-IBN   According to the findings of a CNN IBN-Hindustan Times Opinion poll, the public prefers Anna Hazare over the government to tackle corruption. Anna Hazare and his team have campaigned relentlessly for the offices of the Prime Minister and the judiciary to be brought under the purview of the Lokpal Bill. Now, a poll conducted by CNN IBN in partnership with Hindustan Times shows that Anna Hazare inspires greater trust among Indians on...

-The Hindu   Under fire for describing homosexuality as “unnatural,” Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday sought to clarify and explain the extempore remarks he made at a conference the previous day. Mr. Azad said he had been quoted “totally out of context” by a section of the media, which reported him as saying that men having sex with men was a “disease.” A review of the video recording of his...

-The Telegraph   The Centre may just have achieved its objective in calling today’s all-party meeting on the Lokpal bill: a consensus among political parties over Parliament’s primacy in lawmaking. All the parties stressed that the government must follow Parliamentary procedures, with some criticising it for engaging with Anna Hazare’s group. But though everyone agreed on the need for a strong Lokpal, the parties differed on its provisions, especially on whether the Prime...

As expected, the government and the Anna Team have disagreed on vital points. The question of inclusion of the Prime Minister within the ambit of the Lokpal is being falsely blown out of proportions by the government’s apologists. The Prime Minister, though the head of government, is only first amongst equals. In a democratic country, political vacuum does not arise as the Cabinet has a collective responsibility. Also, our past...

-The Times of India   The government is set to accept the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council's recommendation to cover 75% rural and 50% urban population under a food security law, but wants to keep the percentages outside the language of the Act itself. UPA-2 is inclined to set the percentage of population covered in a notification or schedule accompanying the Act so that it can be revised by executive order...