India’s government faced fierce criticism in the media and from the opposition on Friday after it failed to push through its flagship anti-corruption law in the upper house of parliament. The legislation cleared the lower house earlier in the week and the government had insisted it would put the draft law to a vote in the upper house on Thursday, the last day of an extended parliamentary session. After more than 13 hours of debate, however, proceedings were adjourned shortly before 12:00 pm amid scenes of disorder and shouting from lawmakers described as a “midnight farce” by one newspaper. The opposition and some news reports accused the government of orchestrating the disruption in a cynical ploy to have the house adjourned and avoid a vote it looked set to lose. Minority parties in the ruling coalition — led by the Congress party of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — had turned against the government and demanded amendments, meaning the law would have almost certainly failed to pass. The Indian Express daily said the ruling coalition had “egg on its face” while the Mail Today tabloid said the law was now “in cold storage.” Arun Jaitley, leader of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has also consistently disrupted parliament over the last year, said the government was “running away” because it was “a hopeless minority.” Thursday’s failure is another blow to the increasingly vulnerable Singh, whose administration had to withdraw another major reform earlier this month allowing foreign supermarkets to operate in India. The future of the bill is now uncertain, but it will most likely have to be revised and again presented to lawmakers in the opening session of parliament in 2012. Cyclone hits India’s southern coast, kills 16: A severe cyclone packing winds of up to 140 kilometres (85 miles) an hour tore into India’s southeastern coast on Friday, killing at least 16 people, a senior official said. Cyclone Thane lashed the coast between Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu state and the territory of Pondicherry early on Friday, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). “Fourteen persons have died in Tamil Nadu and two in Pondicherry.
