Congress has rejected demands for a probe against Robert Vadra, Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, in the wake of allegation by civil society activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan that he was favoured by realty major DLF.
Activist Anna Hazare claims that 85 per cent people in Telecom and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal's constituency in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, support the draft Lokpal Bill drawn up by 'civil society' activists.
The World Economic Forum last week named former Clinton Administration official, erstwhile Congressional staffer and longtime Democratic Party activist Shamina Singh, 41, as one of its Young Global Leaders for 2010.
Srinagar, which is no stranger to angry protests, on Saturday witnessed a demonstration with a difference as civil society activists took to the streets to protest the growing menace of stray dogs in the city.
'Our civil society here is vibrant, and courageous, although it is beaten up and beaten down, repeatedly.'
The Congress on Monday hit back at L K Advani for describing it as a 'fiefdom' of a single family, saying his views reflect "his frustration from unfulfilled desires".
Anna Hazare-led activists on Monday reacted sharply Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for accusing the civil society of trying to undermine democracy and said his statement betrayed a "distorted understanding of democracy and arrogance of power".
Under pressure from civil society to take concrete action on black money, the government said on Monday it has enough tools to deal with transactions arising from non-cooperative jurisdictions and would take action as and when necessary.
It is in circumstances like this that the Constitution becomes extremely important. It reminds us that we have a commitment towards higher human values to fulfil, a path to get back to, suggests Shyam G Menon.Else, we risk being rudderless in an ocean of money and majoritarianism, suggests Shyam G Menon.
A senior leader, who declined to be identified, said the party was not told about the police action, like it was also not aware of the four ministers, led by Mukherjee, driving down to the Delhi airport on June 1 to meet Baba Ramdev, a move which had come for flak from several party leaders
A 60-page report by the Human Rights Watch titled 'Between Two Sets of Guns: Attacks on Civil Society Activists in India's Maoist Conflict', documents human rights abuses against activists in India's Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh states. This is the final part of the three-part series
Here's what your favourite Bollywood celebrities are tweeting.
The Lokpal Bill, which seeks to curb corruption, has run into rough weather after the government objected strongly to certain clauses in the much-anticipated bill.The prime bone of contention during Monday's meeting between representatives of the civil society and the Centre was the proposed inclusion of both the prime minister and the judiciary within the purview of the Lokpal bill.
Nationalist Congress Praty leader D C Tripathi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday.
The ruling dispensation seems to have plumbed the depths of depravity following the constitution of the Lokpal panel. Whatever residual respect that one might have for a 'clean' prime minister was lost once a carefully orchestrated campaign of calumny was unleashed against civil society nominees on the Lokpal panel, says Virendra Kapoor.
Expressing his resentment at the recent smear campaign against civil society members by certain elements, including some within the Congress and the government, to derail the fight against corruption, social activist Anna Hazare shot off a strongly-worded letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Briefing mediapersons about Saturday's first Lok Pal joint draft committee meeting after a three-hour closed door meeting between Anna Hazare, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Justice N Santosh Hegde on Friday, the members declared their assets to the press, claiming they had nothing to hide.
Admitting that incidents of money distribution were occurring despite its strong measures for Wednesday's Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, the Election Commission warned for the second day that it may postpone elections in areas where the malpractice takes place.
Pakistan's telecom regulator on Tuesday postponed the implementation of a directive to block nearly 1,700 "offensive" words from SMS messages, saying the matter would be sorted out after discussions with the civil society. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's move to filter over 1,100 English words and terms and 586 Urdu words and phrases from text messages had been met with outrage and ridicule by consumers and rights activists.
Following is the text of the Gazette Notification issued by the government constituting the Joint Drafting Committee comprising ministers and civil society activists to prepare the draft Lok Pal Bill.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday told media persons that only govt officials will be members of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill.
According to sources in the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is firmly against activist Anna Hazare's demand for formally constituting a joint committee, with representatives from the civil society and the government, to draft a strong anti-corruption bill. Hazare has been on an indefinite fast in New Delhi since Wednesday to press for his demand.Mukherjee has stopped the government from issuing a notification to make the joint committee formal.
Civil society groups in insurgency-hit Manipur have been carrying on with their campaign for withdrawal of 'draconian' 1958 Armed Forces Special Powers Act, alleging that security forces operating in the state often resort to excesses taking advantage of the Act in force.
The government has cancelled the FCRA registration of nearly 1,900 NGOs for violating various provisions of the law in the last five years. There were 22,762 FCRA-registered organisations till December-end 2021.
Off late there has been a lot of talk regarding the necessity to have a judicial accountability bill. Even when the Lokpal Bill was being debated, the inclusion of judges into Lokpal's ambit was strongly opposed by the government despite members of the civil society urging the government to make such an inclusion.
A week after violence erupted in Uttar Pradesh over the remarks on Prophet Muhammad by a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, no untoward incident took place following the Friday prayers, an official said in Lucknow.
The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) invites applications from qualified young internet professionals for the NIXI Fellowship Programme.
The Assam government is not considering the appeal from some civil society pro-peace groups to grant general amnesty to the members and the leaders of the pro-talks faction of United Liberation Front of Assam.
In the third and final part of the interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Subhash Gatade, author of Godse's Children -- Hindutva Terror In India, says that we should be wary of the majoritarian mindset which dominates what is known as civil society of our country.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Monday demanded the registration of a case of sedition against leading Supreme Court lawyer and Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan. Ramdev said, "What Bhushan said in reference to Kashmir was highly seditious and cannot be condoned." According to him, "The language used by Bhushan does not behove a prominent member of civil society that was taking up a huge social cause, therefore there was every reason to restrain him".
Asserting that violence can't be the solution to get rid of the rampant corruption prevailing in the country, veteran social activist Anna Hazare's key aide Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that he has been receiving messages about his office being attacked, and termed the whole episode to be a conspiracy against civil society activists.
'There is no scope for any doubt. This was a scheme designed to enrich the ruling party.'
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the world needs sustainable development.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for following a 'one earth, one health' approach to effectively deal with the coronavirus pandemic globally, and sought the support of the G7 grouping to lift patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, during a virtual address at an outreach session of a summit of the bloc.
After successfully mobilising public opinion to favour the release of senior leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to facilitate talks with the government, the Sanmilita Jatiya Abhibartan, a forum of leading citizens and civil society organisations, has now started preparing the charter of demands that the outfit can present ahead of the peace talks.
Welcoming ending of fast by Anna Hazare, the Congress on Sunday said it is a "win-win situation" for all stakeholders.
In an inclusive democracy, every section of civil society, and every individual, has a participatory role in governance, including policy-making, says former chief justice of India J S Verma
We had asked our readers to suggest ways to resolve the stand-off between the United Progressive Alliance government and Team Anna Hazare on the proposed Lokpal Bill draft. The responses.
Arguing that Anna Hazare should not deride democratic institutions, National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy on Saturday said the Gandhian was "ill-advised" as there was still scope for the civil society group to change the government's version of Lokpal Bill.
Insisting that there was no wrongdoing in the arrest of Anna Hazare, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said the government would deal with him "administratively and politically" but made it clear that his Jan Lokpal Bill was not acceptable.
