerable to none — may hold for the future of the parliamentary system of governance as India has known and for the entire political establishment. Even as the process for the historic legislation for establishing a lokpal began on Thursday with the introduction of...