Illegality in India today touches almost every economic activity. It is both systemic and systematic. The Indian ruling class faced its severest crisis of credibility in 2010. Its past caught up with it and skeletons and scams were spilling out of its closets. The scams have a symbiotic relationship with the black economy. The number of scams is growing and so is the size of the black economy, which has reached...

The Congress-led government in Assam is going into an overdrive before the polls to reach out to all sections of the population. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today announced his government’s decision to increase the quota of rice from 10kg to 20kg rice per family at the rate of Rs 6 per kg under the Chief Minister’s Anna Suraksha Yojana that was launched late last year. The scheme, being funded from the state’s...

The CBI today registered a case against some retired Army officials and bureaucrats of Maharashtra government in connection with the Adarsh housing society scam . The case was registered after the CBI last week received flak from the Bombay High Court for its tardy probe in the case. It was not immediately clear whether the name of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan figures in the FIR registered at the special designated...

As food inflation rises again and the prices of daily consumption vegetables and fruits remain high, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has convened a high-level meeting here on Monday to review the situation. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will chair the meeting, which is expected to be attended, among others, by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit. The latter has been invited to work out the possibility of opening more outlets for sale...

A courier company in Mumbai shows the way in providing employment for the hearing impaired. IN the milling crowds of Mumbai, they stand apart with their orange T-shirts printed with the name Mirakle Couriers. Every day, during the busy hours of the working week, one sees them on the sidewalks, in public transport and elsewhere with large black bags slung on their shoulders. It would not be enough to say...