ANNALILA: Cracks in Anna camp, Hegde wants fast called off!

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PTI / The Hindu / NEW DELHI, August 26, 2011.

Children wearing masks of anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare gather at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi on Friday - AP.

There were growing signs of differences within the Anna Hazare camp over the continuance of the Gandhian’s fast with former Karantaka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde on Friday joining another associate, Swami Agnivesh, in saying that the hunger strike should be called off now.

Mr. Hegde, also a member of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill, strongly disapproved of Mr. Hazare’s insistence on “having his way” in Parliament, saying “I feel I am not in Team Anna any more by the way things are going. These (telling Parliament what to do) are not democratic things”.

Asking Mr. Hazare to call off his fast that entered the 11th day on Friday, Swami Agnivesh also made it clear that any appearance of threats to Parliament is not becoming of a Gandhian.

“This is some sort of... seen as a threat to Parliament ‘you do it by tomorrow or day after’ (sic)… This is not becoming of a Gandhian fast or a moment… So this was the right moment to call it off,” Swami Agnivesh said.

Vinod Mehta, Editor-in-Chief of Outlook magazine, also attacked the “a coterie” within Team Anna, accusing them of “playing with the life” of the Gandhian to press absurd demands.

Rest at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2400160.ece

LOK PAL BILL: Team Anna vs Govt: Areas of dispute, negotiation!

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NDTV Correspondent, Updated: August 23, 2011 15:05 IST.

New Delhi:  The Anna-Hazare-government standoff continues, the 74-year-old Gandhian is still fasting. But moves are afoot now to ensure a compromise is reached to break the impasse.   

The government is making frantic efforts and seems willing to give in on key sticking points.

At the Ramlila Maidan, where Team Anna has set up camp, there seems to have been a softening of stand too. What started out as two different draft Bills after members of a joint committee failed to agree, may yet be put together in a new draft.

The story so far: Anna Hazare was on hunger strike for four days in April this year, before the government invited him and his team to join a committee set up to draft an anti-corruption law - the Lok Pal Bill. There were an equal number of government representatives and civil society members on the panel. After several meetings and many disagreements, both sides drafted different versions of the Bill.

The government introduced its version in Parliament this month. Anna Hazare and his fellow anti-corruption activists were livid - they demanded that Parliament discuss and approve provisions of their draft Bill, the Jan Lok Pal Bill. On August 16, as planned, Anna Hazare was ready to begin his indefinite fast and mass protest when the Delhi Police swooped down on him, detained, and later arrested him and sent him to jail. There has been a public and political outcry since, Anna has become a global icon and the government is in damage-control mode.

Central to any compromise will be the contours of the Bill that Parliament will debate and approve. Sources say the government may make major changes to its draft Lok Pal Bill to include provisions from Team Anna's Jan Lok Pal Bill. The key differences between the two are:      

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Full Story at,

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/team-anna-vs-govt-areas-of-dispute-negotiation-128409

  

TELENGANA TANGLE: Cracks appear in T Congress!

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August 7, 2011 / By Ch V.M. KRISHNA RAO, DC, Hyderabad.

Though publicly the Telangana Congress Steering Committee meeting held here on Saturday has decided to continue its boycott of Parliament and ministerial duties, there seems to be differences among the leaders, and it is believed that some of the MPs will attend Parliament from Monday.

Though publicly the Telangana Congress Steering Committee meeting held here on Saturday has decided to continue its boycott of Parliament and ministerial duties, there seems to be differences among the leaders, and it is believed that some of the MPs will attend Parliament from Monday.

One of the chairmen of the Steering Committee, the MP, Dr K. Kesava Rao, surprised newsmen when he said that he will attend the Rajya Sabha on the day a discussion on the Telangana issue will be held, to “tear into pieces” the government’s inaction in resolving the state bifurcation issue.

“I believe the CPI member, Mr Aziz Pasha, gave a notice for discussion. I will participate in the discussion,” Mr Kesava Rao said.

However, he added that MPs will not take back their resignations or attend the session.

Full Story at,

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/hyderabad/cracks-appear-t-congress-920

Lok Pal Bill: Lokpal: key proposals made by Hazare team missing from govt. draft!

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Have you read, “Mayhem of the Miserables!” available @ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52075

PTI / The Hindu. 

Civil society members Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal address the media after the last meeting of the Lokpal panel, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (below) Union Minister Kapil Sibal talks to the media after the meeting - PTI.

Powers to tap phones, issuance of letters rogatory and recommendations for changes in work practices to reduce scope for corruption are among the proposals made by the Anna Hazare team in their Jan Lokpal Bill which do not find a mention in the government draft.

The draft submitted to the joint committee on Lokpal Bill by the Hazare team also seeks power to the proposed ombudsman to acquire modern equipment necessary for proper investigation and inquire into the assets declaration statements filed by all MPs.

According to the Jan Lokpal Bill, an approporiate bench of Lokpal shall be deemed to be “designated authority under Section V of the Indian Telegraph Act empowered to approve interception and monitoring of messages of data or voice transmitted through telephones, Internet or any other medium...”

In the powers and functions of the Lokpal and its officers section of the civil society’s draft, the ombudsman can authorise a bench of the Lokpal to issue letters rogatory in relation to any case pending investigation.

This provision is in contrast to the stand taken by the Hazare team in the fourth meeting of the joint drafting committee held on May 23 when lawyer Shanti Bhushan clarified that the intent was to allow Lokpal to directly approach the court for letters rogatory and not to route such requests through the government.

Lokpal was originally conceived, about 43 years ago, to contain corruption at high political offices.  

Making it an omnibus institution to curb corruption from the topmost Indian constitutional offices to the lowest village level revenue officials sounds ridiculous as much as impractical.

Lokpal better be confined to be the watch on the high political offices, since there are already enough laws to take care of corruption at other levels.

Full Story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2125762.ece

Lok Pal Bill: NEED ONE MORE MASS AGITATION - Govt. against bringing Prime Minister under Lokpal!

Have you read my Novella, “Mayhem of the Miserables!” available @ http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52075

PTI / The Hindu.

Civil society members of the Lokpal panel, Anna Hazare and Santosh Hegde, after attending a meeting of the committee in New Delhi on Monday.

Civil society members were unhappy with government insisting on "self regulation" to control corruption in higher judiciary and MPs inside parliament instead of bringing them under Lokpal.

Sharp differences came to the surface at a meeting of the drafting committee for Lokpal bill on Monday with the government strongly opposing proposals for inclusion of Prime Minister, higher judiciary and acts of Members of Parliament inside Parliament under its purview.

At the meeting held under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, contentious issues came up for discussion in the committee for the first time.

Oh My God!, for the last 40 years this bill has been hanging fire.  During my boyhood I, heard of it for the first time, in 1971, during Indira Gandhi's time, exempting the President, the Vice-President, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Prime Minister, which was rejected by the opposition parties, then.

We cannot allow any exemptions if we are to hope true justice through Lok Pal Act.

After having waited for over 40 years, we can as well wait a bit long rather than having a bill with loop-holes.

If required one more mass-agitation like we have done last Month should be contemplated.  This time around lets go for an all out fight till they, first accept, 'no-exemption-basis' Lok Pal Bill, if necessary with sruitiny of Courts, to ensure unnecessary harassment of the top-brass, that could hinder the day-to-day administration.

Full story at,

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2062166.ece?homepage=true