Source: The New York Times
NEW DELHI — After a day of high political theater, India’s Parliament moved closer on Tuesday to passing landmark legislationto create an independent anticorruption agency, even as the activistAnna Hazare sought to rally public support for his own anticorruption demands by beginning a three-day hunger strike in Mumbai.
The issue of official corruption has dominated India’s politics this year, making the fate of the proposed agency, known as the Lokpal, the year’s capstone political fight.
On Tuesday, lawmakers in the lower house of India’s Parliament, the Lok Sabha, spent hours waging a contentious, nationally televised debate before finally passing the legislation in a late-night vote. The measure will now be taken up for possible final passage by Parliament’s upper house as soon as Wednesday.