By Chandra Bhan Prasad It is true that corruption is a menace that must be uprooted and a new law enacted in the changing circumstances. India has seen an explosion of wealth post 1990 which has resulted in rampant loot. But who will make the new law? Members of Parliament or the Anna Hazare-led battery …
Irom Sharmila’s heartfelt letter to Anna Hazare
Irom Sharmila, the Iron Lady of Manipur as she is often called, has been on a fast for the last ten years protesting against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act that is in place in parts of Manipur and the north east and gives the Army and the paramilitary forces the power to shoot or …
Bahujan Lokpal Bill: some suggestions
Dinesh Maurya [Presenting the Bahujan perspective i.e., the views of the SC/ST/OBC and religious minorities, on the proposed Lokpal legislation, the writer makes some useful suggestions to make the bill more inclusive- Round Table India] We want to submit some suggestions regarding the Government of India’s proposed Lokpal Bill. Like Anna’s Lokpal Bill, our …
Tired of Democracy?
by GAIL OMVEDT Why are such masses of people (apparently: in our village some came out for a morcha organized by the Maharashtra Navnirman Samiti) following Anna Hazare, when it is now clear that his Lokpal is an authoritarian, centralized and undemocratically pushed proposal? Several articles, including those by Arundhati Roy and Aruna Roy, have …
Jan Lokpal or Janvirodhi Lokpal?
By People for Constitution, Democracy and Human Rights (PCDHR, Nagpur) Recent stir by Anna Hazare (Original name unknown/ Education unknown) & Co. for an Ombudsman for corruption in the name of Jan Lokpal is an ‘extra-constitutional method’, bypassing the Parliamentary process which is at the heart of Constitutional Democracy which ‘We the People’ of India …
Ambedkar’s way & Anna Hazare’s methods
By Sukhdeo Thorat Following Dr. Ambedkar’s example, Team Anna should use constitutional methods and enhance people’s faith in them. Otherwise it will convey the message that only coercive and unconstitutional methods work. A group of people, with placards showing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, staged a demonstration in Delhi a few days ago against Anna Hazare’s proposals …
No Way But Onwards-The Anna Hazare Context
by Ashok Yadav “No way but onwards” was the title of a chapter I had read in English coursebook of Class XI which taught that problems arising out of applications of science and technology cannot be solved by bypassing them but on the contrary by more and more engagement with and application of the same. …