Gandhi resorted to some 30 fasts, of which one-third were directed at himself, for ‘atonement’ or self-purification, one-third were directed against the raj and one-third at India’s social mores. A more honest trinity cannot be imagined. The latter two kinds of fasts were meant to make an impact on the ‘other side’; they were part-fasts and part- hunger strikes, part anashan and part bhukh-hartal, though he derived from each a sense...

Under attack from political parties over funding of Anna Hazare's campaign for the Lokpal Bill, India Against corruption, the umbrella organisation that steered the crusade, has released details of expenditure and said all civil society members of the joint drafting committee will declare their assets and liabilities on Friday. Two days before the first meeting of the joint drafting committee, India Against corruption issued a detailed press statement on the expense...

The BJP is still sizing up the fallout of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption activism, undecided whether it would be able to reap political dividends, if any, from the urban, middle-class “upsurge” across the country. The leadership is expected to exchange notes and work out its strategy once the Assembly polls verdict is out. “The outcome will show whether the movement (that came in the midst of the state polls) had an impact...

Five civil society members of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill including Anna Hazare will tomorrow declare their assets and liablities, a day before the panel will sit for the first time. A spokesperson for the civil society said Anna, Shanti Bhushan, Santosh Hegde, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal will release personal statement of their assets and liabilities tomorrow. "They will be meeting with fellow campaigners to discuss issues pertaining to...

The Opposition BJP on Tuesday held Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik responsible for the NREGS scam in Orissa, which would now be investigated by the CBI following a direction by the Supreme Court. “The Chief Minister is the head of the state council which monitors and supervises execution of work under MGNREGA. So he cannot escape responsibilities. What is really shameful is that the Supreme Court singled out Orissa for the CBI...