Anna's fast in Time's top ten

Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement that saw Indians rally in support has been named among the top 10 news stories in the world this year by Time magazine, which listed the Arab Spring and killing of Osama bin Laden as the top attention-grabbing headlines.

Time magazine compiled 54 wide-ranging lists of the top 10 happenings in 2011 in the field of politics, entertainment, business, sports and pop culture.

Among the 'Top 10 World-News Stories' is "Anna Hazare's Hunger Fasts Rock India" with the magazine saying that "in a year with more than its share of protests worldwide, perhaps the most striking act of dissent took place in India, where the country's ruling coalition took flak for a host of corruption cases implicating a number of leading politicians".

Hazare's "fasts  even the threat of them  triggered mass demonstrations of support across India's major cities and heaped pressure on the government to create an independent

ombudsman body capable of investigating the nation's political elites  even the Prime Minister  and bringing the corrupt to justice".

It said the mass support 74-year old Hazare commanded, particularly from India's burgeoning middle class, is a "sign of the growing frustrations and aspirations of those in the
world's largest democracy".

The top news stories of 2011 were the Arab Spring that spread to a number of countries and the killing of bin Laden in a covert US raid in Abbottabad, besides the famine in the Horn of Africa, fall of longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and Europe's financial crisis.

In a different category, Time magazine said the death of religious leader Sathya Sai Baba was among the top 10 'Religion Stories' of 2011. 

Anna Team rejects Lokpal recommendations

Team Anna Wednesday rejected the recommendations made by the parliamentary panel examining the Lokpal Bill, saying these will not have 'any impact on corruption' but will 'dismantle' the existing anti-graft mechanism.

'I think the recommendations of the standing committee, whatever they are, the Lokpal which is coming, I don't think this will have any impact on corruption,' Arvind Kejriwal told reporters here, as the committee meets to adopt the report, which will be presented this week to parliament.

'On the contrary, it is likely to dismantle whatever exists in the name of anti-corruption in this country,' Kejriwal, a key member of the team headed by Anna Hazare, said.

He said the recommendations will dismantle the existing anti-graft mechanism.

Kejriwal said the recommendation to divide the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into three parts will further 'cripple' the agency.

'So by taking excuse of Anna andolan (protest) rather than strengthening the anti-corruption system, they seem to further weaken whatever exists,' he said.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who heads the committee, had said Tuesday that there would be no delay, except for a 'couple of days', in submitting the report on the anti-graft Lokpal Bill in parliament.

Singhvi's comments come ahead of Hazare's day-long protest Dec 11 to press his demand for a strong Lokpal bill.

Hazare and his supporters have expressed their dissatisfaction over the line adopted by the standing committee and said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was to be blamed for flip flops by the panel.

The panel has apparently decided to exclude the Group C staff and the prime minister from the purview of the Lokpal. This has led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left parties to give dissent note on this matter.

Also, the panel has not included the other key demands of Hazare of including citizen's charter and a provision for Lokayukta in states.

Kejriwal also said that Anna will take the final decision on sitting on hunger strike from Dec 27 in Delhi.

'As far as fast is concerned, it is Anna who is going to decide. All that I can say is we are committed till the end for a strong Lokpal Bill,' he added.

'The government can accept or go further than that. So let's wait and watch,' Kejriwal said.