Has civil society gone beyond its remit by refusing to back down on the issue of tackling corruption? The answer to that depends on which side of the on-going debate on the Lokpal Bill you are on. If you are with the civil society activists, then the question just does not arise. For too long has the government dragged its feet on the Lokpal Bill and civil society is entirely...

Vinod Rai’s searing honesty in his job as the country’s CAG has the government in many a bind CAG Catch 1     2G Spectrum, 2010     The CAG audit over a six-year period from 2003 finds loopholes in the implementation of norms, leading to DoT allocating spectrum at 2001 prices. Estimated loss to exchequer: the now-household figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.     Outcome Former telecom minister A. Raja, MP Kanimozhi, telecom and...

From the Middle East to Madagascar, high prices are spawning land grabs and ousting dictators. Welcome to the 21st-century food wars. In the United States, when world wheat prices rise by 75 percent, as they have over the last year, it means the difference between a $2 loaf of bread and a loaf costing maybe $2.10. If, however, you live in New Delhi, those skyrocketing costs really matter: A doubling in...

* Only a less ambitious deal on climate change expected * Process is dead in the water - de Boer "Ask for a camel when you expect to get a goat," runs a Somali saying that sums up the fading of ambitions for United Nations talks on slowing climate change -- aim high, but settle for far less. Developing nations publicly insist the rich must agree far deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions,...

-The Economic Times   It's promising to be a tumultous kharif sowing season notwithstanding the massive food grain stocks with the government which is forcing down farmer produce prices countrywide. Early arrival of a forecast normal to good monsoon should have ordinarily enthused farmers to increase the acreage under key summer sown crops this season. But, in protest against the Centre's persisting anti-farmer policies, small and marginal farmers in some villages...