Congress negotiators and Anna Hazare's associates repeatedly shifted the goalposts through the four-and-half-month stand-off on the shape and structure of the Lokpal Bill. The Anna group flagged as many as 40 issues during the many rounds of discussions in the joint Lokpal drafting committee set up after Mr. Hazare ended his April 2011 fast in Jantar Mantar here. Of these, 34 were more or less resolved by the time negotiations broke...
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PUCL voices concern over ability of bill to tackle graft
-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...
More »Supreme Court agrees to hear Bhim Singh's petition
-The Hindu The Supreme Court on Friday indicated that it would examine the larger question of violation of fundamental Rights raised by Bhim Singh of the Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party in his petition against the preventive detention of Anna Hazare, and asked him to get the anti-corruption campaigner's consent to prosecute the petition. In his petition, Mr. Singh questioned the correctness of the Delhi Police in having taken Mr. Hazare into...
More »Madhya Pradesh puts EOW, Lokayukta police out of RTI ambit by Mahim Pratap Singh
The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to take the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and the Lokayukta’s Special Police Establishment out of the ambit of Right to Information Act. In an order passed on Thursday by the General Administration Department (GAD), the government has declared that the provisions of the RTI Act will not apply to the EOW and the Lokayukta police. Several high-profile cases of corruption involving government officials and politicians are...
More »Wombs for rent by Anupama Katakam
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...
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