The new Lokpal Bill was on Thursday at the centre of a fresh controversy before its introduction in the Lok Sabha, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen members protesting exclusion of minorities from the anti-graft bench of the proposed ombudsman.
Former army chief V K Singh has said he supports the issues raised by Anna Hazare and Ramdev but has not yet decided on joining the anti-graft activists.
The AG said that the names for the search committee have not been finalised yet.
The most frequently discussed issue in India while unemployment is the world's fastest-rising fear, according to a survey by the BBC covering 11,000 people in 23 countries.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal is all set to file his nomination in the capital for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections in Delhi on Tuesday.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Thursday admitted that people were "disappointed" with the party and appeared to be hitting out at party chief Nitin Gadkari as he said the campaign against corruption had been hurt due to induction of an ousted Bahujan Samaj Party leader facing graft charges.
Key Team Anna member Justice N Santosh Hegde admitted on Wednesday that corruption and governance issues did not determine the outcome of Uttar Pradesh elections but said the anti-graft sentiment certainly worked in Goa.
Rejecting the recommendations of the parliamentary panel on Lokpal Bill, Team Anna on Wednesday claimed that they will not have any impact on corruption and will instead dismantle the existing anti-graft mechanism.
The Central Vigilance Commission will suggest to the Parliamentary Standing Committee certain changes in the proposed Lokpal bill and pitch for greater powers to prosecute higher bureaucracy in corruption-related cases.
Pakistan's former president Asif Ali Zardari was on Tuesday acquitted in a corruption case dating back to the 1990s when his slain wife Benazir Bhutto was prime minister.
Team Anna on Monday rejected government's proposal of excluding lower bureaucracy from Lokpal's ambit, saying they must be covered to fight graft like alleged swindling by Group C employees of over Rs 30,000 crore worth of ration annually meant for poor.
Pakistani rights activist Ansar Burney on Monday he would launch a campaign against corruption and terrorism in his country after Eid-ul-Fitr, mirroring an anti-graft drive by activist Anna Hazare in India that has gained thousands of followers. Pakistan is confronting a "dire and painful period in its history, with rampant and continuously growing corruption and terrorism destroying every fabric of our nation and any prospects of a decent future for our children".
Facing controversy, the Congress on Thursday washed its hands off party spokesperson Rashid Alvi's comments suspecting a foreign hand behind Anna Hazare's anti-graft movement and resenting American comments on the agitation.
Suspecting a 'foreign' hand behind Anna Hazare's anti-graft movement, Congress on Wednesday raised questions on the US' statement that India would exercise 'appropriate democratic restraint' in dealing with peaceful protest and asked the government to inquire how a 'lone' civil rights activist is drawing support.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was on Monday indicted by the Pakistan Supreme Court on contempt charges for refusing to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, a move that may force the beleaguered leader to quit. Gilani, 59, the first Pakistani prime minister to be arraigned for contempt by the apex court, pleaded not guilty in the packed court room.
A court in New Delhi has refused to direct the Delhi Police to register an FIR against Anna Hazare and his team members for allegedly disrespecting the national flag during their anti-graft protest in August last year.
A seven-judge bench led by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk issued the order on Thursday afternoon after hearing arguments from Gilani's lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, who argued that the premier had not committed contempt by acting on the apex court's orders as the president had complete immunity from prosecution within Pakistan and abroad.
Facing allegations of financial misconduct, Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that he will quit the anti-graft movement if "corruption of even Rs 10 is proved" against him.
For the bribe takers, the bill proposes to increase the punishment to a minimum of three years of imprisonment, which may extend to seven years, besides fine.
In a public notification, the government sought views and suggestions of general public on the Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organisations Bill, 2011 which prohibits accepting or giving gratification by or to a foreign public official or official of public international organisation and makes such acts punishable with imprisonment of upto seven years.
Beleaguered Pakistan government appears to be in no mood to tone down in the battle of attrition when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appears before the Supreme Court on Thursday in compliance with its direction. Gilani, who is already involved in a tussle with the powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is unlikely to offer apology to the court which has issued a contempt notice for failing to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, sources said.
President Asif Ali Zardari enjoys full immunity from prosecution in criminal cases in Pakistan and abroad, one of the country's top lawyers said on Wednesday ahead of a crucial hearing in the Supreme Court on the issue of reopening graft cases against the president.
It turned out to be 'a very good Friday' for the cueists from Thailand at the Clube Tennis De Gaspar Dias Miramar, Goa, on the fifth day of 11th ONGC Asian Billiards Championship on Friday.
With Team Anna asking people not to back their party in Hisar Lok Sabha bypolls, chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states and senior leaders on Monday hit back at the Jan Lokpal Bill champions, dubbing them as agents of Opposition "trying to grind their own axe in the guise of fighting graft".
Nike Inc on Wednesday said that it was cooperating with authorities on alleged bribery and corruption at soccer's governing body FIFA.
Former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, an accused in a Games-related graft case, on Friday sought bail from the Delhi high court on the ground of delay in start of the trial in the case against him.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said it had blocked accounts at several banks in Switzerland after police arrested some of the most powerful figures in global soccer on Wednesday in US and Swiss corruption cases.
Former Union Minister Sukh Ram on Thursday did not surrender before a Delhi court to serve his three-year jail term in a 1993 graft case citing medical grounds, even as his co-accused Runu Ghosh and P Rama Rao submitted themselves to the law to serve their sentences.
Expressing happiness that Anna Hazare called off his fast, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Wendesday said the anti-graft crusader's advisors seemed to have a political agenda.
A landmark bill for creation of Lokpal was passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday night with the government making it clear that setting up of Lokayuktas by the states would not be mandatory, amending a contentious provision in view of opposition from allies and others.
Hazare's convoy, on way to Mahatma Gandhi's statue on Juhu beach, was briefly stopped by around 20 men carrying black flags and national tricolour and shouting "Anna Hazare murdabad", close to the guest house where the activist stayed overnight.
Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's lawyer on Wednesday said he feared that would not get a fair trial in the contempt case and that the government could not act on the supreme Court's orders to revive graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari as long as he was the president.
Casting doubts on government's intentions over the Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare on Sunday accused it of repeatedly betraying his team and said he is firm with his agitation plan if an effective anti-graft legislation was not passed in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.
Social activist Anna Hazare, spearheading an anti-graft movement demanding for a strong Lokpal, was on Sunday greeted with black flags by a fringe group on his arrival at the airport in Chennai.
Anticipating that the Lokpal Bill will be tabled in Parliament, Anna Hazare has cancelled his visit to Hyderabad and will return to Delhi to be in the House.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday directed Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to ask Swiss authorities to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari and to submit a report on the issue on March 21.
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday forced adjournment of Rajya Sabha till noon when it created uproar over alleged shift in government stand on anti-graft activist Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill.
Bukhari had expressed strong resentment and sought to know why Hazare and his campaign managers had not done more to involve Muslims in their anti-graft movement.
Extending support to Anna Hazare's anti-graft crusade, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Thursday claimed that it was his party that brought corruption and black money issues to the forefront and it will firmly stand with the Gandhian in his agitation.
