In less than a fortnight of its formation, the joint committee for drafting the Lokpal Bill is falling apart. Even as civil society representatives Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan are battling Attacks on their integrity, another civil society leading light, Justice N Santosh Hegde, is thinking of quitting the panel. Stung by Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's references to his ineffectuality in dealing with corruption in Karnataka, Hegde, who is the...

The first results of Census 2011 put India's population at 1,210 million, indicating a demographic transition. CENSUS 2011 is the 15th one undertaken in India since 1872 and the seventh after the country Attained Independence. While there have been stray historical references to population counts of one kind or another in earlier periods over much smaller territories within the territory that constitutes present-day India, the consensus view is that the...

Unfazed by controversies surrounding the Bhushans, civil society activists on Thursday rejected demands for their resignation from the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill but one of its members Justice Santosh Hegde said he is thinking of resigning from it. The demand for the resignation of lawyer Shanti Bhushan and his son Prashant grew on Thursday following a CFSL report that a CD allegedly involving the senior Bhushan was not tampered...

Civil society groups and organisations on Tuesday condemned attempts to malign co-chairman of the Lokpal Bill joint drafting committee Shanti Bhushan and its member Prashant Bhushan. Expressing “full solidarity,” the organisations said they would oppose all efforts to sideline the central issue of establishing a strong and effective mechanism to tackle endemic corruption in the country. Describing Mr. Shanti Bhushan as “a tireless defender of civil liberties and the rule of law,”...

Barring stray incidents, voting is peaceful during the first phase of the Bihar panchayat polls being held amidst tight security today. Polling is being held at 12,905 booths spread over 37 districts for 28,639 posts of village chiefs, sarpanchs, gram panchayat members, gram kutchery panch, panchayat samiti members and district board members. There are 1.43 lakh candidates in the fray. People queued up at polling booths despite a boycott call by Maoists....