The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government today hurriedly cleared the decks for a long-pending nuclear regulatory authority at a top-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The step was taken in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan coupled with the fear of another Anna Hazare-type protest in Jaitapur, Maharashtra, over the proposed nuclear power plant.
As expected, recent coverage in the Press has confirmed the feeling that the drafting and the passage of the Lokpal Bill will be difficult. The intentions were fairly clear from the way the Joint Advisory Committee was formed.
IF THERE ever was living proof of how bizarre our country is, then this week was probably it. Gandhians became demagogues and a people’s movement took on the shades of a dictatorship.
The Lokpal Bill movement of Anna Hazare assumes that monetary corruption can be separated from policy and that a skewed set of development priorities can peacefully coexist with complete and transparent financial honesty. This is a fundamental mistake. The Lokpal Bill is not ill-intentioned and some version of it is even necessary.
A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court today seeking quashing of the notification for setting up the Lokpal Bill drafting committee comprising social activist Anna Hazare, the father-son advocate duo, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan, and others.
Since the Lokpal Bill was already pending with a Parliamentary committee, the government had no power to appoint another committee to review its
Cancer patients, who are victims of oral tobacco abuse, have written to social activist Anna Hazare seeking his intervention to pressurise the Union Government to hasten the implementation of pictorial warnings on tobacco products to ensure that youngsters don't fall prey to them.
In an apparent softening of stand, Anna Hazare said on Sunday that Parliament was supreme and he would accept its decision if it rejects the Lokpal Bill.
