A decision to videograph the proceedings of the Joint Committee on Lokpal Bill as sought by Gandhian Anna Hazare have to be taken by the drafting panel itself, its member Union Minister Salman Khurshid said today. Responding to a question on the demand by Hazare to videograph and make public proceedings of the Committee to ensure transparency in the drafting process, Khurshid said, "The Joint Drafting Committee is supposed to decide...

To say that no one has elected Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and the rest to speak for ordinary citizens is to say the obvious. The mostly middle-class people and the chatteratti (Film stars, celebrity cops and so on) who have rallied to Mr Hazare’s cause remind one of the people who held hands and lit candles after the November 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, saying, “Enough is enough”. TV stations...

Egypt, Tunisia and now — Jantar Mantar. That’s what a gaggle of school students felt Anna Hazare’s protest site had become. “Tunisia, Egypt and now India,” said one banner. Teenager Ankita, who held aloft the poster, said she could not hold herself back. “A revolution is on. And I wanted to pitch in,” said the Class XII student of a reputable city school. Schoolmate Ashish Parikh nodded. “It is the tipping point.” They were...

The issue regarding the seemingly poor response to the national rural employment guarantee scheme ( NREGS) of the central government dominated the proceedings of the gram sabha of the Chandor village panchayat held on Sunday. It was pointed out that several cardholders under the UPA government's flagship project had later failed to undertake the work allotted to them, thus crippling the progress of the scheme in the village. The program officer...

In Tamil Nadu, untouchability is so deep-rooted that there are separate burial spaces for Dalits and upper castes even in some urban pockets. “Samarasam ulavum idame Nam vaazhvil kaanaa Samarasam ulavum idame… Jaathiyil melor enrum Thaaznthavar keezhor enrum bethamillathu Ellorum mudivil serndhidum kaadu Thollai inriye thoongidum veedu Ulaginile ithuthaan Nam vaazhvil kaanaa Samarasam ulavum idame…” (Here, in this place pervades equality Which one could not have seen ever in one's lifetime! Steering clear of caste discriminations Such as the high, the low and...