UPDATE 0.2

1. Last week, the Cabinet cleared the Bill and decided that the Prime Minister will be exempt from investigation for corruption while he or she is in office. With this, the battle between the government and civil society activists led by Anna Hazare peaked. 

 2. Mr Hazare's team had urged the government to circulate its draft at the Cabinet meeting as well as in Parliament. However, the salient points of Team Anna's version were presented almost as footnotes at the meeting.  Later, Anna Hazare wrote an open letter to the MPs making an appeal to them not to allow introduction of such an 'anti-poor' Lokpal Bill. In his letter to the parliamentarians, Mr Hazare said that there are many critical issues affecting poor people which have been left out in the government's Lokpal Bill, and this does not allow Parliament to debate on these critical issues.


3. Hazare has accused the Union government of preparing a weak Lok Pal Bill, which was passed by the Cabinet on July 28. He has decided to go on an indefinite fast in Delhi from August 16. The government is expected to table the Lok Pal Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.