“Keep PM, higher judiciary out of its purview” The former Chief Justice of India, J.S. Verma, on Saturday reiterated that the higher judiciary and the Prime Minister should be out of the purview of the proposed Lokpal Bill. He favours a “separate mechanism” to make High Court and Supreme Court judges accountable for misconduct. Speaking on the “Role of judiciary in good governance” at the International Centre Goa here, Justice Verma...

-The Times of India   Exactly a decade after farmers in Palnadu region sold their kidneys to clear their mounting debts, poverty-stricken women from the backward Palnadu region have fallen prey to clinical trials by a Hyderabad-based pharma company. The clinical tests on human beings, reportedly without the requisite permission of the state government, came to light on Thursday when some of the victims fell seriously ill in Piduguralla town. Many of...

Madhya Pradesh is betting cash incentives will curb population growth and improve the ‘life cycle’ of the girl child, but experts question the efficacy of such policies in addressing deep-rooted social prejudices Visitors trudging down the dusty village road are greeted by a giant billboard featuring a smiling Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, hugging two young girls. The tagline in Hindi reads: Gaon ki beti, kisse chhoti...

-Express News Service   The best way to save a project is to make its beneficiaries responsible for it. At least that was the idea of the previous LDF Government when it mooted the formation of village-level social audit officers for the transparent implementation of NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) in the state. The new government has also decided to go forward with the idea and has included the formation...

A Tamil economist, the late S. Guhan, used to say that Delhi was a capital in search of a country. I was reminded of that remark during the fortnight of May 29 to June 11, 2011. In that fortnight, if one watched the ‘national’ channels or read the ‘national’ newspapers, one would think all of India was involved in one way or the other with the ideas and practices of...