Anna Hazare's indefinite fast entered the fourth day on Friday. Unhappy with the government's response to his anti-corruption demands, he said he would launch a jail bharo agitation on April 12. Refresh this page for live updates
6:00 pm: The Anna Hazare-led movement is finding increasing resonance not merely among the citizens of this country, but also those living abroad. One instance: Saturday April 8, at noon, Indian Americans living in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) plan to rally in Times Square, the iconic center of Manhattan in New York, in support of Anna Hazare's demand for a corruption free polity.
5:55 pm: Amid the stalemate over Lokpal Bill, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped up efforts to resolve the issue as he held a second round of deliberations with senior ministers.
5:30 pm: As Hazare's fast-unto-death on the Lokpal Bill issue continues, support for his movement is gaining momentum with people from all walks of life, including scientists, film stars and lawyers saying they have turned up here to send across a 'bigger message'.
For the majority of the people, the movement is not just about drafting of an effective Lokpal Bill, but it is about cautioning the government against ever increasing corruption and scams as a result of which India's imgae has taken a serious beating.
4:50 pm: As a formula designed to end Anna Hazare's fast, the government has offered this solution: a joint drafting committee will be set up with the brief to draw up strict anti-corruption laws, with adequate checks and balances. The ten member committee, to be convened by Law Minister Veerappa Moily, will comprise five ministers and five selected people from society at large, with one of the latter five to be Anna Hazare himself. The resulting bill will be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. "All points of substance (raised by Hazare) have been met," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told the media. "The Congress is with the crusade against corruption. We have shown that whenever there are credible allegations the Congress party has taken concrete actions and full transparency has been maintained. We are with the nation and with the civil society in this crusade against corruption."
More on the Lokpal Bill issue:
It is much bigger than Lokpal Bill, say protesters
Demonstrations held in support of Anna Hazare
PM briefs President on Lok Pal Bill stand-off
TDP chief Naidu backs Hazare's campaign, writes to PM
Participants of JP movement observe fast to support Hazare
4:15 pm: More reports coming in of protests and rallies around the country. The latest: in Mumbai, citizens of the Juhu-Versova suburbs are getting together to organize a protest rally Saturday April 9 at 4 pm, from a point opposite Pratiksha, the home of cine superstar Amitabh Bachchan who had earlier in the day blogged his support for the Anna Hazare movement.
3:50 pm: A meeting is currently on at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official residence, involving besides the PM, the likes of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Law Minister Veerappa Moily to examine the situation arising out of Anna Hazare's fast. While there is no official word on the agenda of the meeting and its possible outcome, word is that the meeting is intended to frame a proposal that will satisfy the activist and persuade him to end the fast that is rapidly capturing the attention, and imagination, of the nation.
3:45 pm: Any mass movement brings with it a share of oddities. And none so odd as Lalit Modi -- the IPL Commissioner 'Suspended' -- who tweeted his support for Anna Hazare, and followed it up with this dilly: "I too am a victim of Political corruption at the highest level.Only allegation for past year and not one charge-but they continue to crucify." Hmm... makes you wonder, does Anna Hazare know he is fighting for the emancipation of Lalit Modi?
3:30 pm: Even as the much-hyped Indian Premier League gets underway Friday, most people supporting social activist Anna Hazare in his fight against corruption said they would rather be at Jantar Mantar than in front of a TV watching cricket. Anna vs IPL, where will you be?
3:15 pm: All checks, no balances? Those who have raised questions about the Anna Hazare-led revolution now ongoing predicate their arguments on one simple premise: It is necessary to root out corruption, yes -- but the Jan Lok Pal Bill as proposed is not the tool to do it with. That is a nuanced position, and in the shrill climate of the times, nuance is not necessarily welcome. Yet, the debate to be purposeful needs to look not merely at the problem of corruption, but the validity of the methods and tools chosen to fight it. And such a rigorous examination comes from Deepak Patel, who on his blog dissects the bill and points to its fatal flaws. Here's the crux:
"The suggestion is that the Lokpal will be the guardian, the conscience-keeper of the nation. The Lokpal will be pure of heart and beyond all reproach. Who will choose him? Not, as in Scandinavia, the government, but retired judges and, as one draft suggested, recent international award winners. But Nobel prizes and Magsaysay awards are no guarantees of incorruptibility. The entire movement is predicated on a single faulty assumption: that there is no one in government, the executive, the bureaucracy and the judiciary who can be trusted. Therefore, what this model envisages is the creation of an extra-Constitutional fourth super-limb of government, one to which all other limbs are subject. What the model implies is dysfunction: no judge, no bureaucrat and no minister ever able to work without fear of some disgruntled citizen (of which we have no shortage) making a complaint. The PM and the CJI are subject to the Lokpal’s whip; and the Supreme Court is sought to be strait-jacketed in matters relating to the Lokpal. The so-called “people’s Bill” isn’t just disingenuous; it is downright batty."
3:00 pm: India Inc today extended support to social activist Anna Hazare in his fight against corruption, stating it is "sick" of the menace.
"We support any such movement by anybody, including Ramdev and Anna Hazare, to reduce corruption soon... We are sick of corruption," leading industrialist and Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj said.
2:45 pm: From India Today, the story of the truck driver who became a freedom fighter and, today, finds himself the epicenter of a mass movement. Read on
2:30 pm: Extending his support to noted social activist Anna Hazare''s fight against corruption, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan said he will always back issues that "benefit the nation" and also called upon the media to commit themselves to the cause.
"I shall always be supportive of any issue which benefits the nation. I do not have to preach and shout out my allegiance towards my country from the roof top every day. My loyalty is not up for questioning and is not most certainly in a realm where it can be doubted," Bachchan wrote on his blog.
2:15 pm: Candlelight vigils in support of Anna Hazare are being planned in various cities across the country this evening. Thus far, rallies have been announced in Cochin, Chennai and Mumbai.
2:00 pm: PM briefs President about govt efforts to resolve Lokpal bill crisis.
1:45 pm: Shri Ramkishan Yadav, more popularly known as 'Baba' Ramdev, has reached Jantar Mantar in a show of solidarity with Anna Hazare. Ramdev, who started the Bharat Swabhiman Andolan to help eradicate corruption from Indian politics, told waiting media persons that the ongoing agitation fronted by Anna Hazare would continue until the roots of corruption have been removed from Indian society.
1:30 pm: By some strange trick of light, Anna Hazare's now-ongoing fast has been transmogrified into a fight against corruption. And that presents a strange dilemma for all of us. On the one hand, none -- at least, no right-thinking Indian with the good of this country at heart -- will put his hand up in support of corruption. However, what Hazare is fighting for is not an end to corruption, in and of itself, but for the immediate passage of the LokPal Bill. And that, says Yahoo's Suma Nagraj, is not the same thing at all. The battle against corruption involves us all; however, the wisdom of suggesting that a flawed bill is the means to that end is debatable. Here is Suma's argument.
1:20 pm: The Indian Institute of Planning and Management has just announced that Anna Hazare will be the latest recipient of its Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize, which carries a cash award of Rs 1 crore. The award will be handed over on May 9. Activist Irom Sharmila, known as the "Iron Lady of Manipur", was the 2010 recipient of the award. The IIPM has also gotten Anna Hazare's consent to the institution of 50 annual Anna Hazare fellowships of Rs. 4000/month per award, for those working in the realm of rural leadership
