Aruna Roy-led National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) has criticized the exclusion of lower bureaucracy from the draft lokpal bill terming it as a loss for the common man. It has also demanded that the CBI should be brought out of the administrative control of the government for it to be effective in tackling corruption. The activists have echoed concerns already raised by Team Anna which has demanded...

It also goes back on new method of appointment of CBI Director A day after the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the Union Ministry of Personnel finalised its report on the lokpal Bill, Congress MPs forced the holding of an emergency meeting on Thursday to go back on two key decisions taken on Wednesday: the ruling party MPs on the Standing Committee have now withdrawn the assent they had given to...

-The Economic Times   After agreeing to inclusion of Group C government employees within the ambit of lokpal, the standing committee on law and justice examining the bill recommended its exclusion from the proposed ombudsman's jurisdiction.  The standing committee, which completed its work on Wednesday after deliberating on various points contained in the draft lokpal bill, had asked BJP, Left and other members to submit their dissenting notes to the panel.  Members, therefore, were...

-The Telegraph   The dissent-riven report of the parliamentary standing committee on the lokpal bill is set to recommend exclusion of the Prime Minister from the proposed anti-graft authority’s ambit, a decision bound to intensify the government’s tussle with Team Anna. No consensus could be reached on the question of the Prime Minister’s inclusion at the last meeting of the committee. While most members felt that the country’s top executive office should not...

Manmohan Singh today refused to yield to pressure on the question of allowing foreign direct investment in retail and appeared ready for a protracted battle, including the risk of a vote in Parliament despite his government’s fragile majority. Somewhat reminiscent of his nuclear deal stand, the Prime Minister confronted those who had accused the government of taking a hasty decision on retail. “We have not taken this decision in haste, but after...