Webcasting is the newest technology the state election department adopted for the 2011 Assembly polls. In fact, Bengal is the second state in the country, after Bihar, where the webcasting technology is being used for the elections. The technology enables live feeding of recordings of the inside of booths through internet connection. Live recording of voting procedure is thus directly loaded and can be seen by officers at the state election...

Anna Hazare and the civil society won a crucial first battle in the war against corruption. There is a possibility that the Lokpal Bill could be passed by Parliament by August 15. However, that is by no means assured: a number of politicians, a part of section of political establishment and a section of bureaucracy will try to derail the Bill or dilute it so much that it is rendered...

Expectations of changes resulting from a movement bereft of a clear political and ideological thrust would be far-fetched. FROM the vacuum left by mainstream politics to the confusions of ideology and practice emerging out of half-baked socio-political engagement – the political trajectory of Anna Hazare's “anti-corruption” satyagraha movement demanding early introduction of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament can well be summed up thus. The wide support that the movement received from...

Trouble-mongers will think twice before creating nuisance within polling booth premises during the Assembly elections in West Bengal as live videos of more than 1,000 critical booths will be directly monitored by the Election Commission through ‘web-casting.' The general public will also be able to stream the live videos by logging on to the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer's site. A first-time initiative in the State elections, the technique will be put...

We should be grateful to Anna Hazare for dedicating his life to the people and battling for accountability in governance. Millions look to him for inspiration and guidance. We are all sick of mismanagement, venality and the lack of accountability that plague not only governance but also other institutions, including many NGOs that call themselves “civil society” institutions, the term made fashionable by international donor agencies. The support base of this...