The BJP has slammed the Centre for mishandling Anna Hazare’s protest but signalled that it is not entirely on the side of the agitators and will take a nuanced stance on their demands. The party said it rejected Hazare’s Jan Lokpal bill, would not take dictations from the Gandhian and his associates on a deadline to pass the bill and would not circumvent parliamentary procedures. The government has convened a meeting of...

In the latest tug-of-war on the applicability of the Right to Information (RTI) Act on government decisions, the law ministry is set to challenge a Central Information Commission (CIC) ruling, directing it to accept the ownership of its legal opinions. The ministry is unhappy with the July 27 ruling of the CIC, in which the transparency watchdog had held that the legal advice tendered by it to various government departments cannot...

Ordinance makes SPOs an ‘auxiliary force' In the last week of July, the Chhattisgarh government passed an ordinance that sought to dispel the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the State's 5,269 registered Special Police Officers (SPOs) who operate as the vanguard of the government's battle against the guerilla army of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). On July 5, the Supreme Court directed the State government to “immediately cease and desist...

After the brutal murder of Azad, is there any hope for well-meaning routine calls for “dialogue” and “peace talks”? What can the "civil society" do as a serious, real intervention? It is reported that the deCADes-old talks with Naga insurgent groups has made some progress recently (See “Differences ‘narrowed’,” Times of India, July 19, 2011). One reason why talks have a chance in these cases is that separatism comes in...

-The Times of India   Showcause notices will be issued to road contractors as well as civic engineers for the potholes and bad stretches remaining on city roads following the meeting chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had with senior officials of various government agencies on Saturday. Chavan also told newspersons after the meeting, "The material used for road work will also have to be tested compulsorily in laboratories before use. The contractor will have...