Under pressure from big business to end the political stalemate, India’s self-proclaimed anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare yesterday broke his 12-day fast at the Ramlila Maiden, a public ground in New Delhi. On Saturday, the Indian parliament passed an “in principle” resolution agreeing to include three of Hazare’s demands in proposed lokpal or ombudsman legislation. Though tensions have eased, nothing has been settled. Hazare, who headed large anti-corruption protests, has backed away...

During the Emergency, the citizens of India weren’t merely exposed to Indira Gandhi’s 20-point programme. They were subjected to the additional torture of being exposed to the five point-programme of ‘youth leader’ Sanjay Gandhi. One of Sanjay’s more memorable nuggets of wisdom was: “Work more, talk less.” I recall it being carefully painted on a billboard somewhere close to the “Leader is right, future is bright” hoarding in Delhi’s Connaught...

-Express News Service   Parliament’s resolution on Saturday has paved the way for Anna Hazare to end his 12-day long fast but the government has managed to get out of the crisis zone without offering much to Team Anna. Having rejected the government’s version of the lokpal bill that was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 4 — and burnt its copies in public — the Anna Hazare camp had demanded nothing...

A day after Parliament passed a resolution conveying the “sense of the House” on the lokpal Bill, the Parliamentary Standing Committee which is examining the Bill said today that it has a “challenging task” ahead. Asked what the Parliament’s resolution meant for the lokpal Bill, which is under consideration of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, and Law & Justice, its chairman, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, told The Indian Express:...

-The Times of India   A day after Parliament accepted in principle the demands of anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare, some voices of dissent over the movement have surfaced. Leading civil rights organization, Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has raised apprehensions on the ability of the lokpal bill to tackle corruption. In a public discussion in Jaipur on Sunday, PUCL activists including its former national head Rajendra Sachar and noted activist Binayak...