A Lokpal, finally

Appointing Justice Ghosh is only the first step

Fifty-six years after it was first proposed and more than five years after the President signed the fiercely contentious Lokpal Bill into law, the National Democratic Alliance has finally got round to appointing a Lokpal. The move must be welcomed as a milestone in the cause of fighting corruption in high places. But for a government that had made anti-corruption a crusading platform in 2014, and leveraged it for an unprecedented exercise in demonetisation in 2016, this move at the fag end of its term is curious. The initial reason offered for this deferral was that the selection committee required