-Outlook Arvind Kejriwal’s public rift with Anna must not distract us from the necessity of his political foray  Anna Hazare may not be part of the proposed political party that is yet to emerge from the womb of what was an unprecedented movement against corruption. The questions he has raised, however, must be answered. Not just because they are his questions; he being the symbol of probity in public life. They need...

-First Post They came in waves, like silent armies that move in the night. Each of the Congress Ministers and party leaders who were seen studio-hopping or otherwise implanting themselves in front of cameras late on Friday had been assigned a specific role: to defend the First Family of Indian politics against the most audacious allegation of corruption levelled by Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan, the two Johnny-come-latelys to the world...

-Economic and Political Weekly The recent Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and, more broadly, on nuclear safety regulation has highlighted many serious organisational and operational flaws. The report follows on a series of earlier CAG reports that documented cost and time overruns and poor performance at a number of nuclear facilities in the country. On the whole, the CAG reports offer a powerful indictment of...

-The Hindustan Times The UPA government, staging a comeback through economic reforms after months of being on the back foot, got another boost after the Supreme Court said that auction was not the only method allowed in allocating natural resources. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has been rocked by criticism that it handed out telecom spectrum and coal fields at an alleged loss of Rs. 3.6 lakh crore to private players instead of...

-The Hindustan Times The bureaucracy is determined to make you pay for your right to information (RTI), literally. Documents released under the transparency law reveal that the government has been planning to make people pay to file appeals since 2009. So far, RTI applicants only have to pay a fee of Rs. 10 for filing applications. If the information request is denied, they are entitled to appeal against the decision, initially to the...