The Karnataka Lokayukta and Member of Jan Lokpal Bill Joint Drafting Committee N. Santosh Hedge on Monday made a forceful plea for bringing politicians and bureaucrats under the jurisdiction of the proposed Lokpal at the Centre as maladministration and corruption could not take place without the nexus between the two. Speaking at a public meeting at the International Centre Goa (ICG) at Dona Paula near here on Monday on “Role of...

Who is a civil society member? This question, which has intrigued me for more than 20 years, came up again with the organization of the demonstrations in support of the lok pal bill in Delhi and other metropolitan cities. When I asked a friend who had been with the demonstrators at Jantar Mantar about the social composition of the gathering, he said that they were common people from every walk...

The Ratnagiri police are allegedly tapping phones and scrutinising call records of leaders including those of political parties to gather crucial information related to the agitation against the proposed nuclear plant in Jaitapur. Senior leaders like B G Kolse-Patil, Justice P B Sawant and Vaishali Patil have alleged that since they are heading the protests, the police are monitoring their movements continuously through technical surveillance. Cops evasive When asked about phone tapping,...

Three pronouncements made on three consecutive days this month by the Supreme Court of India have brought relief to different groups of economically and socially deprived people. The beneficiaries include children sold out by poor parents to work in circuses as child labour; young men and women determined to get married crossing caste barriers and harassed for that very reason by ‘khap panchayats'; and the hungry poor across the country...

It is now certain that the higher judiciary wouldn’t be under the purview of the proposed Lokpal. Consensus to this effect emerged at a roundtable held here in which members of the civil society, including four non-government members of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee, two former Chief Justices of India and many prominent citizens participated. Another important issue on which there was “near unanimity” at the meeting was the procedure for...