Category: UNCLASSIFIED

Medha Patkar, one of India’s biggest mass leaders and part of the Anna Hazare group, has confirmed that Team Anna is giving feedback to the Government on the statement to be made by leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee in a few minutes. Patkar said a team of Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi […]

Over the last five days, conversations in the national capital are increasingly about a 72-year-old son of a factory worker from Maharashtra, Kisan Baburao Hazare or Anna Hazare. While the majority of the Indian middle-class and the rural residents seem to be in favor of his agitation (going by the polls), many, especially the urban […]

The Parliament will not give a binding directive to the standing committee to go by the consensus that may emerge at the end of discussions today, according to the statement made by Pranab Mukherjee to start off the discussion in Lok Sabha today. Kicking the discussions off, Pranab Mukherjee, the senior most Congress leader, said […]

I do have a strong set of issues with the supposed ‘intelligentsia’ response to the Anna Hazara / IAC movement / Jan Lokpal bill – I use the terms loosely and interchangeably. The key stands, summarising Nitin Pai, Amba Salakar, Arundhati Roy et al seem to be: 1. “We (the civil society experts / bloggers […]

Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has lent strong support to passing a “strong and effective” Lokpal bill as soon as possible. She also lent support to Anna Hazare group on all three questions which were subjected to debate in the Parliament today. 1) On the issue of including the Judiciary, […]

India will get a new media regulator in less than a month, Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni said at a CII conference on Friday. The minister said that industry-government body meant to recommend the structure of the new body has finalized its proposals and the same are about to be forwarded to the Cabinet. […]

Congress leader Sandip Dixit, son of Sheila Dixit, refused to support Anna Hazare’s demand to include the lower bureaucracy within the investigative powers of the Lokpal. He was the first speaker from the Congress party speaking on merits at the Parliamentary debate on Anna Hazare’s three demands today, inaugurated by Pranab Mukherjee. While he supported […]

Anna’s health has dipped below optimum levels, leading to the posting of a permanent medical team by his side. “We have increased his fluid in-take.. We’ll check today’s blood results and advise him in the evening,” Dr Naresh Trehan, one of country’s most prominent doctors, said after examining Anna Hazare’s health in the morning today. […]

Members of Parliament expressed their frustration and anger at being tarred as corrupt by the popular movement led by Anna Hazare. Leading the attack, senior leader of the Janata Dal (United) party, Sharad Yadav urged the protesters to remain civil and choose their words carefully. “Please keep your words within limits and we shall also […]

Nokia has just launched three new all-touch smartphone models — the 3.2 inch Nokia 600 & Nokia 700 and the 3.5 inch Nokia 701. The phones are not earth-shattering in terms of innovation. In fact, these are phones that would have helped the company hold on to its smart-phone market-share two years ago. But as […]

The CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharya has taken a nuanced position on the three demands of Anna Hazare in the Lok Sabha debate today. Acharya was the first speaker from the left parties to speak on the matter. He dismissed the Government’s version of the Lokpal bill, calling it useless, but refused to fully support the […]

Team Anna has clarified that it is not enough for the Parliament to merely discuss the Jan Lokpal bill, but needs to pass a resolution. Anna Hazare has already called for three “must haves” for the new Jan Lokpal bill that will ultimately be passed by the Parliament. They are: 1) Entire bureaucracy must be […]

The Shiva Sena, one of NDA’s biggest allies and a major player in Maharashtra, has declared its full support to the three demands raised by Anna Hazare. Anant Geete, Shiv Sena MP from Raigarh in Maharashtra, expressed his party’s “total support” to the three points — bringing all bureaucrats under Lokpal, installing a citizen’s charter […]

The main opposition, Bhartiya Janata Party, has mocked the government’s defence of cracking down on Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption protests. Senior leader and leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley mocked the argument that Hazare was arrested because he refused to limit his supporters to 5,000 in number. Jaitley said the Congress Party led government is crushing […]

BJP president Nitin Gadkari, in a grand press conference attended by most senior leaders, has accused the Congress Party led government of slipping into an emergency mentality. BJP, which does not agree with several of the protesters demands as well, asked Congress to respect other people’s right to popularize their opinion, even if they are […]

Veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare may not be able to continue his fast for much longer as he is reported to be refusing water as well. Hazare had warned that if there had been police crackdown on his agitation, he would stop taking water as well. While Hazare could go on for several days without taking […]

Thanks to an unprecedented outpouring of support and emotion from across the country, the government is learnt to have issued an order to release Anna Hazare. According to unconfirmed reports, the government has released a warrant for his release to the Director General of Prisons, Delhi. The order/recommendation has to be processed and agreed by […]