Echoes of protest

Protests outside MPs houses in UP

LUCKNOW: More and more people have come out on streets in support of Anna Hazare with many taking out rallies,staging demonstrations outside houses of MPs,and observing fast in different parts of Uttar Pradesh. Pro-Anna supporters staged dharna in front of the houses of their respective MPs demanding a written commitment in support of the Jan Lokpal Bill at various places. In Lucknow,people staged a dharna outside Union Minister for Steel Beni Prasad Vermas house at Gomti Nagar and Chowk residence of BJP MP Lalji Tandon. In Kanpur,people staged dharnas in front of Union Minister of Coal Sriprakash Jaiswals house and ancestral residence of Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla.

Jail bharo call improper: Ajit Pawar

PUNE: Criticising the jail bharo plan of anti-corruption activists,Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday said he was hopeful that the UPA government would take an appropriate decision. Pawar was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the new administrative building of the Pune Zilla Parishad. People are frustrated with the corruption that is prevailing in the system. Theres no doubt that we need a strong Lokpal Bill to tackle this menace. We will have to see how we can accommodate a strong Lokpal in our Constitution and the system of Parliamentary democracy, he said and added that though each one in the country had a right to express his views and demands,to call upon the youth to undertake jail bharo protest was improper.

PM shouldnt be shackled: Paswan

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Patna: National interest should precede all considerations in the formulation of Lokpal Bill and institutions of the Prime Minister and judiciary should not be put in any shackle in discharging their duties,Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan said on Sunday. Its not a simple point whether the PM and judiciary be brought under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill or not. …We should understand that the PM and judiciary are constitutional institutions which have the authority to take decisions on issues of national interest.

Paper towel for Gandhi cap

Washington: Indian-Americans have come up with their own indigenous way to prepare the Gandhi Topi,which has emerged as the trade-mark of the anti-corruption movement launched by Anna Hazare. Courtesy a nearly four-minute long video How to make Gandhi Topi at home on YouTube posted by one Sreekanth Kocharlakota,Indian-Americans have been making the cap using newspapers and kitchen paper towel.

Sign or resign ultimatum to MPs

Ahmedabad: Volunteers of Jan Lokpal Andolan Samiti here visited the houses of local MPs with a demand that they either support Anna Hazare for passage of Lokpal Bill or resign. They handed over a memorandum to Dr Kirit Solanki,Pravin Rashtrapal and Harin Pathak at their residences on Sunday. Termed as a sign or resign demand,the memorandum exhorted them to declare support to the demand for the Bill.

IIT-Kharagpur students to show solidarity

KHARAGPUR: A group of IIT-Kharagpur students have announced that they would not accept their degree at the convocation on Monday in support of Anna Hazares protest against the Lokpal Bill. PM Manmohan Singh is scheduled to attend the convocation. A section of students,however,said they would accept the degree but would wear Gandhi caps. I think I will accept my degree from the PM if we have a strong Lokpal, said a student. Meanwhile,another student said he would accept the degree wearing a Gandhi cap. For the past six days,around 200 students have been demonstrating outside the institute.