This is the season to count blessings. India's greatest blessings are its adherence to the democratic system of governance, an independent judiciary, a free and fearless media, and an Election Commission that inspires confidence. I hope that soon India will have an independent and effective Lokpal, which will pave the way for a corruption-free India, a pre-requisite for a hunger-free India. The other major paradigm shift observed in recent years is...

-The Times of India Representative politics is not just about elections. It's also about visions and issues that mould political consciousness: A lesson that has been powerfully driven home by Anna Hazare and his anti-corruption movement. No doubt, the nationwide popular groundswell, witnessed over the last few months, has changed the rules of contemporary engagement between the political classes and the civil society. The crucial Lokpal debate, beginning inParliament on Tuesday,...

-The Indian Express It made a wan sight — the expanse of Mumbai’s MMRDA ground, the site for the next phase of Anna Hazare’s “second independence struggle”, looked even larger because of the small Crowd pressing into the centre. Less than a tenth of the numbers expected actually showed up. What a change from a few months back, when Team Anna seemed to be the unstoppable force that collided with the...

-The Times of India   Bapi Sarkhel, in the eye of a storm since the December 14 violence near Poscoproject site in Jagatsinghpur, said on Thursday certain politicians seeking his arrest had benefited from him in the past, but turned against him as they saw him as a threat. Police has booked him on charges of fomenting trouble in the proposed Posco steel plant site and attacking anti-land acquisition villagers in the...

-The Indian Express Anna Hazare has accused the Centre of “cheating the people” by trying to enact a weak Lokpal, to “save” corrupt politicians. Meanwhile, Prashant Bhushan contends that the CBI chief’s selection was bound to be problematic, given that it would be decided by two politicians (“the prime minister and someone who hopes to someday be prime minister”) and the Chief Justice of India (previous holders of that office having...