According to the Income Tax department's final assessment report, the total wealth amassed by the tainted IAS couple Arvind Joshi and Tinu Joshi is pegged at Rs 240.38 crore. The report took over a year after the initial appraisal that assessed the amount at around Rs 360 crore in December 2010, ten months after IT sleuths raided the official residence of the Joshis here, officials said. The final assessment report running into...

Kiran Bedi, one of the most vocal members of Team Anna, who riled Members of Parliament with her Ramlila ghoonghat act, may herself have some explaining to do. The issue: the inflated travel expenses she has been charging NGOs and institutions which invite her for seminars or meetings.   Records of bills, invoices and copies of cheques with The Indian Express show that Bedi, who is entitled to a rebate on Air...

In a season when every self-styled warrior against corruption is trying to look for a new weapon to fight it, my guest today is Satyananda Mishra, Chief Information Commissioner—someone who has in his control the strongest of those weapons, the RTI. Actually when it all began, nobody thought it would be so effective. In a period of five-and-a-half years, it has touched the hearts and minds of people. The number of...

There’s no outrage when law, policy are outsourced to corporates IN order to get our perspective on issues of national importance right, we could do well to turn our ears from the din created by vested interests. The unduly vehement questioning of the process of concerned citizens (or “civil society”) engaging in legislative and policy consultations is exactly the sort of noise we must not allow to deflect our attention...

Six ponds with abundant fish, six wells, three canals, enough vegetables and paddy to feed all. Bera, a remote village in Naxalite-hit Bundu block, about 50km from Ranchi district, got enough food for thought to come out of the rebel shadow and taste self-sufficiency, thanks to the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations. The village — which today hosted a high profile visitor, the country director of WFP Mihoko Tamamura...