The Kerala Human Rights Commission has asked the secretary, taxes department, for an explanation on a bizarre incident. After the then inspector-general of registration, A.K. Ramakrishnan, retired on March 31, his office and official car were allegedly washed with cowdung-mixed water. Ramakrishnan complained to the commission that this incident took place the very next day, on April 1, and that to dodge the charge that his office was being specifically...

In India, the fight against corruption easily becomes an alibi to undermine democratic processes and institutions. In the spurt of enthusiasm for Anna Hazare’s fast and the subsequent surrender to it by the government, what has been overlooked is the need for someone/thing like the Lok Pal to fight corruption. The simple point is that there exist within the Constitution enough processes and institutions to safeguard against corruption. The Indian...

Anna Hazare's anti-corruption agitation dangerously skidded off track on its fourth day when Swami Ramdev politicized the campaign in a speech he delivered at Jantar Mantar where the 72-year old Hazare has located his fast unto death. In an obvious allusion to Sonia Gandhi, Ramdev said those who are born in this land ( India) are rishis and that he doesn't want to talk about those born abroad. He added in...

The new Lokpal Bill panel will have equal representation from civil society, but it will remain an informal committee, the Union government told social activist Anna Hazare on Thursday, whose 'satyagraha' for a stringent anti-corruption legislation entered its third day. Hazare's supporters are disappointed there will be no formal notification issued on this committee which would have made it binding on the government to go by it. The deadlock, therefore, continues though...

The lowest child sex ratio in 50 years revealed by the 2011 census reflects India’s failure to stop selective abortion of female foetuses despite laws against sex selection and campaigns to promote goodwill towards girls, sections of doctors said. The 2011 census released today by the registrar general of India has shown that the ratio of girls to boys up to six years of age has dropped to 914 girls for...