Four days after The Indian Express reported how, in at least 12 instances, Team Anna member Kiran Bedi raised inflated air fare invoices to overcharge her host NGOs and institutions, Bedi announced today that the “balance amounts” were being returned “forthwith”. “Foundation trustees have passed resolution directing me (to) travel strictly as per invite. This leaves no room for discretion...Trustees have instructed travel agent to return the balance amounts forthwith,” she...

Denial of labour entitlements to contract workers is at the root of urban squalor The human development report does not say anything new. It only sums up the outcome of policies being followed in this country. It does not, for instance, highlight the seeds that have manifested themselves in hunger and poverty. One of the seeds is the helpless labour enforcement machinery, which is unable to deal with the mammoth reality...

Prominent Indian activists have begun a 3000km (1864 miles) drive from Indian-administered Kashmir to north-eastern Manipur state to demand the withdrawal of a controversial anti-insurgent law. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) gives the security forces the powers of search and seizure. It also protects soldiers who may kill a civilian by mistake or in unavoidable circumstances during an operation. The law has been blamed for "Fake killings" in Kashmir and Manipur. An...

-The Economic Times   The government on Tuesday said it would confer constitutional status on the proposed Lokpal , embracing the idea mooted by Rahul Gandhi.  "We are working on a very strong Lokpal bill. A Lokpal bill that will come with a constitutional amendment . That amendment will give the Lokpal the status of a constitutional authority," law minister Salman Khurshid told PTI on Tuesday.  Khurshid, who gave Rahul the credit for the...

-The Indian Express   Taking a tough stand on rampant plagiarism in the preparation of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) reports, the Environment Ministry has decided to scrap any project whose impact-assessment report is found to be a “copy-paste” job from other reports. EIA reports are a must to get mandatory ‘green clearances’ for projects. Project developers, which are mostly private firms, hire independent environmental consultants for the job. The decision to scrap such...