-The Telegraph The Planning Commission has set up a committee to suggest an increase in corporate funding for higher education and research. Such funding, mostly seen in developed countries, has remained low in India. The government has so far been the main source of funds for the sector but it is now finding it difficult given the scale of expansion required. The committee, headed by N.R. Narayanamurthy, will develop a framework for engagement...

-The Hindu   Rajya Sabha MP and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi chaired the 30-member parliamentary panel that presented its voluminous report earlier this month on the Lokpal Bill 2011. The report has points of divergence with both the official Lokpal Bill draft and the Team Anna version. (The Union Cabinet on Tuesday night approved a Bill for the creation of the Lokpal with constitutional status that will have no control over the...

-PTI The Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal bill has recommended keeping out judiciary and MPs' conduct in House out of its purview and rejected the demand for hiving off the prosecution wing of CBI to come under its jurisdiction. Members have unanimously recommended conferring constitutional status on the Lokpal and setting up of Lokpal and Lokayuktas in states under one legislation. The draft report on the Bill, which has been...

All non-government organizations (NGOs), which receive donations from the public or receive foreign funds in excess of Rs 10 lakh, could come under the ambit of the Lokpal, according to the recommendations of the parliamentary panel on citizens' ombudsman's draft report. Significantly, this provision will allow NGOs run by activists like Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi and other Team Anna members to come under the anti-corruption watchdog.  If accepted...

The anti-corruption movement has enabled the Indian middle class to feel smug about itself. Its members have gone through a vast range of emotions during the last two decades, from self-hatred to self-righteousness. Liberalisation of the economy has created for this class an excitement of many kinds. It has meant the freedom to pursue the quest for wealth without guilt and, at the same time, it has meant feeling set...