A bench of the Supreme Court recently said: “When you say it is the world’s oldest profession and when you are not able to curb it by laws, why don’t you legalise it?” Really? While dealing with a PIL filed by Bachpan Bachao Andolan about large scale child trafficking in the country, a Supreme Court bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice AK Pattnaik are reported to have advised the...

One year on from the aborted Satyam-Maytas deal that eventually paved the way for Ramalinga Raju’s sensational confession of Fraud some weeks later, the government finally seems to be getting serious about corporate governance reform. The revelation of accounting Fraud at Satyam unfortunately distracted attention from more fundamental issues relating to good corporate governance, particularly the role of company boards. But now, the government is set to release a new...

Missing job cards, fudged muster rolls and diversion of NREGS funds through fake bills. What the Rajasthan social audit has revealed is the tip of the iceberg.  Bhilwara-2009 invited a swift and strong backlash — the government backed off realising it had stepped into a quagmire of corruption The battle being fought in the panchayats, streets, offices, and courts of Rajasthan is not just about social audit To understand why civil society...

A rogue’s gallery of corrupt politicians and entrepreneurs trying to create money out of thin air.  It is impossible to quantify the level of Fraud in public spending on wind energy The European wind association does not have a code of conduct for developers A big Danish firm revealed that it was the victim of a 12 million euro Fraud The northern trade winds of the Canary Islands have long tempted daredevil windsurfers,...

On International Anti-Corruption Day (9 December), the United Nations has warned that corruption kills development, and is one of the biggest impediments to reaching the Millennium Development Goals. "When public money is stolen for private gain, it means fewer resources to build schools, hospitals, roads and water treatment facilities. When foreign aid is diverted into private bank accounts, major infrastructure projects come to a halt," said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He warned...