-The Economic Times   Talks between the government and civil society activists on the draft Lokpal Bill almost broke down on Monday, with the civil society members threatening to walk out of the drafting committee. This was following government's insistence on keeping the post of Prime Minister, higher judiciary, Armed Forces, the Election Commission, Public Services Commissions and MPs conduct inside Parliament out of the purview of Lokpal. Members of the civil...

Simmering differences between civil society members and government representatives spilled over on Monday after an attempt was made to bring the Prime Minister and the higher judiciary under the purview of the Lokpal Bill. In its fifth meeting on Monday, while government representatives—including senior Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal, M.Veerappa Moily, P. Chidambaram and Salman Khursheed—expressed their reservations, civil society members said their demand was “non-negotiable” and threatened another agitation. While...

UPA government for excluding PM, higher judiciary and acts of MPs in Parliament from scrutiny The Joint Drafting Committee on the Lokpal Bill on Monday for the first time got bogged down by contentious issues. The UPA government opposed scrutiny by the Lokpal of the Prime Minister, the higher judiciary and acts of MPs inside Parliament — in the context of seeking cash for votes and for raising questions —...

Just ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to India where she will hold delegation- level talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday, Berlin decided to shut all its nuclear power reactors by 2022. The decision is expected to have wide-ranging ramifications in India as those opposed to nuclear power, including the movement at Jaitapur, will claim vindication in what is being described as a drastic reversal of policy...

Pantoka is a beehive of activity. The spirit of protest in this small hamlet on the India-Nepal border is not a simple case of topical environmental awakening; it is a desperate struggle for life in which more than 1 lakh lives are at stake. Today, the first day of June, the citizens of Bihar's Raxaul sub-division in East Champaran district will stage a massive blockade on National Highway 28A, shutting off...