Anna Hazare isn't taking his eyes off Parliament yet and his next campaign, announced on Saturday, will demand annual performance audits of MPs, right to recall elected representatives, right to reject candidates contesting elections and mandatory approval of gram sabha before acquiring any land. "Hazare will send the letter shortly and seek Prime Minister's views on these three vital issues", said Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal, who briefed the media after...

Anna Hazare’s fast is over, but the conjuncture of which that fast was an episode is not: Hazare’s own movement, or other similar movements, are bound to recur in the coming months. The question naturally arises: what are these movements all about? And to start with: what was Hazare’s own movement all about? It was certainly not about “corruption” in any definable sense. That word meant different things to the...

-The Economic Times   The impending shortage of judges in the Supreme Court might grab headlines. But it is only the most visible aspect of a problem that ails our entire judicial system, right from the lowest to the highest level: the acute shortage of judges. So, come October, when seven of the judges of the apex court are due to retire, the Supreme Court will find itself functioning with less than 75%...

Contesting an Income Tax notice to him over money he owes the government, Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal has claimed he did not breach any bond norms. However, in a June 2007 letter, he had admitted to having violated the pledge he had signed before proceeding on a two-year study leave from his government service, adding this was done in “larger public interest”. “At the time of taking study leave, I...

After his successful campaign for the Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare is now targeting electoral reform to curb corruption. While politicians were his main target, few realised that it was the bureaucrats who had enabled the politicians to abuse the system. The war on corruption needs drastic administrative reforms to curb the enormous power of the petty babus. The good intentions of prime ministers, the commitment of good officers and...