As 'civil society' in India rises up against corruption, in yahoo.com, a case against black money. Read

On day 2, the government had announced that support for Anna Hazare, had in fact, waned. On day 7, the government is eating crow. People from all walks of life have come out in support of Hazare, reports PTI. With Hazare's campaign gaining steam, his supporters have come up with new and innovative ways to step up pressure on the Centre to accept the demand of the 74-year-old social activist. 

Back at the Ramlila grounds in Delhi, civil society activist Arvind Kejriwal urged supporters to remain united, as there are reports of antisocial forces hampering the movement.

Kejriwal said: "Many people have got scared looking at the density of the crowd. Corrupt people are sweating with fear and today we have got information that some anti-social elements would try to spark some violence in some parts of the country." "Some miscreants would creep in the demonstrations. I request all of you to be aware of your surroundings. We have to keep our unity intact," he added.

On August 17 at 5:30 am, I sat up to follow the latest developments on Hazare front (for sleepless nocturnal souls like me it helps that Ramzan are on). Logged into my facebook account and found that I have been labelled 'a cynic' for my status updates and posts on Hazare mobilisation. Got into a facebook 'discussion' argument with a friend abroad (All my homesick friends abroad have been smelling wafts of the 'Arab Spring' in all this).

Shuddhabrata Sengupta on the Anna Hazare movement. Read    

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, who has ruled the oil rich nation uninterrupted for 42 years remained a mystery as rebel forces swept into the capital Tripoli to jubilant crowds. 

Al-arabiya said that Gaddafi was in the Tajura-Cardiac hospital, but there were no reports on whether Gaddafi was undergoing treatment in the hospital or simply taking refuge. But diplomatic sources quoted by BBC reported that the Libyan strongman was in Tripoli in his Bab al-Aziziya command and control centre.

Just in: Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma ruled out of ODI series against England due to injuries. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Ajinkya Rahane and Varun Aaron as the replacements of the two players in the team for the T20 International and ODI series. Both players will join the squad at the earliest.

Also read: The exclusive interview with Varun Aaron by Harish Kotian

Meanwhile, here's what Salman Khurshid also said this morning.

Noting that voice of a lakh or two lakh people is important, the minister maintained that it could not represent the sentiments of crores of people.
"When lakh or two lakh people gather, it is a big thing. But they cannot lead a country of 100 crore people. What people of the country want only elections can decide," he said.
At the same time, he agreed that such voices have their importance and they should be listened to. "We should understand each other, not like rivals or competitors," he said.

Kiran Bedi on Twitter: Anna is saying let the Govt come forward to discuss the Jan Lokpal bill. Let the PM send his representatives. Any negotiations are rumours.

What Bedi is hinting is the ongoing meeting between Maharashtra bureaucrat Umesh Chandra Sarangi and Kapil Sibal.

Right now, telecom minister Kapil Sibal, part of the Lokpal draft committee is meeting with Maharashtra bureaucrat Umesh Chandra Sarangi. The Union government formally deputed Sarangi, Maharashtras additional chief secreraty (home), to hold talks with social activist Anna Hazare who is holding a hunger strike in the national capital for an early passage of the Jan Lok Pal Bill, reports Business Standard.

Sarangi, a 59-year-old IAS officer of the 1977 batch, had earlier held three rounds of talks with Hazare and his team since the anti-corruption crusader began his fast on August 16.

Tomorrow, he is set to meet Hazare at Central Delhis Ramlila Maidan -- this time as the ruling UPAs representative.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid said a solution "acceptable to all" should be found. "People raise their voice at times through their MPs or by themselves. There is nothing wrong in it. This is what democracy is. After such voices are raised, a way should be found which is acceptable to all," he said in an apparent
reference to Team Anna's demand for passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill by August 30.

The PM who is in Kolkata today said the government is open to a "reasoned debate" on the Lokpal Bill and that the Parliamentary panel examining it can propose changes. "We are open to a reasoned debate on all these issues," Singh said at the golden jubilee function of the Indian Institute of Management in Joka, Kolkata.
Apparently referring to the demand of Anna Hazare that the Jan Lokpal Bill should be placed in Parliament, Singh acknowledged that there were differences of views in the Lokpal Bill introduced by the Government. "We have introduced the bill in Parliament which is now before the Standing Committee. There are differences of views on details of the bill," Singh said.

It is not even a month ago, but that magic Monday at Lord's now seems so distant. The series was alive, a Test match was on the line, tickets were going for a song, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman were at the crease, there remained the prospect of Sachin Tendulkar's 100th hundred, and the crowd streamed in like they never had in a hundred years.

From that day on, the series has grown progressively more surreal.

Read Sambit Bal's opinion piece on Cricinfo.

Latest on the Anna Hazare stalemate. The government says it is open to a reasonable debate on the issue, but Anna says he will only talk to the PMO, Rahul Gandhi (who, strangely enough, hasn't spoken a word on the issue) or Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan. Anna also says his team is flexible to the idea that the higher judiciary should not be part of the Bill, but strong judicial accountability is needed if the judiciary is out of the purview of the bill.

Also on Hafiz Saeed: The JuD chief has said today that the group was against suicide attacks and had no links with al Qaeda.

In an interview with a private TV channel, he said JD had nothing against the US or India and was in agreement with religious scholars who had issued edicts against suicide attacks.

"There is no room for terrorism in Islam and it is allowed neither against Muslims nor non-Muslims," he said. He regretted that the government had put him behind bars to please the Indian government. Read

The other two demands are...

2. Besides, the union has been repeatedly seeking to restore the 1200 taxis stands that have been uprooted due to various reasons, including road repair, utilities digging and infrastructure projects.

3. The long pending demand of renewing the issuance of permits to taxi drivers will also be made by union. He said that as of 1997 when the government stopped issuing new permits there were 62,000 taxis plying on the streets of Mumbai. Now the figures has come down to 42,000 whereas the population both floating and permanent has increased several fold.

Rediff.com's N Ganesh adds that top on the list of demands by the Bombay Taximen union is the: 1 withdrawing of the newly introduced process of dispatching driving licence by Speedpost.

"The taxi drivers live in slums that do not have proper postal address which result in licences dispatched by the Regional Transport Office not reaching its destination. About 6000 drivers, both new and those renewing have been effected by this process. We want the licences for taxi drivers to be handed over by the RTO in person," said Quadros.

In what should come as a relief to Mumbaikars, Bombay Taximen Union has withdrawn its strike call beginning tomorrow for three days. This means taxis will ply on Mumbai roads on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

"We have withdrawn the strike call as we are expecting to meet the transport secretary on Thursday. We will decide on the future action based on the outcome of the meeting," said AL Quadros, head of the taximen union.

Quadros lamented that previous meetings with the authorities have not been very encouraging. "We have met three chief ministers including Prithviraj Chavan. All we have is a string of assurances and nothing else," said Quadros.

Details of the accident in UP.

At least 40 pilgrims were today killed when a tractor trolley carrying them overturned in a waterlogged ditch in Nagra area of the district. The incident occurred this morning when the tractor trolley carrying around 60 pilgrims overturned in the ditch near Gauapar village, police said. The pilgrims were on their way to Sati Mata Temple in the district. The injured have been admitted to a hospital.

As Anna Hazare's fast entered seventh day today, his Team alleged that efforts are being made to disrupt the movement as "certain people" are scared tosee the support for the Gandhian. 

Close aide Arvind Kejriwal addressing the gathering at Ramilila Maidan said there may be efforts to trigger violence during the protest and asked people to remain vigilant and inform police about such activities. Kejriwal was the second speaker this morning at 'Anna ki Paathshala' in Ramlila Maidan, as it is called by supercop Kiran Bedi.

NDTV says that India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes have won their second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the season, defeating Frenchman Michael Llodra and Serb Nenad Zimonjic 7-6(4), 7-6(2) in a rip-roaring final at the Western & Southern Tennis Open in Cincinnati.

The third-seeded Indian pair, winners of the Masters 1000 in Miami, executed their plan far more efficiently than the flamboyant fourth-seeded Lodra and Zimonjic, back-to-back title winners at Washington and Montreal, on the Grandstand Court at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason on Sunday.

Just in: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir's sudden departure on "medical leave" ahead of diplomatic engagements with key countries like the US and China has sparked speculation about his possible differences
with the government.

Additional Secretary (Americas) Alamgir Babar was made acting Foreign Secretary after Bashir went on leave till September 5.

Driving the speculation was the fact that Bashir went on leave at a time when the US and Pakistan are trying to rework their troubled ties and are "likely to decide on a major shift in the mode of their interaction", the Dawn newspaper quoted its sources as saying.

From the BBC:

Nobody predicted how fast Libya's rebel forces would, indeed could move into the capital unopposed. But 24 hours after the first heavy fighting erupted in Tripoli - on Saturday night - the signs were there for all to see.

First there were the children and the wives of Col Muammar Gaddafi's officials packing and leaving the five-star Rixos hotel. The Rixos is the place where the government has obliged foreign journalists to stay when reporting on this conflict. Read

Also in sports: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won their third title of the season and first at Cincinnati after 10 years, following a hard-fought win over
Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in the summit clash of the Western and Southern Open. The third seeds edged past the fourth seeded French-Serbian combination 7-6(4) 7-6(2) after battling for one hour and 41 minutes.

The PM addressing the media says the government is doing everything to tackle corruption and will come up with systematic ways to stop it, but warned that there was no magic wand to solve corruption problems. (A repeat of the statement made during his I-day speech).

He said the battle against corruption was most important and had to be handled. He added that corruption surfaces in many forms. 

Mukhtar Ahmed reporting from Srinagar says that a woman was killed in north Kashmir by security forces late last night. A senior police officer said that the anti-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles had surrounded a meadow in the upper reaches of Handwara in north Kashmir's Kupwara district yesterday during which hiding militants fired at the search parties.  

"In the resulting encounter, a local woman identified as Saleema and her husband Abdul Rashid Paswal were injured. They were evacuated to hospital where Saleema succumbed to her injuries', the officer said. The gunfight in the area is sill on.

For those of you still unclear about the difference between the Jan Lokpal Bill and the Lokpal Bill and the therefore the sticky issues between the government and Anna Hazare's team, here's what you should know.

Jan Lokpal bill vs Lokpal bill

The Delhi police have learnt their lesson from the mistakes of the crackdown on Baba Ramdev. This time around, the orders are entirely different.

PTI quoting a policeman says, "Our hands are tied. We have instructions from the top...We cannot take any action," said the cop, adding that "if we take any action now, media will be the first one to air that on TV putting our jobs at risk."

"We know how to teach them a lesson right now but not without orders," said another policeman. Police are not even allowed to carry lathis under the nstructions from the top, he said.

Arvind Kejriwal said those who will be affected by the Jan Lokpal Bill were dubbing the protests as "mobocracy". 

"Anna has asked people to stage indefinite strikes in front of MPs' residences asking the lawmakers to spell out their stand on Lokpal Bill. Anna has not asked people to indulge in hooliganism. We are only saying that they should ask their MPs what is their stand," he said.

Back to Anna Hazare.

Ramlila Maidan that have been normally a witness to slogan shouting and singing of 'bhajans' saw another scene in the early hours today when a group of drunk men created ruckus at the site of Anna Hazare's protest. Hurling abuses, over two dozen people picked up a fight with the media crew stationed at the spacious Maidan where Hazare is on an indefinite fast demanding a strong anti-corruption law.

The first scene of the episode unfolded around 12.30 am when a man in his early thirties came near the media enclosure and started uttering deregatory words.

He then entered the enclosure and refused to move out. Police was called in and after much persuasion, he was taken out. Policemen were heard telling media persons that they cannot detain him as they do not have orders to take action against protesters.

Here's what's basically happening in Libya, says the BBC:

• Rebels have entered the capital Tripoli, meeting little resistance from Col Gaddafi's troops 
• Col Gaddafi has said on state TV that he will not abandon Tripoli, urging Libyans to fight to the end 
• US President Barack Obama has said Col Gaddafi's regime is at a "tipping point" and the "tyrant" must go
• Nato has said the Libyan regime is "crumbling", urging for a smooth transition of power to the rebels

In the Pioneer, the similarities between the middle-class-inspired anti-reservation agitation of 1990 and the current Anna Hazare-led Jan Lok Pal campaign. Read

Far from botching it, the government has got Anna Hazare exactly where it wants -- between a rock and a hard place -- as the Americans so delicately put it, says TCA. Srinivasa in the Hindu, Businessline. Must read

Hundreds of rebel fighters pushed into the centre of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, late on Sunday as their battle to overthrow the 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi moved closer to ending in victory.

The prosecutor of the international criminal court said one of Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, who has been indicted along with his father on crimes against humanity charges had been detained.

The head of the rebel Transitional National Council, Mustafa Abd el-Jalil said that his fighters who had detained Saif al-Islam had been given instructions to "treat him well".

There were also reports that Gaddafi's eldest son, Mohammed, and the presidential guard had surrendered but Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound was still under the control of the regime, reports the Guardian.

Good morning. The top stories this morning

Tripoli falls to Libyan rebels (The Hindu)

Libyan rebels raced into Tripoli Sunday and met little resistance as Muammar Qadhafis defenders melted away and his 42-year rule rapidly crumbled. Read

We haven't got any concrete proposal from govt: Team Anna (DNA)
With back-channel talks taking place between Team Anna and the government, the former said on Monday that it hadn't received any concrete proposal yet. Read

Maharashtra IAS officers meet Anna to solve dispute, leave empty-handed (DNA)
Anna juggernaut rolls; Mumbai sees 100,000 marchers as the campaign fever grips Chennai and Bangalore as well. Read

No doubt about Sens guilt: Ex-CJI Balakrishnan (Indian Express)

Attacked by Justice Soumitra Sen for wrongly recommending his impeachment, former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan today said there is no doubt about the Calcutta High Court Judges guilt. Read