Besides taking into account the different viewpoints of parties on modalities of inclusion of the office of Prime Minister in the lokpal Bill and the scope of the proposed ombudsman over the CBI and the CVC, the Union Cabinet would take into consideration the ‘sense of the House' resolution adopted by Parliament in August committing itself to three specific issues raised by social activist Anna Hazare. On August 27, Parliament urged...

-The Indian Express   The entire spectrum of opinion on the lokpal bill was on display at the all-party meeting on the issue. Meanwhile, Anna Hazare and his comrades promise another round of agitation, an indefinite fast, a jail bharo campaign and protest outside the homes of Congress leaders, if the bill is not cleared in this parliamentary session, and insist that the session be extended until it is passed. So far, the...

-The Times of India   It's welcome that political parties across the board have evolved a broad consensus on some key elements of the contentious lokpal Bill. Big strides have been taken in the process of framing a cogent anti-corruption legislation. After months of acrimony, the majority of political parties have come around to endorsing two of Team Anna's salient recommendations: placing the prime minister as well as the lower bureaucracy under...

-The Indian Express Shanti Bhushan — Supreme Court advocate, Team Anna member, self-appointed representative of civil society and self-anointed crusader against corruption — stares at the prospect of having to speak for himself, and his son Jayant, again. An Uttar Pradesh government audit has resurrected the controversial Noida farmhouse scheme, whereby the Bhushans, along with others, had been allotted farmhouse plots at reportedly a fraction of the market rate. The audit...

-The Economic Times   The extent of control that lokpal should have over CBI remained a sticky point at the all party meeting here on Wednesday. NDA representatives at the meeting insisted on the investigative independence of the CBI and its complete disassociation from government. The all-party meeting was essentially aimed at hearing out the views of various political parties on the anti-graft body. BJP, Left and BSP insisted that the Bill...