Standing Committee Review on Lokpal

New Delhi: Today the standing committee of the Parliament will be reviewing the Jan Lokpal Bill draft and other three drafts of the Lokpal Bill. This move was named a timely act by the government of India considering the fact that this review will be adding to the details on the future bill to be presented in the Parliament.

The congress MP and spokesman Abhishek Singhvi is said to be the chairman of the 31 member committee, who is set to review the Lokpal Bill. Although the civil society has expressed its concern on the inclusion of members who have prejudice on the Lokpal bill and is set to oppose it from coming into effect. The spokesman to Anna Hazare and civil society, Arvind Kejariwal speculated on the inclusion of RJD cheif Lalu Prasad Yadav and Amar Singh in the committee and mocked them to be referees to the Lokpal Bill issue, he mentioned that they will be opposing the bill. Arjun Singh who had recently changed his party to Samajwadi Party has requested the congress for excluding him from the committee, which is still being reviewed by the Government.

Lalu Prasad had expressed his dislike to Anna Hazare and the civil society and had been speaking quite against the team during the special discussion held at the Parliament of India. He is expected to express his dislike towards arrogance of the civil society for not bringing up the bill directly to the standing committee and keeping the request for direct presentation at the Parliament. Sources from RJD camp does confirm this stand of the minister and is reported to continue the disapproval of the current state of Jan Lokpal Bill.

Civil society has also expressed concern over the inclusion of Manoj Tewari, the MP from Ludhiana, and also the spokesman to the congress party. Tewari is also known for his legal brain, and is a member on JPC on spectrum case. He had earlier attacked Anna Hazare of being corrupt and had later withdrawn his statement and also extended the apologies to the Gandhian leader.

There is expected to be greater participation of the teams as this issue is more publicized with the agitations caused by Anna Hazare, also there is note mentioned that there are few members from congress who are not aware of the complete details on the lokpal draft.

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PM offers a quickfix on Lokpal Bill

New Delhi: After much stir on the issue, there has been talks around the country on how the Government will break the deadlock situation that was held on the negotiation talks held at the center. As a major breakthrough, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the honorable Prime Minister of India offered a solution at the Loksabha sitting where he mentioned that all versions of the Lokpal Bill will be discussed and debated in the house and he is also considering to make the media presence so that the debates are transparent to Anna's team too. 

The decision from the PM came after the issue on corruption was taken into discussion by the Lok Sabha, and as a resolution to the current issue, PM mentioned that he is ready to discuss all versions of Lokpal bill which includes the Jan Lokpal Bill by Anna, Bill prepared by Aruna Roy's NCPRI, and the bill from Jaiprakash Narayan (Hyderabad). 

This was also included with a plea by the house to Anna to end his 10 day long fast that is still continuing. The Prime Minister was full of praises for the 74 year old Gandhian leader and mentioned:

"I respect his idealism and I applaud him and I salute him"

Following the recent turn of events, the opposition party lead by Sushma Swaraj also appealed Anna to end the fast and also assured the team Anna that they will ensure that the Bill is passed by the Government. The voices were combined and together with the ruling party the house prepared a resolution requesting Anna Hazare to end his fast session.

Earlier, the opposition party did accuse the Prime Minister of being corrupt and in response to this the PM also mentioned that he can allow a leader from the party to examine his wealth and assets.

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Jan Lokpal : Talks still on!

New Delhi: With the continued talks between Pranab Mukherjee and the leaders of Team Anna, lead by Arvind Kejariwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashanth Bhushan does come out without any final decisions. The government negotiator Pranab Mukherjee seems to be strong on the stand now, as the team Anna demands mainly three options which include the Citizen Charter, Inclusion of Junior Bureaucrats and the implementation of same Lokpal committee rules on states.

The meetings were held for 90 minutes and both the parties failed to comment on any specific topics that might have failed, but since yesterday the three options were the one's that the government did have a negative opinion on. Along with Pranab Mukherjee, the team also held talks with Salman Khurshid, the law minister to Government of India, East Delhi M P Sandip Dixit and Cheif minister of Delhi Sheila Dixit. 

"It was a very good meeting but there is nothing concrete," Khurshid said. 

However either of the ministers did not confirm a solid resolution and further Kiran Bedi mentioned that the team is strong on its three main demands now. This should ensure the effective implementation of Lokpal Bill. There has been rising concern over the talks as the 74 year old Anna Hazare continues his 9th day in fast. The sources mention that the fluids does help him recover the strength.

Both Government and the supporters are expressing their concern over this and in return to this statement, Anna Hazare mentioned that he will not fear to die in this fight and will continue his strike until justice is received.

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Yashwant Sinha, Shathrughan Sinha Against BJP

New Delhi: The Member of Parliament and veteran leader of BJP, Yashwant Sinha was strong on his attitude towards the party which did not seem to take the issue of corruption seriously. Three BJP leaders offered to quit the parliament if the party continued to remain silent on the uproar against corruption.

Besides Yashwant Sinha, Shathrughan Sinha and Uday Singh were the other two MP's who sprung at the party in BJP Parliamentary Party meeting held to discuss the strategy for the ongoing session and towards the All-Party meeting organized by the Government of India. 

Yashwant Sinha did mention that the party was weak in its stance and due to its lack of a strong stance, the issue was not taken forward to the state where it should have been. The former finance minister and Hazaribagh MP made the surprise move at the meeting chaired by L K Advani here, which expressed concern over the health of Anna Hazare and made an appeal to the Gandhian to end his fast. 

Shatrughan Sinha also found the same opinion and mentioned that the party was keeping mum on required ocassions and was using the Congress party as Boxing bags.

Senior BJP leader SS Ahluwalia, however, sought to downplay questions about Yashwant's offer to resign saying different voices are heard in such meetings and it is the final resolution that actually matters.

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Jan Lokpal : Talks still on!

Following the talks by Team Anna and Pranab Mukherjee, the ray of light was evident till today morning 11 a.m, when Anna Hazare did declare that the government has to compromise on its demands and it is now afraid of loosing funds if we have a honest nation. Speaking to the public at Ramlila Maidan today at 11 am, the activist said that:

"The venue for sacrifice is already there around the country and I have lost only 6 kilos which is nothing compared to it. Its your power that keeps me strong through the fight"

With the weakening health of the 74 year old activist, the medics are at aid around the maidan. Speaking to the media the doctors mentioned that he had slept through night and this has helped in improving the situation and Anna woke up in the morning to address the public by 11 a.m. Anna also slammed the government for not presenting the bill over the parliament. 

After the talks there has been a lot of issues for which the government of India has compromised on which includes the inclusion of the Prime Minister under lokpal and in return the activists have agreed on excluding Judges from the bill and they will be addressed through the Judicial Accountability Bill which is set to be introduced along with the Lokpal Bill.

The only set of differences that is active is the inclusion of junior bureaucrats under the bill and also whether the individual states should formulate their own version of Lokpal bill, the government is firm on the stand that junior bureaucrats should be excluded from the bill otherwise, there will be an inclusion of 20,000 required for the lokpal commission to work effectively and this might rather slow the process. The activists are also demanding a public charter in each government department which should detail the duties of each official and there should be penalties employed in case of under performance. The talks are still stuck at these issues and we hope that there is the proper solution brought out by 3.30 evening which is the time set by the government to hold an all-party meeting including the opposition to discuss on this topic.

Earlier, the finance minister to India, Pranab Mukherjee, who holds the chair in discussions mentioned that the talks were fruiful and constructive, which did give the light to activists that the hunger fast held by Anna Hazare against corruption might end by today. Prime minister of India, also expressed his concern over Anna's health and wrote to him to allow medics to check his health. The minister also expressed his desire to stop Anna's fast by today before the Iftar party that the minister is due to attend. 

Prime minister also mentioned that he is ready to have the Jan Lokpal Bill, the anna's version of Lokpal bill to be discussed by the parliamentary committee, but team Anna wants this bill to be directly introduced to the parliament and debated there. As the current session of parliament is to end by September 8, the critics believe that this will be an unrealistic demand to keep!

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