-PTI   Many swear by him, several scoff at him. Like him or hate him, but he can't be ignored. As the anti-corruption stir intensifies, media and advertising experts say brand 'Anna' has overtaken all the other labels in India in different walks of life for the moment. As Anna Hazare's fast entered the tenth day today, branding experts said 'Annaism' is becoming a phrase and concept that other brands will soon want...

The absence of a law regulating surrogacy makes India, especially Anand, a top destination for couples from abroad. UNTIL about 2008, the future looked bleak for Sharadaben Solanki. A landless daily-wage worker in Anand, Gujarat, she earned a paltry Rs.600 a month. Her husband earned an equal amount working as a construction labourer. Together the couple supported three children and their parents. That was when she heard from Maganbhai, the owner of...

-Express News Service   Chief Minister Mayawati today put her weight behind fears that casteist and communal forces were trying to subvert the Constitution in the garb of the Jan Lokpal Bill, and asked the Centre to ensure that the legislation was created “within the framework of the Constitution”, and gave proper representation to SCs, STs, OBCs and religious minorities at all important levels. Addressing a press conference, the Chief Minister added: “The...

Mahesh Kundu paid 2,500 rupees for a driving licence, Rupam Bhatia 5,000 rupees to be admitted to hospital and Vishrant Chandra 6,000 rupees for a marriage certificate. These are the commonplace bribery stories experienced by middle-class Indians who have poured into the streets to say "enough is enough". Corruption in India is as old as the Ramayana, when the evil demon Ravana bribed a guardian of hell to avoid punishment in...

Anna Hazare is not Mohandas Gandhi or Jayaprakash Narayan. No one wants to seriously hear his diagnosis of the ills of the Indian political system or his vision of a future India and, so, it is pointless to find fault with either. He is not even a Gandhian satyagrahi looking for self-purification or waiting to listen to his inner voice. He has used his fasts to unashamedly pressure a corrupt,...